Don't You Worry About Me: A Test of the Best Estates

Carpet are heavy, aren't they? Thankfully, the BMW's flat floor made loading comparatively easy. What else taps ah loads of room look, Jim, well, it's not bad there was it? Yeah, that's that's acceptable. Yeah, good. Let's go to this Skoda so this is the biggest. It's a big boy. So how big is that then? With the seats up, seat's up 490. That's the biggest of the bunch. Yeah, seat's down 15.55 which makes it bigger than the much longer VW Clever Skoda. I notice that perfectly flat floor right? Should we get some stuff in oh there's loads of room in there isn't it? It's long eh after this bout of exhausting testing like I'm knackered now. We now had to eliminate one of the cars. Well, there was no debate regarding the winner. The Octavia had the flattest floor and the biggest load space but which car should join it in the final? In the end, we gave the nod to the BMW because what it lacked in load space it made up for in practicality and this meant we had to say goodbye to Volkswagen's Arteon.

Now the Final Test for the BMW and Skoda

The only way to find out which car is going to be the winner is to take it for a lap of the track. Plug-in hybrids utilize the power from their electric motors alongside their petrol engine to add extra welly so our estates should be lively performers. We'll give each car a standing start, time-lap and first to go is the BMW. The more powerful of the pair, so you've got 292 horsepower. I do check, I'm in Sport mode yes, north 62 happens in 5.9 seconds. Yeah, that's quite quick isn't it? Four-wheel drive this exactly so you're gonna be wheels away greasy track but it won't matter are you ready honey three two one go not a sniff of wheel spin no sounds quite harsh though don't you think it does actually see what I'm going to do is I'm not going to drive like an absolute fruitcake I'm just going to be swift yeah efficient yeah it's got plenty of grip yeah it's a funny engine noise anything I wonder if it's augmented in any way that noise. I think it well is corner's a bit slippy normally in the wet not for the BMW a bit of a downshift on the exit good traction I'm going to stop it at the end of the lap under a minute what's not to like yeah 59.10.

Next It's the Skoda

So we have got 204 horsepower which is a lot less than the other one uh top speed 136 north 62 7.9 on paper the Skoda is lacking in every department and there's worse news because it's only front-wheel drive which could really hinder traction in conditions like this three two one go oh not so much real spin I was expecting more I was expecting a shed load considering that it is super weird bit of understeer there a lot more body roll. A hefty look more we were now halfway through the lap and something was telling my racing brain that strange things were a foot I wonder what it's going to be do you think you're going to pull a quick one out the bag maybe it does feel quick in a straight line there's no way this will be faster there's no way oh look at that nasty puddle there having survived the water hazard the Skoda completes the lap in oh my gosh oh no no shush is that right well well well 58.36 yep just under a second quicker than the Beamer should we do it again I mean it's probably my finger well let's try this human error yeah that is human error surely the Skoda couldn't have really toppled the BMW could it go hmm interesting it just feels quicker there don't you think yeah corner exits yeah yeah there's mid mid-range it really feels like it's pulling yeah oh here we go but also try and miss it get some grip oh my gosh right surely this will prove that the first one was a mistake but at 57.4 it has beaten the BMW by even more it's quicker than the BMW that's blown my tiny brain thing is it might not have the BMW's power but the Skoda is 300 kilograms lighter making its power to weight ratio comparable so there you have it the Skoda Octavia.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhere on fifth gear we've always been a fan of a brisk family estate car they're good to look at fun to drive and with loads of room for all your stuff so in today's ev world is that perfect combination still available well happily yes in the form of plug-in hybrid estates we've got four of the latest which we're going to put through three tests eliminating one car at the end of each to reveal the best all-rounder we'll be looking at interior quality you know the first thing that's slightly spooking me out i don't have a third spoke on my stairs oh my god what's happening what is this magic we'll see how big they are and how easy to load don't you worry about me i'll be fine carpets are heavy aren't they and finally we'll head to the track to gauge their performance i mean there's no way this will be faster look at that nasty puddle there the estates that we're putting to the test are the bmw 330e which is the most powerful and most expensive car here but that's not stopped it becoming the uk's best-selling plug-in hybrid next is the cheapest car of the four the skoda octavia it's also the shortest car here but in some tardis type way manages to squeeze in the biggest boot then there's the 508 sw from peugeot which musters a very respectable 225 horsepower from its electric and petrol power units and finally the vw arteon which is the longest estate on test okay to work these cars are going to cover some stratospheric mileage so we want to assess how comfortable they are on the long haul and