LS108

Ups, ok, standard springs. There I have no clue No, Volvo is FWD and with 245 wide winter tires I have to be very careful not to go where I am not supposed to go. Unfortunately in the photo was my way home after one snow fall in the middle of April (!). I went for 4x4 Skoda, finally. My first AWD car.

Leon --> I am not sure if this air suspension comes from eibach, but I guess you can easily find lowered springs for Superb, e.g.: http://www.motorsportworld.co.uk/framefixsbc2.asp?page=3&make=SKODA%20&model=SUPERB&ProdGroup=Performance%20Suspension&ProdSubGroup=Lowering%20Springs From other hand, everything comes at it's price. My Volvo has 20 mm lowered suspension and sometimes during winter I wish it would be standard: http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/27/img0143pus.jpg/

Hello, I do quite many long trips on various motorways, where speed might vary from 140 to 200 km/h, depending on country. My current Volvo V70 is not so good at sound isolation, so at speeds above 150 km/h eventually I am getting tired from wind/tires (245 tires) noise (engine noise is well isolated). What about Superb? I some reviews it's getting praised for very good sound isolation, some say, that it could be better. What is your opinion? Thank you. PS. I am waiting for Superb Combi III 2.0 TDI 4x4 to be delivered in some months.

Leon --> in Lithuania you can order Superb III with sport suspension - 123 mm ground clearance. It is not available with 16' wheels and 2.0TDI 4x4 and 1.8TSI 4x4. So it should be (theoretically) possible in other markets as well...some day. Or you would like to go this low: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEqQPhGAw2U

Hello, it might be slight off topic, because it was not the “test-drive”, as I use the car 2,5 years already. But I thought maybe some information will be useful for somebody considering Volvo. So – Volvo V70 D5 (2.4L 5 cylinder diesel engine with twin-turbo). Originally it had 205 HP / 420 Nm, but after one year ownership Volvo signed the deal with Polestar tuning company, so I had possibility to re-map it without loosing warranty. So now it has 225 HP and 460 Nm. The car has manual gearbox, sport suspension with automatic self levelling and rides on R18 245/40 wheels. Some pictures: http://imageshack.us.../img0130lx.jpg/ http://imageshack.us.../img0132bs.jpg/ http://imageshack.us.../photo17lk.jpg/ http://imageshack.us...s/818/5ma4.jpg/ As you can imagine – ride is quite firm, at bad roads – even uncomfortable. But on good roads – it is a big pleasure, car is literally stick to the surface. You can go into corners at some crazy speeds. Torque speaks for itself – at 3rd or 4th gears are pushed to the seat when putting pedal to the ground. Also you can put 6th at 60 km/h and have no problem with accelerating on the same gear. Max speed is 210 km/h, 0-100 km/h 7,8 sec. One big complaint from my side – steering. There is almost no feeling of the road via steering – especially when doing fast corners – you have no idea what wheels are doing...That is really annoying. My second complaint – is the space at the back seats. I am 193 cm, and only kids can sit behind me, although wheelbase is 2,8m. Audi A4, BMW 3 – have more space in the back...But the boot is huge – it has boxy shape, so if you use net which separate boot from passenger space – you can fill it to the top with enormous amount of stuff. Interior is minimalistic, Scandinavian. I did 103.000 km with almost no problem, just one time had to repair minor issue in rear suspension. Of course I have to repair rims regularly, but I was stupid myself choosing low profile rims for such a bad roads. All in all – it is a brilliant car for its money, and the engine is superb and I have so much fun using this big torque (during summer. Winter is another story). It’s a pity, that Volvo will stop producing D5 soon. From other hand – Volvo needs big changes, because V70 was only mildly facelifted while competitors grew in size. So not it is almost the same size as Audi A4 or BMW F31, which is supposed to compete with V60. That’s why Volvo is working on their own platform for 2015 V70 and S80. That's all If you have some questions, I will try to answer

Thank you, David. I've put 3 spoke steering wheel with shift paddles to ordered options list, so I think it will help to get more control. Unfortunately bigger engine was not possible due to Co2 restrictions, re-map it is also not an option, as I would lose warranty. From other hand - 170 HP / 350 Nm + DSG - seems good combination to me, while testdriving I had lots of fun on coutry roads.

I have been driving manuals for all my driving career (20 years or so) - and enjoy feeling of decision making a lot. Also while driving in deep snow - manual helps when stuck or engine braking on ice. But this time I wanted 4x4, and it was possible only with DSG. So I took 170 HP version with DSG for test drive. Here are my impressions. First of all - it shifts impressively. Quickly and without noticing it. I liked it. But I have to admit I will have to change driving habits. With my manual Volvo with 460 Nm torque I usually overtake like this - put to 4th while driving behind the truck, then push pedal to the floor and put to 5th after overtaking. With DSG it is in 6th, then you push the pedal to the floor, then wait a bit, then it kick downs to 3rd, engine revs (you can hear the engine even with music playing loud), then puts to 4th and you finish overtaking. Also in the city it is in 6th doing 50 km/h and revs are below 1500. If you start going uphill, o push the pedal just little bit - engine stugles at low revs for some time until it down****s to 4th. You can feel unpleasant vibration while engine works at low revs. But the good news is, that DSG brain is adjusting itself to the driver, so after some time it shat adopt itself to my heavy foot.

