For some, an executive car is all about the badge contest in the work car park. But there are those for whom space and value for money are more important, and in both of those departments, nothing can hold a candle to the Skoda Superb, which looks like a bargain used buy.
If ‘value for money’, practicality or indeed the very idea of such a strait-laced saloon as the Superb is enough to send you to sleep, don’t worry because this Czech executive has a firecracker or two up its sleeve.
It sits on a stretched version of the Volkswagen Golf’s underpinnings and comes with a huge range of excellent engines and a choice of six-speed manual or dual-clutch automatic (DSG) gearboxes.
Click here to buy your next used Superb from Autocar
The sensible choice is the 1.4 TSI 150, or the 1.5 TSI 150 that replaced it in 2018. Or if you want diesel, the 2.0 TDI 150 promises 55.4mpg.
But you may be swayed by the more explosive 2.0-litre petrol with 217bhp or 276bhp. It’s a quiet, smooth engine, and in 2.0 TSI 280 guise with all-wheel drive and the slick DSG, it will crack 0-62mph in 5.8sec. Go for this and you’re getting a wildly capable car in disguise.
The Superb rides and handles well, too. Sure, it doesn’t quite have the dynamic panache of a BMW 5 Series – but it costs a lot less, and it’s a refined motorway cruiser.
Inside, it feels suitably executive-like; a little lacking in character but not in class, with fine materials and a pleasing level of tech. But practicality is where the Superb sits head and shoulders (and stomach and legs) above its rivals. The rear seats are fit for a limo and the boot could double up as a live music venue.
Even entry-level S models are well equipped, with air-con, Bluetooth, a DAB radio and, initially, a 6.5in touchscreen. The extensive trim level list continues up through SE, SE Technology, SE L Executive and range-topping Laurin & Klement models. Sportline and Sportline Plus trims joined the range later, but SE Technology is the best of the bunch. The Superb was facelifted last year, but the changes weren’t substantial. So if you stick with a tidy earlier model, then you won’t be missing out on anything.
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Instead
of telling people that you could buy this and save yourself lots of money when buying essentially the same car from one of the other sister vag brands you decide to reference this thing to a 5 series in which case BMW must be idiots, incompetent or losing it if they are up for comparison to a 4th rate VAG product and to something cobbled together from a golf.
405line wrote:
It's cobbled together from VW Group (not VAG) components - not a Golf, a Golf just utilises a large number of those components too, same a Passat, Leon, Tiguan and so on... This is a Superb, that doesn't mean it's a Golf.
Marc wrote:
Why correct the usage of vag, yes technically it's Volkswagen AG but I see no reason why that can't be abbreviated to vag in a comments section, we all know what people mean, it's a way of grouping all vw group products together in as abbreviated fashion as possible.
Si
"Executive"
WTF does this word even mean in a 21st century motoring context? It sounds like a throwback to the 1950s, to a class-ridden, more deferential age, to a time when women didn't drive, to a time when working folk 'knew their place' and shuffled around in Ford Anglias and Morris Minors. Are teachers, pensioners and stay-at-home mums still not supposed to buy anything bigger than a Focus? These people should be allowed to drive Superbs (or indeed any nice car) without being made to feel that they're 'getting above themselves' or breaking some unspoken rule of British etiquette. Please stop using the E-word; 'medium-sized' or 'upper-medium' do the job perfectly.
"Limo-like space"? In resorting to tired cliche, Mr Revolta - or his sub-editor - demonstrates that he's probably never ridden in a real limousine.
280
Got to agree about the hidden talents in this model.
It wafts along like a big limo when driving normally but it sure can pick up its heels when asked!