newbie69

I run the R600 (closed air box) and there is no noise increase at all. The Cup Edition could be louder but then again that's different to exhaust noise and I don't like the open design of the Cup for a few reasons. Not many serious alternatives to be honest for what you're after. And a last thing, a resonated, quality after-market cat-back on these cars will not cause the sound chaos around small towns and villages that some would like to imply. There's plenty of stock exhaust systems out there today that sound 10 times louder (and to some, more annoying) than our 2.0 TSI with an aftermarket exhaust that it's ridiculous to even enter that discussion unless the subject was "hi guys I'd like to run an empty pipe from my turbo all the way to the back of the car, can you help?" I mean Sundays can be slow all-right, but arguing over issues that don't exist and even sounding patronizing about them

What you're after is not so easy or simple as it may sound. To do this right you would need a good after-market cat-back, designed and studied so as to provide the more agrresive sound under acceleration but none of the drone/boom/bad noise that you'd get from just deleting parts from the stock piping. The cheap options on this are always the worse and even some aftermarket ones sound crap so it's not something you'd get done properly (as you describe) with a couple hundred quid. Especially since yours is a valved system, the cost rises even more unless you go down a valve delete path (might actually not be such a bad idea) but unlike the Golf R not many off-the-shelf systems out there that would match the stock tail-pipes and look so it would have to be a custom one with an exhaust specialist that knows what they're doing.

Funny thing is the 280 comes with a valved exhaust to (supposedly) provide extra noise under acceleration in Sport mode. However, unlike the same system on the R, you can't tell if it's on or off since they apparently over muffled the resonator and rear mufflers to give it more of a comfort/cruising character, makes you wonder why they bothered with it in the first place... Now don't tell this to @Nick_H ! He's convinced all hell breaks loose when he's flooring his

I am more or less of the same mindset but really a remap and some cheap suspension mods that I even carried out myself (no installation cost) don't count as serious modding in my book. All in all their cost is more or less equivalent with having ticked a few more extras during ordering plus I always considered these the basic/minimum mods that I would have to do anyway to be able to live with this particular car as it left me a bit underwhelmed as stock (for my standards), then see what I'do from that point on if it weren't enough. I am at that point now and in reality I only consider the real modding to be starting now (if i keep it), when every new upgrade will come with a 4-digit price tag (shocks, brakes, stage 2, haldex controller?), which is why I want to be sure about it, that it will take me where i want to and not act as a temporary stage before blowing it all away for a different car. When modifying a car, you build something personal which might be just right for you and you alone so you shouldn't be expecting to get any significant amount of that cost back (not without going into lots of un-installation trouble anyway).

Not sure but it's possible... It's not a good period to sell anyway and winter is starting so I will soon enter "standby mode" with fast driving and mods which means this decision will move to next spring unless some car that really attracts me comes along... M340i is more tempting than the RS4 to be honest, I feel it would be better to drive than the Audi despite being a bit slower, but that would be more money that I am currently willing to pay for a car that will still be used/abused for daily purposes.

I see. Some free mileage is nice to have for sure and maybe in the future it might mean easier circulation depending on your country's regulations etc. but "IF's" sometimes are too far away/too irrelevant... Performance and tuning wise though, a remapped 272 is at another league completely compared to those hybrids and the cost is around the same (or maybe even higher for the PHEVs being a bit younger and all?) I got this car in order to have careless family carrying during that hardest time of their first years when carrying those huge strollers and all other paraphernalia is a requirement, while also being able to enjoy blasts of decent forward acceleration when I drive on my own. I didn't expect to stick with it for more than 2-3 years but it's hands down such an incredible and complete package that has along this time spoiled me to the extent I can hardly consider anything below an RS4 an (overall) upgrade...

Actually (no offense meant) how come you spending so much time in the Superb forum/threads? Are you considering a 272 as your next car or...? At almost 1000EUR the Haldex controller is not a crazy expensive mod IF it really transforms the way the car drives. I will do some further search on that, I've read a couple of people who have got it in FB groups. If it's not just about getting more traction and putting down big turbo torque figures it's something I can easily consider together with uprated dampers. All that could potentially result in a really different and much more potent Superb driving wise. A few people have put big turbos on the 280/272 and run 500bhp but I haven't heard anyone really improving the driving as a whole, at least to these levels, hmmm.... My "issue" is that I do love my Sportline inside and out and I find it better than many of the cars I'm considering (outside the driving department), all the extras and comfort it offers me are hard or impossible to get anywhere else without spending MUCH more money so if I could bring it close to what I am after driving wise it would be the perfect car for me.