how far they can travel in ev mode first up the beamer so this car starts at forty four thousand pounds a cave but this particular one 55 grander it's a lot of money isn't it the fit and the finish is all classic i mean it's a bit bland bmw planned but it's still good though yeah plug-in hybrids offer the best of both electric and petrol power they have larger batteries than regular hybrids which allows them to travel faster and further using just their electric motors they're charged by recycling the kinetic energy created by braking and you can plug them into a domestic socket or wall charger like regular evs and when they're out of battery they have a petrol engine ready to kick in but this has got a capacity of 30 miles of electric range and to charge up on a three-pin five hours which is great you can charge it quick quicker on a wall box yes yeah you can two and a half hours to 80 charge which i think is perfectly fine so if you're going into town business meeting plug it in that's 30 miles of really cheap motorcycles yeah running in electric only mode you'd expect these cars to be very quiet i can't hear any tyre noise that was him that was him to help us gauge exactly how quiet our cars are we've brought along a sound measuring thing you and i be quiet and we'll just work out the noise of the cabin i'd say around 69 yeah 69 decibels that's what you want yeah that's what he's usually lovely today's wet conditions make for a noisier ride but 69 decibels is still quieter than its petrol-powered equivalent let's see what i could spend all day in this yeah it's a decent start for the bmw how will the skoda compare so do you know the first thing that's slightly spooking me out i don't have a third spoke on my stage oh my god that's this i love the fact that this hasn't got too many fancy buttons probably the most simplistic out of all of the cars and there's nothing wrong with that no nothing wrong with it and compared to the bmw the octavia is an absolute bargain because the entry-level plug-in model which we have costs just thirty four thousand pounds i like this i like this alan cantar on the dashboard oh alan antara mixing materials it's it's quite good and there's further good news because the skoda has the best eevee only range at 43 miles should we do the noise i think we should yeah guess what 69 yes indeed another good result on to the peugeot i think it looks fantastic it's great outside love it prices for the plug-in 508 estate start at just under 38 000 pounds but our gt model is nearer to 40. how are things in your scene oh do you know what i hate this the the steelers funny little steering wheel where i've got to look over the top to to see the instruments yeah no matter what i do with the seat and i'm as low as i can be yeah feels like i sat in someone else's car where i can't change anything i'm not comfortable it's just so frustrating isn't it because they put so much effort and money into the rest of the design yeah because actually fundamentally i think it's just it's a nice bit of kit is it is it miles on electric this will do between 33 and 39 what noise have we got it's another 69er yeah see this feels noisier because this doesn't feel as relaxing no oh i don't like it i think it just feels all wrong oh dear would a vw's arty on fair better i think it looks really smelt and elegant although inside i don't like this wood okay what don't you like about wood i just don't like wood in cars because it's you know it's always been a sign of it's old-fashioned with its wood trimmed dash the arteon costs 48 000 pounds but the starting price is 42 and its electric only range is 39 miles so it all feels very pleasant from my point of view it's more interesting i think in here than the bmw all right do you know what you think yes quietness it's quite quiet oh shall we 70 71 yeah but this feels more refined than the person don't you think yeah by a long way you do wow do you know what's had to go in that wood before go on i've changed my mind i quite like it and that makes the results of our interior quality test as slam dunk for us while the bmw skoda and vw had little if anything to complain about the peugeot's compromised driving position with something we'd really struggle to live with which means it leaves the competition so heading into test two we have the bmw 330e the skoda octavia and the vw arteon and if you thought jason's jumper was an assault on the eyeballs just wait till you see his coat time to dig a little bit deeper now with the ones we've got left check out the practicality that's a good point so let's go and have a look at some carpets and see what we can load into the back of your motor estate cars are built to carry big loads so this test is all about the size and accessibility of the load space and we'll start with the arteon the vw has a capacity of 455 liters with the back seats up which is very decent and what's it like with the seat the seats down not the best of our trio that's still pretty good though isn't it just but once you've folded those seats that's about 1500 litres you've compromised a bit on a normal state because of the hybrid gear so you get a sinker there you wouldn't get a carpet jason is shopping for a new sink and carpet for his static caravan in skegness have you got a kitchen sink knocking about a cha-cha-cha-cha so we're using his supplies to see how much space is available in each car quite like that color look at that oh there is decent space in the vw however hauling