It's been a topic of discussion on the Skoda forums for a while, Why have Skoda not released a soft roader?

Well now they are, it's called the Skoda Octavia Scout. It's based on the same underpinnings as the Octavia saloon (Golf MKV), and uses Skoda's 4×4 system.

The whole design has something familiar about it, yes there is some Octavia in there, but there is some of the Audi Allroad, and if you look at the rear end, there is some of the Porsche Cayenne (the only good looking bit of that car in my opinion).

For the most part though, it looks like it should, a chunked up Octavia. It will get the 2.0TDi and the 2.0FSi lumps (so 140 and 150BHP, but the diesel will be the engine of choice due to it's torque).

All in all I think a decent entry into the market. I wonder how it will fair against the new Freelander?

Red Bull Skoda have had a shock to the teams first gravel rally of the season. Harry Rovanpera has suffered a big crash during testing for the Rally of Sardinia.

Harry rolled the car causing extensive damage to the structure, basically relegating it to the bin for this weekends event at least.

Dietmar Metrich said “The car is pretty badly damaged all over, we will probably need a new chassis but the incident didn't affect either of the two competition Fabia WRCs set to run in the rally.”

The good news is that neither Harry or Andreas Aigner his co-driver have suffered no major injuries.