Test drove an Octavia the other day and kept reaching for the handbrake near to the driver to find it's on the other side of the transmission tunnel near the passenger, how strange. The left hand drive cars look correct but i notice that in converting the octavia to rhd they haven't bothered to also move the handbrake across.

It's getting more and more common on cars, presumably a cost cutting measure.  You do get used to it but I admit it's annoying if you also drive a car with it on the correct side regularly.

 

If it's any comfort it's far less irritating than some cars, I drove a Quasqai about a year ago and it was extremely irritating due to the layout of the centre console - although there wasn't much about that car that wasn't irritating.

It will be cost cutting on Skodas part as the Mk7 Golf it is based on has an electric handbrake

Hardly a major problem....

I had this hen I swapped my mkI for a mkII. Got used to it after a few days.

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I'd say this is this is the norm now for handbrakes mounted between the seats since the advent of cupholders and cubbys in the same area. It's not really a big deal for me reaching over an extra inch or two, just a case 

of getting used to it.

 

It would be far more irritating to have it mounted in the dash, footwell ornext to the door like other manufacturers do, or even the stupid little electric button that won't do what you tell it to.

Thank you Skoda for keeping it simple.

Have a look back in these forums & you will find this topic was "done to death" previously.

Personally I never notice it after having driven my car for 6 months now. If you are serious about choosing an Octy just look at the extensive positives & believe me you will not notice the handbrake position after a very short while.

It will be cost cutting on Skodas part as the Mk7 Golf it is based on has an electric handbrake

That's true. Although I'd rather have a handbrake on the wrong side than an e-handbrake.

The system on the passat (never driven a golf) is ok actually, head and shoulders over the vauxhall or Toyota systems but I'd still take a manual handbrake.

Difficult to do handbrake turns otherwise

I have a Passat (R36) and driven a loan car ( Golf) and although took a bit of getting used to is great in traffic esp with DSG 

Yeah. At least it's not one of those foot operated ones. I pick up my octy at the weekend. I'll get used to it in a couple of days.

Couple of days ? minutes maybe !

I never even realised until I saw this post, so it won't take any getting used too tbh.

I kind of like it now. I find it easier to pull up. Just got to watch the mrs doesn't get her handbag strap caught on it.

How can it be on the wrong side?

 

As long as its within reach who's to say its in the wrong place?

 

What you meant to say was it's in a different position to what you are used to!

SWMBO's Seat is the same. It's a non issue TBH. You'll not even notice it after a couple of weeks max. I don't notice it now swapping between cars and SWMBO has never noticed either.....but there again she's never driven my vRS!

I regularly swap between a handbrake lever on an Aygo and an electric handbrake on a Laguna with no problems. I very much like the electric handbrake on the Laguna and I'm not looking forward to the lever on the "wrong" side when my Octy arrives, but I'm sure I will get used to it quickly, as I did with the electric handbrake.

How can it be on the wrong side?

As long as its within reach who's to say its in the wrong place?

What you meant to say was it's in a different position to what you are used to!

Exactly! It's in between the seats where it's meant to be, the wrong side would be something like a Lotus Esprit.

It's still a pain in the arse, it's not a natural position for it. Just feels too far over when using it. Not a major problem granted but you can tell it's not meant for a rhd.

As for electronic vs manual. Not really fussed either way. They both work. Would just prefer whatever it is is set for rhd or lhd where applicable

I was a little concerned about this when I had an octavia on demo. However, having had my vRS for three weeks now, it doesn't bother me in the slightest :-)

Exactly! It's in between the seats where it's meant to be, the wrong side would be something like a Lotus Esprit.

The driver has to reach over bottles/cans to use the handbrake and the passenger has to reach over car controls (the handbrake) to get at cans/bottles so it isn't great.

However I find I don't use the cup holders in the centre console anyway as the door bins are better for bottles anyway.