Autocar - First for car news and reviews

What is it?

The new Skoda Superb is pitched directly against the new Ford Mondeo, Renault Laguna, Honda Accord, Citroen C5 and, the new Vauxhall Insignia. Not so long ago the so-called family-car class accounted for a quarter of all European cars. Now it seems to have stabilised at around 15 percent, but that’s still well over a million car sales a year across Europe.

The new Superb combines suspension and floorpan parts from the VW Passat and Skoda Octavia. It’s 35mm longer...Read the full article

Your imprecision on stating power figures is annoying.

New VW sourced 2.0 TDI engine:

Steve Cropley - "173 bhp"

Autocar(anon, above) - "172 bhp"

VW(official - it is their engine) - 170 PS(125 KW, 167.67 hp) (1 PS = 0.98632 hp)

Almost 6hp is significant, but it's the accuracy point that's most important.

- of course, S Cropley and Autocar maybe right, assuming Skoda have independently engineered an increase in the power output of their stock, brand-new VW-sourced engine, or perhaps the air is denser in Mladá Boleslav than Wolfsburg!

Curious - you quote the weight as only 1498 kg and yet I thought this was a huge car, bigger than the new Citroen C5 VTR which lards in at 1729 kg according to your figures. Perhaps the Skoda gives a good superficial impression of quality but is missing a lot of steel somewhere? especially as its so loaded with equipment too.

I've seen the weight of the C5 quoted as around 1500kg elsewhere.

This looks like a lot of car, both figuratively and literally, for £15k. It's a funny-looking thing though, almost stretched-looking. 

This looks like the last Rover-MG saloon that rolled out of the Midlands factory while Pheonix executives lined their pockets, sorry, lined their pension schemes before its destruction, sorry, demise under their p*ss poor management.

I remember Steve Cropley wrote "what a hard job" they had (BMW gave them a Half £Billion Golden handshake!) and how the Pheonix Frauds, sorry, Four had done "as good a job as possible" - cue sick bags!

My advise to Skoda is drop your pants and discount, discount, discount if you want to sell this dull sofa on wheels coz Rover actually did the design much better 15yrs ago.

Looks like the 9-5 - thats not a compliment.

Why has Steve even mentioned BMW and Audi in his report, surely target for this car is the french fodder andf Koreans... 

 

Autocar:

comfort levels are class-leading

Better than the new C5? Seriously?

It sounds to me like you guys are very worried about Skoda yet again producing a car near or actually at the top of it’s group. They consistently clean up or sit near the top in JD Power awards and have build quality that humbles many of it’s so called competitors. And before anyone says I am a Skoda owner, I should add I own a 123D BMW. More power to Skoda’s elbow I say.

Interesting design, looks like Skoda may have another hit on their hands, particularly at these prices. I wonder how soon it will be before the cheaper versions will arrive in the local mini-cab/get-to-airport fleets ? I think I'd also worry a bit about that strange tailgate/boot-lid arrangement and the reliability/durability of it after a few years of continuous daily wear and tear.

I'm sure it's going to be reliable going by past Skoda efforts - they continually win awards for best Customer Satisfaction, beating the likes of BMW, Volkswagen and even Lexus sometimes! I think they've got another winner on their hands, too. It has a sort of quirkiness about it, and it definitely looks solid and durable. I love the umbrella holders in the doors, and the Skoda Umbrellas which come with it. It's mega roomy, too. I prefer it to the Mondeo, simply because it's going to be cheaper and more reliable. It's also going to have way more spec. It's roomier, too. And I think we'll leave the taxi drivers and airport rental companies with the now-very-dull-looking Octavia. I bet they'll come up with a great advertising campaign for the Superb, though!

BY the way, does anyone know if Skoda are going to be at this year's London Motorshow? I'd really like to see the Superb before it hits our streets in September - and I've also heard rumours that they'll be debuting the Yeti there. So, is the rest of the Volkswagen group going to be there?

I have one thing to say:

 

It looks awful

 

 That is all. Thankyou