YvesD

Results are in.... Weighbridge operators found it quite amusing putting a private car on their rig were very helpful and didn't charge me! As expected the car is quite a bit heavier than the marketing figures. It weighed in at 1610kg with an empty fuel tank and no diver inside. Add approx 40kg of fuel for a 90% fuel fill and 75kg for a driver and we have an operating weight of 1725kg. Hope that's useful info for others too. My car has quite a few options but not the sunroof, spare wheel or towbar which are the big ticket extra weight items.

Keep the advice coming please, it's very helpful to me. Right, I've taken everything out of the car that it wasn't born with and run the fuel tank almost empty to get the most accurate lightest weight as possible. Should be on the weighbridge at around 7am in the morning. Exciting huh? ????

For interest, I'm taking my car to the local public weighbridge this week to find out what it actually weighs. Will post up with findings asap.

In another twist. You are supposed to have the triangle in the car so it can be taken out and erected forthwith. Same with the high visibility vests. They need to be in the cabin too.

That's proper dirty. 3 penalty points for the obscured number plate too!

Yes, much more important!

Sounds very expensive. Pick up a triangle cheap at Halfords and a generic bulb pack from powerbulbs website. You are not expected to carry let alone change HID xenon lamps.

Yes, it would have to be. The tax changes make a big difference on the 280 combi I'm looking at, it would be over £40k list too so get hammered there too.

Is it too late to squeeze a factory order in before the VED change in April?

Nice review. Sounds like Skoda loaded your test car with every available option though, many of the features you describe are cost options here in the UK. A similarly spacified car here would be around £45000, how does that translate to NZ $ ?

Hi, what I'm trying to convey is that our oil is in nowhere near as good a condition as people think it is, even at relatively low mileage. Whether that's a concern for owners is a different matter of course. Cheers

She's ready for fresh oil for sure. Your variable service algorithms confirm it. Cheers

If I may respectfully disagree, all season are much better than summer tyres in freezing temps, its the summer tyres that are dangerous! My cars have full winters on one of them and all season on the other. Both are incomparably better than summer fitments at this time of year. Oh, and by the way, you can safely run full winters all year round without much of a compromise in the warmer months. Been there, done it. Yves

All true, independent oil analysis will also confirm that the additive packs are already breaking down at 4k plus miles, particularly on the lubricity measure. Contamination is also there. Car manufacturers are happy to promote long service intervals as it attracts the fleet buyers. Also means components will wear out faster than necessary meaning sooner product replacement. Win win for them.

Sorry, the combi version.

Anyone know how much added weight there is with this option? I'm guessing that least 20kg?

How far are they protruding? 1mm or less? Might just need tapping in a bit more with a rubber mallet or similar. If they are nearly but not quite flush don't worry, torquing up your bolts will crush the plastic into submission if needed! You could always have a bespoke perfectly engineered set made, I've done that in the past, find a good engineering workshop to assist. Cheers Yves

Regarding he summer performance you won't really know until you've tried it but as mentioned before I've driven on very hot tarmac in France this summer with no issues. Tyres have done approx 20000 miles so far, there's 5-6mm tread left all round.

Hi, if your concerned that it's not cold enough yet? don't be. I've run my winters all year and they are absolutely fine. No noticeable increase in wear over summer tyres and yes the performance is more than adequate too.

I don't think we can have this option on our Skodas yet?

Just a comment on tyres alone, I've run my Nokian WR3 225/45 winter tyres all year including two trips to France in the summer, the later one in 30 plus heat. No problem with wear or grip on the winters and believe it or not they worked particularly well on the hot smooth tarmac in the Jura region of France! Can't fault them really.

Just getting back to the kerb weight issue on the Superb, after a bit of research I suspect these cars are actually significantly heavier than the sales brochure figure, especially if you've ticked most of the options list, like we do! For example, the kerb weight doesn't even include the aircon system according to my owners manual, how strange is that? Also, the manual helpfully informs me that the vehicle could be anywhere between 1656 and 1814kg depending on options fitted! Think mine will be in the middle of that range somewhere. All of this helps to explain why this is such a good towcar, not only is it a very stable and capable chassis, especially in 4x4 guise, it's also much heavier than the baseline figures suggest. Happy days ????

Just my preference of course but I'm not at all concerned about fuel economy when towing, only whether the car excites me for the 95% of the time when it's not towing and it's capabilities/safety when it is. Acceptable trade off methinks

Hang on....