By Ian Strachan.
From time to time a car comes along that I honestly can’t fault. Not a thing wrong with it. The all-new Skoda Superb Estate is just such a car.
Skoda’s executive estate has long been one of my favourite cars – both to look at and to drive. In its latest iteration it has got even better, with a sleek, modern design, bags of technology, and safety features brought to a new level. The Superb lives up to its name in every respect.
This car looks good, with its flowing side view enhanced by smart 18-inch silver polished alloys, and an octagonal front grille with catlike LED matrix headlights.
The new Superb estate has maintained one its most attractive features – masses of room in its tardis-like interior. There’s room to hold a small drinks party in the rear (biggest rear seat legroom in its class) but it still manages to provide acres of load space behind its powered tailgate and clever electrically powered parcel shelf.
On top of that it drives magnificently, has a gutsy but economical engine, is supremely comfortable, and has just about every extra you could wish for as standard.
I test drove the Skoda Superb Estate in SE L trim level. It is powered by a quiet and smooth 1.5 litre 150 bhp petrol engine married to a pleasing seven-speed automatic gearbox. This gives you a top speed – where allowed – of 137 mph, reaching 0-60 mph in a little over nine seconds. Despite its power it is still pretty frugal for a car of this size, giving you in the region of 50 miles to the gallon in mixed driving.
The ride is soft but positive and feels stable even when cornering at speed. The engine is quiet, but provides more than enough power across the range.
The SE L trim level gives you a lot of equipment as standard. This includes those stand-out 18 inch alloy wheels, three-zone climate control, cruise control with speed assist, a good satellite navigation system with a large 13- inch touch-screen which also controls a digital DAB radio with voice control, Bluetooth and Apple CarPlay, plus LED matrix adaptive headlamps with cornering function. You also get superbly comfortable heated or ventilated front seats with 14-way electronic adjustment and memory, plus a front seat massage function, dark chrome roof rails, keyless entry and ignition, front and rear parking sensors with rear-view camera and a two-spoke leather multi-function steering wheel with gear change paddles.
Temperature control, audio volume, air conditioning fan speed, air direction, driving modes and navigation map are all controlled with three large user-friendly central dials – no messing around with tiny buttons.
The host of safety features includes blind spot detection, driver fatigue alert, front cross traffic alert, front brake assist, junction assist with automatic emergency braking, lane assist and all-round airbags.
My test car came with dynamic chassis control (£1260), electric tow bar (£1105), winter pack (£600) an uprated sound system (£760) and a full-size steel spare wheel (£185). The Carmine Red metallic paint was an extra £660. Without the options the Superb SE L Estate comes at a competitive £39,530
Not much else you could wish for, really. And thrown in you get the satisfaction of knowing that your fellow drivers in Mercedes, BMWs, Lexus and the like have paid a lot more for less.
