Arianne

@TerryMcK , thank you too. You are right, the biggest improvement while driving on snow is undoubtedly the winter tyres with sufficient tread depth. Winter tyres plus 4x4 is the ultimate in ‘no stress’. For us in Scotland with our regular trips to the Alps for skiing, it holds true value as it enhances our holiday by removing anxiety - we know that, except in the case of deep, drifting snow, we will make it up to the alpine resort and thereafter to our favourite ski lift stations and restaurants with the breathtaking views. Thank you for confirmation of the fuel economy for the 265bhp petrol unit. I tend to only deploy the power for overtaking on those country roads since I want to spend as little time on the wrong side of the white line as is possible. I’ve got over the urge to drive at 120mph along the autobahn or utilise the Velar’s 700Nm of torque on every occasion. Been there, done that and seen the fuel indicator visibly drop as a result. The limousine like cruising is more my thing these days, along with the ability to corner without panic and execute the overtaking of the Honda Jazz, Nissan Micra or Tesco articulated lorry restricted to 40mph for our safety! I checked the insurance and £250 p.a. is about typical for me, the wife and our postcode for this Superb. I currently pay £450 p.a. for the Velar with Aviva. It’ll be nice having an understated car that isn’t prone to being stolen. We had to fit a Ghost immobiliser to the Velar and several insurers no longer offer cover! I will check out the estate and hatch / notchback versions although I do appreciate the flexibility of the squared-off tailgate on the estate. Also, it offers me equal or greater space than an SUV but without the issue of wooden dynamics, a high centre of gravity, poor fuel economy due to the drag coefficient etc. For those that have come from so-called premium brands…..how have you found the fit, finish and quality of the latest Superb? I know I can judge it myself when I’m testing it but, more importantly, does it rattle & squeak as you drive it after a few thousand miles? I’ve long been of the opinion that the Superb is the answer for the ‘thinking man or woman’ for good quality motoring at a reasonable price, all things considered. But there is another part of me that says that ‘if it’s too good to be true, it probably is’. Over my 59 years I’ve realised that for every bargain I’ve bagged, I’ve also had to suffer nine ‘misses’. That’s a hit rate which makes no sense. So now I tend to just pay up for perceived quality and be done with it. The trouble is that Land Rover no longer delivers on that promise and, while the Audi, Mercedes and BMW brands look classier inside their cabins, I don’t like the external design language and I think the quality is little more than skin deep. It’s a brand thing rather than one of substance (dealers of all marques are inconsistent, irrespective of the hourly labour rate). Anyway, honestly please……..the quality question for your Superbs as long-term owners? Only you can answer this as long-term to AutoExpress magazine is six-months on their fleet! A YouTube review is 20mins. Thank you again if you have an opinion. David.

@logiclee , thanks hugely helpful. Thank you so much.

Okay, thank you. Sadly, it’s the estate that we are wanting to buy because of all the junk we take with us on holiday etc. Our previous XC90 was cavernous and, whilst the Velar is smaller than the Superb, we’ve still moved fridge-freezers that we have sold on Gumtree following our kitchen renovation - the car is a lifestyle thing for us. I will test drive an estate equipped with DCC and listen out for it over some broken tarmac. Hopefully it’s not too intrusive. Can I ask about purchase options? I see that Skoda are making a £3.5k contribution from the list price if the car is financed through their PCP scheme. I don’t like PCP. We tried it once on the Volvo XC60 and I found myself forever monitoring the mileage. In addition, it takes me about a year to ‘feel at one’ with a new car such that it has all become part of my unconscious thinking and behaviour. A three year PCP just wasn’t long enough for me. And of course now, I don’t want to pay an interest rate which is 2.5% greater than that which we receive on my savings (don’t even mention the damage Mr Trump has inflicted upon my stocks and bonds). So, I am wondering about taking the PCP and then, a few days after it begins, but outside of the statutory cooling off period, requesting a settlement figure and just paying it all off. They’ll be an interest charge but that’ll presumably be significantly less than the manufacturer’s deposit contribution? Plus the other add-ons from buying brand new will still hold good? The 0% offer doesn’t include any deposit contribution. Buying nearly new offers nothing, or next to nothing, and I’ll struggle to find the exact specification that we want, especially in 2.0 TSi with 4x4 L&K trim. I appreciate that a nearly new car (no more than a year old) has a ticket price which is a lot less than a brand new car though - about £39k for the rare examples which have the options we want. But it’s almost impossible to find one in the right colour, with the right interior and options (sunroof, family pack, cognac). Right now there is only one TSi petrol L&K 4x4 available and it’s not close to the specification we would be seeking. Paying cash up front is also unlikely to secure much joy according to everything I’ve read. Does the Skoda community have any thoughts on this that might prove helpful? Advice? Thanks again.

