miko15

The extra weight of those driving gloves added vital milliseconds to the time!

I have recently swapped from a 190 SE L Exec Hatch to a 280 and while hunting around, consuming Auto Trader daily (the Skoda Used Cars web pages is not the best, IMHO), I was offered some startling discounts. There's a 280 Hatch still for sale at £29,999 at the moment and I was offered £27k to clear it off their books, with a PX on my Superb that was £2k above other offers. Perhaps squeeze them a little? There are a lot of cars out there that are not shifting.

I traded in my 190 SE L Exec DSG Hatch a month ago for a used 280 4x4 L&K Hatch and I haven't stopped smiling since! I think the 190 has a great surge of power above 60mph (having previously driven a Superb 1.4tsi 150 for a week and a couple of Octavia 150TDI's with DSG for a few years) But the 280 4x4 is IMHO so much better than the 190 - giving greater poise and grip along A roads for example. And the quieter engine when just going about it's usual business. And it's the engine coupled with the 4x4 that brings the smiles - the 4x4 really enables the astonishing (or is it bonkers?) acceleration from 0 all the way up to whenever you take your foot off the pedal on a German Autobahn. The only thing that's missing on the car is a long range rearward facing lens to catch the looks on driver's faces, who might be wondering what just happened to the "just a Skoda Superb in Business Grey" that's vanished into the distance on the motorway. After years of driving diesels, I'm the bloke standing at the pump in the Shell station muttering to himself: "Unleaded, green pump, unleaded, green pump". And driving out with that smile..

I enjoy driving the 190 SEL DSG on the motorways, having done four 540 mile round trips up North to Lancs in the last two months, so along the M4, up the A34, the enjoyable M40 and then the brief open road of the M6 Toll road before hitting the madness of the M6, including the sleep-inducing 50mph in the roadworks up to Sandbach, followed by the slog up to Preston, the right turn to Burnley before the A Road to Skipton. I don't hang about, especially homeward bound which is always preferable to be heading! A while back, I was making that journey in an Octavia 150bhp diesel with DSG and the seat was just not big enough for me and the bigger Superb seat makes it a far easier and more enjoyable journey. But I find the 190 in town traffic is tedious. Common sense would suggest continue driving with the diesel and enjoy that power after 60mph and higher, as well as the lower fuel costs. I am not a traffic light racer so 0-60mph in 5.8 seconds with 4x4 is not particularly relevant (but may happen when the German cars without indicators line up..) However, as a few Briskodian's have posted, we are dead a long time and it's now time to enjoy the quieter petrol mixed with a bit of excitement and what better than the 280?! Thanks for your valued views too, Nick and Alex - I am going to sleep on it and decide tomorrow whether to go for the used SEL or go up to the used L&K. I suspect I will opt to go for the SEL.

Hi All I have a 190 SEL Hatch and am looking to swop for a 280 SEL 4 x 4 Hatch - how much difference will not having DCC make to the overall driving experience?

3,500 miles and 5 weeks into ownership of an April 16 registered Superb Hatch SE L Exec 190bhp DSG, after buying it with 8,500 miles on the clock. I had previously bought a Superb Hatch 1.4Tsi SE DSG, which was sublime except for the manually adjustable driver's seat. So a week later I swapped it for the current car with the electric chair to give me more thigh support. Likes: After years of driving 150bhp diesels (2 x Octavia, Ford Mondeo, VW Passat Estate etc), the 190bhp is great fun from about 60mph upwards. The electric boot is great and I would give up the reversing camera before that feature. The Apple CarPlay, especially the Message App is brilliant - as a joke my wife sent me a message: "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" which Siri spoke perfectly. I am still unsure if she was describing me or the Superb. Dislikes / issues: There is a rattle which seems to be coming from the parcel shelf where it slides into the groove, so I shall take the shelf out tomorrow and drive around for a while to try and locate / confirm the rattle. I drove 22 x 140 mile trips round the southern parts of the M25 to Kent over the past three months, while working with a client down there, firstly in my Octavia with Michelin Cross Climate tyres, the 1.4Tsi with the Pirelli R18's and then with this 190bhp Superb with the same R18's. There's a concrete surface section between J10 / A3 and Leatherhead, where the Octavia and the 1.4Tsi were fine but the current 190bhp's tyre noise is incredibly loud at higher speeds, to the point of having to slow down. I haven't got a factory fit integrated towbar, which I would like for carrying bikes and I chickened out of a retro-fit via a dealer's third party fitter for fear of the car being pulled apart (a few bad experiences from the bad old days of mobile phones being misfitted into my company cars, perhaps?). That integrated tow bar looks to be well worth the investment to save on potential rattles after a retro (mis) fit. I have to admit to wondering what the 220 or 280 would be like to drive and even looked at a Passat Estate BiTDI online last night - maybe it's a mid-life crisis rather than me being bored with the Skoda Superb!

