Ford or Škoda: which is better to choose, and which car is cheaper to maintain

The most popular cars in Ukraine from manufacturers with a history are Ford and Škoda. Motorists often compare their models, respectively, Focus and Octavia. Is it possible to determine exactly which is better: “Ford” or “Zhal”? Let's try.

Ford or “Zhal”: how to determine the favorite

Each person, going to buy or choosing a car on lease, is guided by their own ideas about convenience, functionality and other features. Let's try to highlight the general evaluation criteria and determine whether “Ford” or “Zhal” is more suitable for you:

1. Capacity. Both the Focus and the Octavia can easily accommodate 5 passengers. However, in the Vreda, the high tunnel and some other interior details may interfere with the person sitting in the center at the back.
2. Load capacity. The American car is more than 100 kg inferior to the Czech one. In some cases, this may be a decisive factor.
3. Trunk capacity. The difference in this indicator is small, but the Scaron;koda has a solid advantage - the rear seat folds down, allowing you to place much more cargo in the car, including bulky ones.
4. Passive safety. Crash tests gave the Ford 5 stars, and the Vreda 4.
5. Engine. Both Ford and Škoda offer quite reliable petrol engines of various modifications. Diesel models are less popular and cause more complaints from owners. But in general, if long-term car rental is required, this criterion does not give advantages to any of the options under consideration.
6. Technical specifications. In general, it cannot be said that one of these cars is significantly behind the other and has more "pain points". If the “Ford” has problems with the front suspension, then the Czech “Octavia” is “famous” for its difficulties with the rear. And so on for each system.

However, it is worth noting that experts do not rate the third generation Ford Focus very highly in almost all of the above indicators, while the third “Harm Octavia” is reduced to the rank of a world bestseller. So you can really determine whether “It's a pity” or “Ford” will be the best option only by comparing two specific cars standing right in front of you. Sometimes it is difficult to navigate even based on reviews from real car owners: one site shows a survey in which “Zhal” is in the lead with a significant advantage of 72%, while another site has an equal number of enthusiastic reviews for each option.

Which is cheaper to maintain: “Ford” or “Vred”

If we ignore the fact that the average market price for “Ford Focus” is about 25% lower than for “Vred Octavia”, it is still worth noting that the former has higher fuel consumption, albeit not much, but both the power and engine capacity are also higher. However, there is one important criterion, especially if we consider operational car leasing: you will soon not find a new Ford Focus anywhere, since the production of this car ceased in November 2024. And this means that every year its maintenance will cost more due to the lack of new spare parts, service, and other privileges of current models, such as, for example, the Škoda Octavia.