heavy loads over that raised lip could soon get annoying next to the bmw do you know what i love about these oh no you know what that did you use for longer i know diane could put my sausage dog straight in there yeah like that i couldn't get my rhodesian ridge back in there yeah that's not going to happen anyway what do we got so size-wise this is 410 liters with the seats in place with the seats down the beamer has 1420 liters of space almost 80 less than the vw that's quite a bit smaller um should we see if we can fit everything in yeah don't you worry about me i'll be fine carpets are heavy aren't they thankfully the bmw's flat floor made loading comparatively easy what else taps ah loads of room look jim well it's not bad there was it yeah that's that's acceptable yeah good let's go to this skoda so this is the biggest is it's a big boy so how big is that then with the seats up seat's up 490. that's the biggest of the bunch yeah seat's down 15.55 which makes it bigger than the much longer vw clever skoda i notice that perfectly flat floor right should we get some stuff in oh there's loads of room in there isn't it it's long eh after this bout of exhausting testing like i'm knackered now we now had to eliminate one of the cars well there was no debate regarding the winner the octavia had the flattest flaw and the biggest load space but which car should join it in the final in the end we gave the nod to the bmw because what it lacked in load space it made up for in practicality and this meant we had to say goodbye to volkswagen's arteon now the final test for the bmw and skoda and the only way to find out which car is going to be the winner is to take it for a lap of the track plug-in hybrids utilize the power from their electric motors alongside their petrol engine to add extra welly so our estates should be lively performers we'll give each car a standing start time lap and first to go is the bmw the more powerful of the pair so you've got 292 horsepower i do check i'm in sport mode yes north 62 happens in 5.9 seconds yeah that's quite quick isn't it yeah four-wheel drive this exactly so you're gonna be wheels away greasy track but it won't matter are you ready honey three two one go not a sniff of wheel spin no sounds quite harsh though don't you think it does actually see what i'm going to do is i'm not going to drive like an absolute fruitcake i'm just going to be swift yeah efficient yeah it's got plenty of grip yeah it's a funny engine noise anything i wonder if it's augmented in any way that noise i think it well is corner's a bit slippy normally in the wet not for the bmw a bit of a downshift on the exit good traction i'm going to stop it at the end of the lap under a minute what's not to like yeah 59.10 next it's the skoda so we have got 204 horsepower which is a lot less than the other one uh top speed 136 north 62 7.9 on paper the skoda is lacking in every department and there's worse news because it's only front-wheel drive which could really hinder traction in conditions like this three two one go oh not so much real spin i was expecting more i was expecting a shed load considering that it is super weird bit of understeer there a lot more body roll a hefty look more we were now halfway through the lap and something was telling my racing brain that strange things were a foot i wonder what it's going to be do you think you're going to pull a quick one out the bag maybe it does feel quick in a straight line there's no way this will be faster there's no way oh look at that nasty puddle there having survived the water hazard the skoda completes the lap in oh my gosh oh no no shush is that right well well well 58.36 yep just under a second quicker than the beamer should we do it again i mean it's probably my finger well let's try this human error yeah that is human error surely the skoda couldn't have really toppled the bmw could it go hmm interesting it just feels quicker there don't you think yeah corner exits yeah yeah there's mid mid range it really feels like it's pulling yeah oh here we go but also try and miss it get some grip oh my gosh right surely this will prove that the first one was a mistake but at 57.4 it has beaten the bmw by even more it's quicker than the bmw that's blown my tiny brain thing is it might not have the bmw's power but the skoda is 300 kilograms lighter making its power to weight ratio comparable so there you have it the skoda octavia it's comfortable it's got a massive load space it can beat a beam around a racetrack and to top it all it's the cheapest estate in our test it might not be able to cross a muddy field like an suv but for all of the things that you actually need a car to do this versatile estate really is the best car for the job youhere on fifth gear we've always been a fan of a brisk family estate car they're good to look at fun to drive and with loads of room for all your stuff so in today's ev world is that perfect combination still available well happily yes in the form of plug-in hybrid estates we've got four of the latest which we're going to put through three tests eliminating one car at the end of each to reveal the best all-rounder we'll be looking at interior quality you know the first thing that's slightly spooking me out i don't have a third spoke on my stairs oh my god what's happening what is this magic we'll see how big they are and how easy to load don't you worry about me i'll be fine carpets are heavy aren't they and finally we'll head to the track to gauge