Thank you both, very helpful. Having spoken with my son (we are both petrolheads), my preference now is for the petrol rather than the diesel. I’ve checked the technical data and now I see that the petrol torque kicks in at lower revs and holds for a much longer range. The smaller turbo probably helps? This version is only a little more expensive to purchase than the TDi. Does anyone hear or get annoyed by the DCC Plus rear suspension noises? There’s a few mentions about it online but I wonder what your actual experiences have been. Thanks again.

Dear Superb owners. We are actively considering a car change this year. We have owned our Velar from new and we configured her to our personal needs and wants, as we will with the Superb (albeit the options are somewhat less confusing). She now is approaching eight years old with 80k miles on the clock. I’m seriously considering a brand new L&K Superb. Having previously owned an XC90 (2006), then an XC60 (2014) before buying the Velar (2017), I’ve decided that I have grown tired of the SUV thing. The XC90 was great on the motorway but a complete pain on faster country roads. Straight ahead was fine but cornering required active thinking. The XC60 was better at cornering but only by suffering unforgiving suspension in R-design form. Concrete motorways and cats eyes were its worst enemies. The Velar has air suspension and configurable dynamics which is a huge improvement and delivers a very good ride. But it’s a technically complex setup which is prone to failure (many components and electronic sensors). It’s expensive when it goes wrong (we have the Land Rover extended warranty which is a necessity but reliability is becoming the concern now). Anyhow, I’ve decided that riding high isn’t so much fun anymore and, since our other car is a Mercedes SLC200, we know what being at normal height means. Plus, every man and his dog seems to have the indentikit SUV now. It’s time to move on and my quest for an SUV that rides well with good handling has only be achieved by expensive, complex and fragile technology on the Velar. My budget cannot commit to more of the same, even if I wanted to - which I don’t. The Superb has more legroom and luggage space than our Velar and I am not looking for sports car dynamics, just something that handles in a decent and predictable manner with a comfortable ride. Here’s my first question then. Do I order the petrol or diesel engine? It must be the 4x4 version because we live in Scotland and travel to the Alps every winter skiing. I’ve tried FWD with winter tyres and it’s just a faff - shovel, wheel chains, frozen fingers etc. With 4x4 it has never been necessary to mount the chains or dig the car out (the XC90 had the Haldex system that I think Skoda uses, unlike the more comprehensive Land Rover system. The XC60 was FWD only and was hopeless on steep inclines even with fresh winter tyres). I’ve had diesels now for years and the V6 in the Velar is one of the best. But, as each year passes, environmental regulations have made the diesel units so much more complicated. And with this has come more issues with glow plug control units, sticky EGR flaps, dosing issues with AdBlu etc. Petrol is technically so much simpler. In an SUV petrol is hopeless because what you want is torque. Petrol economy on the Velar is eye watering such that it’s prohibitive really. I’ve tried petrol the Discovery Sport as a courtesy car and it’s not a good fit. But with a Superb it may be different? The petrol unit has plenty of oomph on paper but what is it like in real life? The economy, the mid-range (50-70mph) acceleration etc? It’s tempting. The diesel in the Superb is a tried and tested four cylinder lump, not a V6. I’m guessing the petrol would be quieter and have a more pleasing sound around town, especially while warming up? We do about 12k per annum. We have the two big holiday trips (Summer and Winter) each year across Europe to Italy and Austria (about 3,000 miles return each trip). We need it to carry luggage (a lot of it), be a pan-euro motorway cruiser, have the winter snow traction, deliver long-journey comfort so we’re not crippled when we stop at the German services and have a decent sound system (I love my music which we own as lossless FLAC format tracks). For the rest of the year the car does shorter trips to the shops, the swimming pool - typically between 10mins and 30mins duration. I get between 32mpg and 40mpg from our Velar 3.0 V6 diesel right now. These are averages, the latter being across the long holiday pan-euro trips. The petrol Superb wouldn’t be any worse than that would it? I’m tempted by the Superb diesel because of the upper-40s mpg claimed consumption but I’m worried about feeling like I’m back in an old VW Passat diesel from yesteryear (a Royal Bank of Scotland pool company car that I truly hated) and the reliability of all those diesel add-on things necessary for Planet Earth and our lungs - we would plan to keep the Superb until she was seven years old (which is why we configure our cars to our individual preferences rather than just buying stock vehicles). I have some other question but can we start with the power unit, the engine first? It’s a big investment so I want to get this right. Obviously, I will test drive them, although the petrol 4x4 versions are not exactly common as demonstrators at dealers. If it helps, I’m 59 and have been retired for four years (it’s been great). I enjoy driving but have the SLC200 for the fun stuff. I want the Superb to be the comfortable armchair cruiser but one that doesn’t need me to think too carefully when I turn off the A1 at Newcastle and spend a couple of hours heading over the hills of Carter Bar to the Central Scottish Borders where we live. Thank you in advance. I’ve always tried to be helpful on all of my previous forums so I know how valuable the voice of the Superb community can be here too. Best wishes, David.