Then I am sorry for making this assumption... However it is rather strange, why don't they offer at least sports package (rough roads package probably is not needed - as the chance of 16cm snow on public UK roads probably is low. They are offering only rough roads package in Russia and Ukraine as far as I know) I wonder if it could be possible to order sports suspension from Skoda accesories cataloque, as I did with boot spoiler from Sports package?

I am afraid it is still Haldex4 - at least this was in description of local dealers website...

It should arrive mid February. So I will spend majority of winter with Volvo. Have put new winter tyres though. :-)

Sorry, forgot to mention - location: Vilnius, Lithuania.

Then go for the White if you choose between two. I supposed to be free of charge (I hope it is the same in all regions), looks good and you can add some gadgets for saved money.

Yes, you can - lowered to 123mm

scottprague - looks very very good! Sorry for offtopic, but can you tell your impressions about ride with 18' wheels? On my current car (Volvo) I have 18' 245/40 tyres+sport suspension and it is too much. Had to repair 3 rims and the ride is not so comfortable.

I've recently ordered Superb Combi Black Magic (that is color code ) with Black Leather/Alcantara interior. Tinted windows of course. Ivory interior was not the option - lots of long (I mean 12-20 hours) travel with 4-5 people on board - only black interior can survive this Almost all cars I've had were black - mainly due to the reason, that, being a man, I was not so happy additionally paying for the color and black usual is on free of charge list. But in Skoda case - white and blue was free of charge. I know that clean white with tinted windows and panoramic sunroof (which is black) - looks gorgeous. But I did not wanted sunroof and also you do not see often black Superb, at least in Lithuania :D So I went for black.

Might be slight off-topic, but here is the opinion from the country where winter tires is a must from Nov till April Be or not to be depends also on average temperatures during winter season. Summer tires are loosing their performance under +5C, not talking about below zero. They will also wear quicker during winter. From other hand - if during winter there are longer periods of temperatures above +10-12C - winter tires also loosing their performance and wearing quicker. If there are periods of positive temperature during winter - I would go for winter tires with harder rubber (not for high speed winter tires which usually have soft rubber in order to provide good traction at very high speeds). I wish you safe winter

Hello everybody, recently ordered new Skoda Superb Combi 2.0TDI 4x4 DSG, therefore decided to enter this forum (to be honest - was spending here hours and hours before making the decision - so thank you for posting your opinions). For last 10 or so years I am driving company cars for 3 years-period (buying new and doing 100.000 km or so during 3 years). Due to my needs (lots of long travels in Europe with 4-5 people and gear) I have been choosing various Estates. Had Mazda 6 Estate 2.0i (slowish, especially with 5 people on board), then Toyota Avensis Wagon 2.2 d-cat (177 Hp/400Nm) - good car, but not reliable, had to skip it even before 3 year period ended. Then - one of my dream-cars SAAB 9-5 Aero SportsWagon (260 Hp/ 360 Nm) - what a car it was! Sadly not reliable as well, started consume oil at 70.000 km. But had so many good moments with it, epecialy in Autobahn It the moment I am using Volvo V70 model year 2011 with D5 diesel engine, tuned by Polestar - 225 Hp / 460 Nm. http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/90/img0130lx.jpg/ http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/593/img0132bs.jpg/ http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/842/photo17lk.jpg/ http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/818/5ma4.jpg/ In addition to 460 Nm it has sports suspension, R18 wheels (which was a BIG mistake for Lithuanian roads) and self levelling system. I like the engine so much, especialy the fact that it is paired with manual gearbox. But the steering is terrible, no feel of the road whatsoever... The car is so reliable, done 103.000 km now, only one minor fix in suspension was done. However 3 year period is ending, so I have to choose the new one. As announced - Volvo is moving away from 5 and 6 cyl engines, offering now 4 cylinders with turbo - as of diesel only in 181 Hp / 400 Nm. They still have D5 but only with automatic gearbox in our market - and too high price for me. So Volvo was out of the options this time, also room on the back seats started to annoy me - I am 193 cm and only kids or little ladies can sit on the back seat behind my. When somebody else driving - I have almost no chance to sleep on back seat, even if not so tall driver is driving. The boot is huge, though. Skoda was the brand I liked for a long time, also I like Czechs - they are nice and friendly people, have many friends there. So I did some investigation, did the test drive and ordered one The biggest concern was the difference in power - will it be big disapointment after Volvo. I testdrived 170 Hp / 350 Nm FWD - was not so bad, even better than expected. It is cleverly packaged with DSG. Also I was kind of tired of 6 months on snow-ice with FWD, so Skoda was basically the only option with 4x4 and decent diesel engine. I ordered Elegance version in addition with Kessy, webasto heater, improved audio system, electric boot, Bluetooth, 3 spoke steering wheel with shift paddles (doing some driving in mountains). So sorry for such long story Have a nice day and weekend.