their performance i mean there's no way this will be faster look at that nasty puddle there the estates that we're putting to the test are the bmw 330e which is the most powerful and most expensive car here but that's not stopped it becoming the uk's best-selling plug-in hybrid next is the cheapest car of the four the skoda octavia it's also the shortest car here but in some tardis type way manages to squeeze in the biggest boot then there's the 508 sw from peugeot which musters a very respectable 225 horsepower from its electric and petrol power units and finally the vw arteon which is the longest estate on test okay to work these cars are going to cover some stratospheric mileage so we want to assess how comfortable they are on the long haul and how far they can travel in ev mode first up the beamer so this car starts at forty four thousand pounds a cave but this particular one 55 grander it's a lot of money isn't it the fit and the finish is all classic i mean it's a bit bland bmw planned but it's still good though yeah plug-in hybrids offer the best of both electric and petrol power they have larger batteries than regular hybrids which allows them to travel faster and further using just their electric motors they're charged by recycling the kinetic energy created by braking and you can plug them into a domestic socket or wall charger like regular evs and when they're out of battery they have a petrol engine ready to kick in but this has got a capacity of 30 miles of electric range and to charge up on a three-pin five hours which is great you can charge it quick quicker on a wall box yes yeah you can two and a half hours to 80 charge which i think is perfectly fine so if you're going into town business meeting plug it in that's 30 miles of really cheap motorcycles yeah running in electric only mode you'd expect these cars to be very quiet i can't hear any tyre noise that was him that was him to help us gauge exactly how quiet our cars are we've brought along a sound measuring thing you and i be quiet and we'll just work out the noise of the cabin i'd say around 69 yeah 69 decibels that's what you want yeah that's what he's usually lovely today's wet conditions make for a noisier ride but 69 decibels is still quieter than its petrol-powered equivalent let's see what i could spend all day in this yeah it's a decent start for the bmw how will the skoda compare so do you know the first thing that's slightly spooking me out i don't have a third spoke on my stage oh my god that's this i love the fact that this hasn't got too many fancy buttons probably the most simplistic out of all of the cars and there's nothing wrong with that no nothing wrong with it and compared to the bmw the octavia is an absolute bargain because the entry-level plug-in model which we have costs just thirty four thousand pounds i like this i like this alan cantar on the dashboard oh alan antara mixing materials it's it's quite good and there's further good news because the skoda has the best eevee only range at 43 miles should we do the noise i think we should yeah guess what 69 yes indeed another good result on to the peugeot i think it looks fantastic it's great outside love it prices for the plug-in 508 estate start at just under 38 000 pounds but our gt model is nearer to 40. how are things in your scene oh do you know what i hate this the the steelers funny little steering wheel where i've got to look over the top to to see the instruments yeah no matter what i do with the seat and i'm as low as i can be yeah feels like i sat in someone else's car where i can't change anything i'm not comfortable it's just so frustrating isn't it because they put so much effort and money into the rest of the design yeah because actually fundamentally i think it's just it's a nice bit of kit is it is it miles on electric this will do between 33 and 39 what noise have we got it's another 69er yeah see this feels noisier because this doesn't feel as relaxing no oh i don't like it i think it just feels all wrong oh dear would a vw's arty on fair better i think it looks really smelt and elegant although inside i don't like this wood okay what don't you like about wood i just don't like wood in cars because it's you know it's always been a sign of it's old-fashioned with its wood trimmed dash the arteon costs 48 000 pounds but the starting price is 42 and its electric only range is 39 miles so it all feels very pleasant from my point of view it's more interesting i think in here than the bmw all right do you know what you think yes quietness it's quite quiet oh shall we 70 71 yeah but this feels more refined than the person don't you think yeah by a long way you do wow do you know what's had to go in that wood before go on i've changed my mind i quite like it and that makes the results of our interior quality test as slam dunk for us while the bmw skoda and vw had little if anything to complain about the peugeot's compromised driving position with something we'd really struggle to live with which means it leaves the competition so heading into test two we have the bmw 330e the skoda octavia and the vw arteon and if you thought jason's jumper was an assault on the eyeballs just wait till you see his coat time to dig a little bit deeper now with the ones we've got left check out the practicality that's a good point so let's go and have a look at some carpets and see what we can load into the back of your motor estate cars are built to carry big loads so this test is all about the