It won't go down 30mm from your 70mm... These measurements are usually taken from the standard car (not the Rough Road springs or Sportline) so you need to add the extra height of the Rough Road pack, if it is 15mm it would go down 30mm + 15mm = 45mm from your current height. If you worry about lowering you could combine B6 with the Sportline springs. Much better control but still a height which leaves quite some clearance in the arches. Height would be same as my stock Sportline probably, more than enough:

Absolutely. You can get a Haldex controller which allows for different torque split depending on conditions you set (% of throttle, gear, speed etc.) over-riding the stock Haldex ECU. I've mostly seen it used from people with highly tuned cars for drag starts etc. no idea if it is a real improvement for fast driving though. The way I see it, drag start or straight line racing it can be beneficial as conditions are more or less standard. For cornering though, ideally you'd need a system that can vary torque split according to conditions and input from several sensors as opposed to a fixed value, essentially what all the latest AWD systems with active rear diffs are offering... Something like this: https://www.vdveer-engineering.nl/index.php/en/products/haldex-controller

My car in this picture is lowered by ~30mm: B12 lowers by 25-40mm so at the highest setting, (25mm) it should be even a little be higher than mine which I think is fine. This depends where you live of-course but mine which is almost 30mm is still fine for most daily situations, speed curbs, ramps etc. Haven't had an issue so far. Yours does not have DCC, correct? Otherwise B12 would not fit without a DCC cancellation kit.

As you can see in the 1st picture (stock), the rear is sitting 5-10mm higher than the front, probably for loading and carrying people without getting lower than front. This is true on many cars also. Now in the 3rd picture where I used the Eiback Pro-Kit (the correct one for my car) but I also added the thicker Audi pads on top (at the rear), the rear is again a bit higher than the front, similar to the stock proportions. If putting just the Eibachs on, you end up with the front and rear at exactly the same height. Looking good on photos but I didn't like how much lower it went when loaded so I brought it back to the stock relative position. If you want my front stock springs send me a PM! I could sell them for a rather small price, not interested in keeping them anyway.

Sorry this looks like it has definitely dropped at the rear too, sure not as much as it would drop if using the springs meant for this car, but this not how the rear sits even on a stock Sportline (it should be higher). This was my stock Sportline before any mods, you can clearly see the rear arch gap being double than the one in your photo of the FWD car using AWD rear springs: What would be the point in keeping it fully at stock height then? Not that it is even possible to do this with AWD springs anyway but just wondering.

I drove it stock for over a year so it wasn't that bad to be honest. I did change the wheels within the first week though and the steering came alive immediately. Then arb (mostly) and springs (to a lesser extent) improved it's abilities even further. Based on my experience and on what other people have reported, Sportline DCC does not exhibit the same issues as other variants or at least to the same extent. Apart from its different springs, I believe the DCC is also set to provide slightly firmer damping on Sportlines because even when stock I never came across the loose behaviour or other complaints owners with L&K DCC were describing. The way it is currently, I am certain a set of sportier dampers would bring it really close to how a proper sports sedan should behave, maybe uprated control arms to top it off and that's it. I'm just not sure if great grip and handling alone is really what I still miss (it's possible) or whether a car with a different bias-behaviour al-together is what I'm really after...

3 posts above ^ As a matter of fact, I happened to drive the latest V60 estate last week actually (in D3 I think). Good and very nice car to be in and I would recommend it to several family people I know but that's about it I think. Nothing particularly sporty that I found about it I'm afraid, especially compared to the current state of my own car (Sportline DCC with uprated springs, anti-roll bar and lightweight wheels). Also design-wise it's set towards a premium, classy feeling rather than a sporty one. In fact the Sportline Superb has much more sport touches both inside and outside (boot spoiler, alcantara, carbon texture panels, a sporty dash, semi-bucket seats etc.) which I quite like. To provide some extra context, everyone who has been in the car or driven it in its current form finds it surprisingly capable both in a straight line and corners on a public road (drivers of 3 series, GTIs and A6 among those) and I reckon that's true. I just miss my track driving and I'm a fun of an even more involving and fun drive, but only up to the point that it can part of a daily family car (even if not as big as Superb), not a separate one.

