Skoda Joyster: the lowdown
This is the Joyster, the hideously-named, beautifully-designed precursor to a Citroen C2 rival from Skoda. The Czechs are exploring a cheap city car aimed at young customers, which would sit in the range beneath the five-door Fabia. Skoda is hoping to lead development of this car, which could be paired with Volkswagen’s Fox replacement and perhaps a new Seat. Just don’t expect anything before 2009 at the earliest.
How it looks
Great, quite frankly. The sub-4m Joyster is compact, muscular and the body has more sculpture than Henry Moore. Some of the design cues are shared with the imminent new Fabia, such as the face, blacked out windscreen pillars and swept up rear window. The chrome grille is trad Skoda, but the LED headlamps, contoured bonnet and detailed radiator grille give the nose a handsome yet assertive look. The rear screen is underlined by a striking lamp bar. This section divides in two, with the fold-down tailgate incorporating fold up seats so that you can sit al fresco.
The inside story
Alternatively, sit inside on any of four seats. The rear pair fold flat to boost practicality; the front seats contain solid boxes/rucksacks in which you can store a lap top. You can also remove these holdalls, in case you forgot to pack your Tesco ‘bags for life’. The interior is light thanks to a full-length glass roof.
Anything else…?
No word on an engine; Skoda is being deliberately coy about its ‘compact car of the future’. But behind the scenes, the Czechs are lobbying hard to build it, convinced it’s a natural for the Skoda brand. Naturally, any production car would have fourpot engines turning the front wheels, and Skoda is confident it could make an agile, junior hatch. Just don’t call it Joyster, guys, Roomster is bad enough. ‘The Joyster name expresses driving and living pleasure,’ says Skoda. And sounds like a badly-translated sex aid.