size and accessibility of the load space and we'll start with the arteon the vw has a capacity of 455 liters with the back seats up which is very decent and what's it like with the seat the seats down not the best of our trio that's still pretty good though isn't it just but once you've folded those seats that's about 1500 litres you've compromised a bit on a normal state because of the hybrid gear so you get a sinker there you wouldn't get a carpet jason is shopping for a new sink and carpet for his static caravan in skegness have you got a kitchen sink knocking about a cha-cha-cha-cha so we're using his supplies to see how much space is available in each car quite like that color look at that oh there is decent space in the vw however hauling heavy loads over that raised lip could soon get annoying next to the bmw do you know what i love about these oh no you know what that did you use for longer i know diane could put my sausage dog straight in there yeah like that i couldn't get my rhodesian ridge back in there yeah that's not going to happen anyway what do we got so size-wise this is 410 liters with the seats in place with the seats down the beamer has 1420 liters of space almost 80 less than the vw that's quite a bit smaller um should we see if we can fit everything in yeah don't you worry about me i'll be fine carpets are heavy aren't they thankfully the bmw's flat floor made loading comparatively easy what else taps ah loads of room look jim well it's not bad there was it yeah that's that's acceptable yeah good let's go to this skoda so this is the biggest is it's a big boy so how big is that then with the seats up seat's up 490. that's the biggest of the bunch yeah seat's down 15.55 which makes it bigger than the much longer vw clever skoda i notice that perfectly flat floor right should we get some stuff in oh there's loads of room in there isn't it it's long eh after this bout of exhausting testing like i'm knackered now we now had to eliminate one of the cars well there was no debate regarding the winner the octavia had the flattest flaw and the biggest load space but which car should join it in the final in the end we gave the nod to the bmw because what it lacked in load space it made up for in practicality and this meant we had to say goodbye to volkswagen's arteon now the final test for the bmw and skoda and the only way to find out which car is going to be the winner is to take it for a lap of the track plug-in hybrids utilize the power from their electric motors alongside their petrol engine to add extra welly so our estates should be lively performers we'll give each car a standing start time lap and first to go is the bmw the more powerful of the pair so you've got 292 horsepower i do check i'm in sport mode yes north 62 happens in 5.9 seconds yeah that's quite quick isn't it yeah four-wheel drive this exactly so you're gonna be wheels away greasy track but it won't matter are you ready honey three two one go not a sniff of wheel spin no sounds quite harsh though don't you think it does actually see what i'm going to do is i'm not going to drive like an absolute fruitcake i'm just going to be swift yeah efficient yeah it's got plenty of grip yeah it's a funny engine noise anything i wonder if it's augmented in any way that noise i think it well is corner's a bit slippy normally in the wet not for the bmw a bit of a downshift on the exit good traction i'm going to stop it at the end of the lap under a minute what's not to like yeah 59.10 next it's the skoda so we have got 204 horsepower which is a lot less than the other one uh top speed 136 north 62 7.9 on paper the skoda is lacking in every department and there's worse news because it's only front-wheel drive which could really hinder traction in conditions like this three two one go oh not so much real spin i was expecting more i was expecting a shed load considering that it is super weird bit of understeer there a lot more body roll a hefty look more we were now halfway through the lap and something was telling my racing brain that strange things were a foot i wonder what it's going to be do you think you're going to pull a quick one out the bag maybe it does feel quick in a straight line there's no way this will be faster there's no way oh look at that nasty puddle there having survived the water hazard the skoda completes the lap in oh my gosh oh no no shush is that right well well well 58.36 yep just under a second quicker than the beamer should we do it again i mean it's probably my finger well let's try this human error yeah that is human error surely the skoda couldn't have really toppled the bmw could it go hmm interesting it just feels quicker there don't you think yeah corner exits yeah yeah there's mid mid range it really feels like it's pulling yeah oh here we go but also try and miss it get some grip oh my gosh right surely this will prove that the first one was a mistake but at 57.4 it has beaten the bmw by even more it's quicker than the bmw that's blown my tiny brain thing is it might not have the bmw's power but the skoda is 300 kilograms lighter making its power to weight ratio comparable so there you have it the skoda octavia it's comfortable it's got a massive load space it can beat a beam around a racetrack and to top it all it's the cheapest estate in our test it might not be able to cross a muddy field like an suv but for all of the things that you actually need a car to do this versatile estate really is the best car for the job you\n"