• Three petrol engines available, one discontinued diesel
• No hybrid or electric version
• Transmission options include seven-speed DSG

The Scala was formally available with a choice of four engines, including two three-cylinder petrol options and a single 1.6-litre diesel, but the latter has now been dropped. The Scala is now available with three TSI engines: two 1.0-litres and a 1.5-litre.

Skoda Scala petrol engines

The Scala is available with an entry-level 1.0 litre engine that produces 95hp (paired to a five-speed manual) or an enhanced 1.0-litre (with a six-speed manual) that produces 116hp. The 95hp edition has an engine torque rating of 175Nm with a top speed of 119mph, while the 116hp engine manages 200Nm of torque and 126mph.

We think the extra poke and sixth gear are worth opting for, but if you’d rather a power unit with even more punch, a 1.5-litre that produces 150hp, more torque (250Nm) and a 137mph top speed is also available.

The 116hp 1.0-litre and the 1.5-litre engines can be specified with either a six-speed manual or a seven-speed DSG auto.

Skoda Scala diesel engines

The sole diesel offering for the Scala was a 115hp 1.6-litre TDI unit, producing 250Nm of torque. It was available with either a six-speed manual or seven-speed DSG gearbox and covers 0-62mph in 10.1 seconds, with top speed rated at 125mph (10.3 seconds and 124mph for the automatic). These are quite rare to find on the used market owing to nearly all buyers choosing one of the petrol engines instead.

What’s it like to drive?

• Not fun, but hard to fault otherwise
• Light steering makes it easy to drive around town
• Optional Sport Chassis Control is best avoided

Like almost every other Skoda on scale, the Scala is setup to provide comfort and refinement rather than razor-sharp handling. As such, it fails to provide the enjoyment of a Ford Focus, Mazda 3 or even Volkswagen Golf. This aside, however, it’s hard to fault how the Scala handles.

Turning quickly into a corner, the Scala demonstrates impressive stability and little body roll (where the body of the car leans around corners), while outright traction levels are high. The steering is fairly light and direct but doesn’t provide much in the way of communication, yet the flipside is that it’s easy to manoeuvre the car around at low speeds.

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It’s worth mentioning that you can spec the Scala with optional Sport Chassis Control – standard on the Monte Carlo – that lowers the suspension and adds the ability to switch between Normal and Sport damper modes. Sport Chassis Control is available and the suspension is noticeably firmer when the car is switched into the sportier setting. However, it fails to yield an improvement in handling and simply worsens the ride – so we reckon it’s best sticking with the standard suspension.