I just wanted to come on here and offer some praise to the Scala! As you can probably guess by my username, I drive a lightly modified vRS 245. If I’m honest, the Scala isn’t really my sort of car. However, when my Octavia was in for a service last week, I was interested to find the courtesy car was a 2026 Skoda Scala! It was a 6-speed car, with what I think was a 1.0 (although it felt like a 1.5!). I admit, I thought it was a Fabia at first, and didn’t find out it was a Scala until I opened the boot. I really, really liked it. Okay, sure, the clutch pedal felt like it wasn’t attached to the car, I couldn’t get the driving position right, I didn’t like how the steering wheel looked and I couldn’t stand the key fob with a physical key I kept flipping open to insert into a KESSY button. Aside from that though, I loved it! The steering wheel, while visually gawping, was very nice to use. I particularly like the one in my vRS, and found that the button placement in the Scala was even better. The digi dash offered plenty of options (far greater than the significantly more expensive 2024 M Sport 1 Series we have at home). The gearbox felt really tight, solid and engaging - pairing really well with what I thought was a 1.5 until I checked the build sheet in the glove box. I didn’t like how the clutch had no feedback, but that might have been a combination of the car having 1900 miles on it, and me not having driven a manual in a few months. That particular car was an absolute bog standard base model with one button for disabling stop-start. It did have a rear camera (which my vRS doesn’t), and I found everything inside a little bit nicer than the similarly priced Ibiza FR I normally drive. It sounded better, and I appreciated small features such as the adjustable seatbelt height, armrest and physical light switch. I’ve driven a lot of newer VAG cars (Mk4 Octavia, Mk8 Golf, Mk8.5 Golf, 2024 Polo, 2024 Leon FR, 2024 SEAT Arona, 2025 A3, among others) and almost all of them have been terrible. I thought they were overpriced and awful to drive (as both a keen driver and just a random person) with scarily light steering, no control feedback and dismal performance. I was really pleased to see that the Scala seems to have broken that trend.