The Auto hold feature is brilliant! The only thing is, when I get in my wife's Ford Focus and expect the same thing but there's this great big handbrake thingy. Just as I expect the rear hatch on the Focus to power itself up...

I took this photo of my Superb SE L Exec 190 just before 6am in a hotel car park near Skipton last month. The drive down to Skipton a few minutes later was memorable, with the mist hanging across the fields. Another Skoda moment to remember

I traded in an Octavia 2.0 150bhp diesel last week for a 1.4tsi Superb SE. There's a significant difference in noise with the petrol engine being very quiet in comparison. The DSG added to the serene experience and there is a lot of power there. Unfortunately, I just couldn't get myself comfortable in the manual seat which wasn't supporting my legs under the knees as much as I expected. So I swapped it for a SE L Exec 190bhp diesel this week and having done three 140 mile return trips around the M25 these past three days with two more to follow, the difference is certainly noticeable. The mid range torque of the diesel is great for the motorways although the trade-off is the increased noise of the engine. For me, the 190 is better for my circumstances with long mileages up and down the M6 etc, allowing effortless acceleration between lanes, whereas with the 1.4Tsi I found it wasn't quite as effortless - perhaps the 220 petrol would have been a good mix of brawn and quietness. Whatever the engine, having owned the Superb 1 (and suffered the Pollen Filter issues), the Superb 3 is simply brilliant.

Thanks all for your feedback. vegit8: When I sat in the first Octavia this morning at the dealer, I took my wallet and phone out of my pockets and by the time I sat in the next Octavia, I realised I had left them in the first car! baxlobs: So I am not the only one finding the seat narrow! On a 250 mile journey (with a few stops) from Hampshire to Lancs last month, my left buttock was so numb that I had to do all sorts of movements - even Olga Korbut would have been impressed.. rdb: I think the 2.0 litre engine will also give me that less stressed driving experience. I did have the Superb (VW Passat derivative with the 2.5 tdi) which was so relaxing to drive and nowadays the roads seem to be more stop/start so the manual is too tiring. Gerrycan: I agree - it's a personal thing with seats. I take my own pillow to hotels in the UK, but I suppose fixing my favourite car seat into each car would be more difficult. Looks like a spot of negotiating with a Skoda dealer is on the cards

Good afternoon all I hope you may be able to give me some advice, please. I am currently driving an Octavia L&K Hatchback 2.0 tdi (2009 / manual ). I have found the drivers seat too small - it may because of the electric seat making the seat smaller, but I find I that my right thigh is almost hanging over the edge (I am 6"2" tall). The pedal position also seems to be a bit skewed and so I end up getting a numb backside after 90 mins driving and a sore right thigh / hip. The seat goes back far enough, but it just doesn't feel right overall. Having sat in a couple of "new" Octavia's (SE and Elegance trim) at a dealer today, both driver's seat's are much broader at the front. I also want to switch to automatic due to future long drives up and down the M6 / around M42 etc where stop/start traffic seems to be the norm these days. Has anyone made a similar switch and found the new Octavia a much more comfortable car? Is the 1.6tdi auto acceptable for power etc or would I find the change from the 2.0 tdi down to 1.6tdi giving me too little power / flexibility? The MkIII does seem to be sturdier and more spacious than my MkII and perhaps the time has come to give in and trade up! Thanks for any advice