Trust Skoda! There are times when you need an estate car and times you need a 4x4. So, the Czech manufacturer has come up with the perfect combination, the Octavia Scout (from £22,270 as tested).

To add to the appeal this car also has aspects of a people-carrier about it, such is its capacity. It’s what the motor industry might annoyingly term a lifestyle car.

Actually, they’re quite good fun. Ride and handling is compromised, but high-rise seating positions and chunky styling has its place.

If you want some of the genuine ability of such cars – extra grip and security when the weather turns foul – but don’t want to stare at the faux-4x4 looks, conventional alternatives are surprisingly thin on the ground. At least, if you don’t want to pay over the odds for something with a quattro badge.

The Audi reference isn’t a glib, throwaway remark though. There is hope for those with modest budgets because within the mighty Volkswagen Group family sits Skoda.

It might be stealing the limelight – and awards – with its Yeti compact SUV, but the Czech firm also does a nice line in 4x4s that don’t look like 4x4s. Fancy and all-wheel drive cut-price limousine? No problem, thanks to the Superb.

Of greater relevance to buyers seeking the practicality of a compact SUV in a more conventional package, there’s the Octavia Estate. In aptly named Scout trim, it comes with a part time all-wheel drive system plus a fraction more ground clearance than the regular variant.

Outwardly you know the Octavia Scout is a little different thanks to its modest smattering of ‘bash-proof’ plastic trim around the wheel arches, plus the extra protection fore and aft under the bumper line. But that’s it; everything else is pure Octavia Estate, right down to the car’s conservative looks and modest proportions.

And for many that’s part of the car’s attraction. They want all the benefits of a ‘soft-roader’ but without the negative connotations – high-sided looks, equally high centre of gravity and the boat-in-a-storm pitch and roll when cornering. Certainly, the Octavia Scout steers well clear of all that. On the road it drives and handles just like, well, an Octavia Estate. Sure, from behind the wheel you sense that you’re a little higher off the ground. It’s not enough to give you a nosebleed but it’s just enough to help you scan a little further ahead for obstacles in the road. Take a look around the cabin and you’ll see that it’s familiar Octavia territory. The faux 4x4-style grab handles and cheesy ‘rugged’ trim of some SUV rivals are, thankfully, nowhere to be seen. There are some things you can’t see that are worthy of a mention, though, namely the car’s engine and gearbox.

Although you can have the Octavia Scout with a 1.8-litre petrol engine, the optimal choice for such a car is diesel power. This way you gain a useful fuel economy benefit and the extra torque and better power delivery characteristics ensure smoother driving at low speeds – great for the any off-road or towing activities.

Mention towing and you might as well throw in an auto gearbox for good measure. The Octavia’s is the Volkswagen Group’s highly praised six-speed DSG semi-auto unit and, when connected to the 140 horsepower 2.0-litre motor, offers fuss-free two pedal motoring whether you’re crawling along a rutted path or edging a caravan into its camp site parking bay.

And what about the car’s off-roading abilities? Well, it’s not been designed to worry a Land Rover Defender. What it will do is get you across that muddy field, down that rutted forest track and through a flooded ford with ease. Crucially it will do it without requiring any driver input; there are no buttons to press or modes to switch between, and makes the transition from slip to grip without any fuss.

Hop back on the Tarmac and you’ve got the best of both worlds. Refinement and agility is first rate, while the part time nature of the four-wheel drive ensures you don’t get stung at the pumps. In the case of the diesel model, the official numbers are 47.9mpg and 155g/km CO2 for the manual car and 38.2mpg and 162g/km CO2 for the DSG auto.

In SUV-land those are pretty good. For a medium estate car with anywhere capabilities but with none of the drawbacks of SUV ownership, Skoda’s Octavia Scout is the soft roader for when the going gets tough.