Tow Car Awards: overall winner 2013
The Tow Car Awards is Britain's biggest and best tow car test programme, with a history stretching back to 2007...
Kerb weight 1330kg Max towing weight 1600kg Towball limit 75kg
In 2013 we had the smallest Tow Car of the Year winner we'd ever had: the 2013-2020 Skoda Octavia. Here's what we said about it at the time:
It had to happen eventually: the Volkswagen Golf has finally been dethroned as our favourite small tow car. But it took a model that's so good that it's also our overall Tow Car of the Year for 2013.
No other family hatchback packs in so much space for passengers or luggage. In fact, the new generation is not really a ‘small’ family hatchback at all: it has enough head and leg room to rival larger cars, especially for those travelling in the rear seats. The interior finish has also taken a big step forward compared with the previous generation.
You won’t need to travel light in the new Octavia. There are 590 litres of luggage space with the rear seats upright – that’s 210 litres more than the Golf offers. We found space for our entire typical touring luggage load, with room to spare. That helped the Skoda achieve a strong score from our practicality testers, as did the inclusion of a trailer stability control system.
When a car is fundamentally as stable towing a van as the new Octavia, you shouldn’t need to rely on electronic help very often. Even in the fastest run between the cones in our lane-change test, the Octavia stuck to its course, however much the caravan slid around behind it.
Despite a damp test track the braking performance was excellent, and the 30-60mph time of 12.7sec shows the strength of the 2.0-litre diesel engine. And thanks to excellent fuel economy, the Octavia should prove cheap to run for a car with such a strong performance.
Our ratings
Towing 5/5 Solo driving 4/5 Practicality 4/5 Buying and owning 5/5 Overall 5/5
For all the latest reviews, advice and new car deals, sign up to the What Car? newsletter here