Pretty much. And a strong map to profit from them of-course

Bigger turbo should bring you at least to 460bhp otherwise there's no point! Stock IS38 can hit 400+ with all supporting mods.

Not according to Bilstein. B6 work fine with lowering springs but they are designed to be used with OEM springs also. Besides, for people that tow or carry heavy cargo, lowering is not an option. "...For shock absorbers heavy loads or trailering are a big challenge. Built to OE quality standards, the BILSTEIN B6 delivers increased performance when demands are high. Even without lowering you will get better vehicle dynamics for a comfortable street performance in town and on the highway..." https://www.bilstein.com/int/en/product/bilstein-b6/

I also found the Cupra estate a better design than the 7.5R estate on the exterior at least. Cupra looked as if it was designed to be an estate from the beginning, the Golf as they stuck a long boot to the hatch. On the interior though the Cupra gave the feeling of a cheaper car but my worst feature was the design of the central console, the angles and orientation were not flattering at all in my eyes. The new Cupra is also looking lovely on the outside and the interior is much improved. The Golf is a bit so and so. If the new Cupra estate shares the exact same tech (front e-lsd, torque vectoring, vehicle dynamics manager) then I might consider it over the new Golf. Oh, but I just remembered it has that idiotic badge now that it became a brand of its own

Of-course it goes away if you press OK, but I guess he just wants to get rid of the message itself, at least in that form...

I went through every possible menu in Skoda Connect yesterday and couldn't find a message customization option anywhere. I wonder if it's an in-car menu option exclusively on the MY20, for sure I haven't seen anything like that on my MY19's menu... I'm curious to get to the bottom of this!

Thought of that (I like the last MX-5 RF quite a lot) but a weekend car is more of a trouble than joy in my eyes. Apart from the double running costs closed parking is near impossible and I wouldn't like to have it just parked outside. And as much I'd like something to throw around I'd still like to get my fix on straight line speed from time to time so it would have to be something much more powerful than an MX-5. Considered a M2 CS, but that brings the worries of owing something which attracts too much attention and is quite a statement about yourself which gets me hesitating.... I appreciate your experiences with those machines, however (I think) an M340i, C43 etc. are not full-bred sports cars and their underpinnings are more akin to the lesser models than to the top dogs you're describing, hence more affordable to maintain? In any case, it's great to read that for someone coming from the cars you describe the Superb does not feel that horrible and that a good aftermarket suspension should most of its issues, it might actually be the most sensible thing (together with a few extra supporting mods...) The other strong candidate remains the new Golf R (in estate form). That ticks the boxes of "affordable maintenance" (largely similar to the Superb apart from the new additions), "low status symbol", "low attention attraction", I'll need a test-drive to crystallize on whether it can offer the improvement I'm after

Agree with several points. Especially the fact that even those more premium cars would mean a downgrade in interior comfort and options unless they are the latest model with full spec, in which case that's more than 20K EUR extra which is something that crosses my price ceiling. I bought the Superb for less than 40K EUR and it was just unbelievable value all things considered. I haven't had such a hard time deciding if I should change to a different car as I do with the Superb, it keeps winning me back every time I make these thoughts. 5 series, E-Class, A6 are disqualified because I'll be faced again with the same problem of trying to make a heavy (in fact heavier than the Superb) and long car, sporty and agile (M5, E63 and RS6 are out of the question unfortunately). It also would take a lot of money to make them faster from where I already stand. So I have set the limit to the D-segment meaning 3 series / C-Class category. A used M3 could juuust be achievable and as much as I absolutely love its looks, my God that interior looks as if it's a decade old... I also will miss the AWD, once you get it is hard to part with it again... Which is why the new M340i looks very appealing (but expensive still...) A used C43 estate ticks many boxes but the rear-end reminds me of a hearse The new Golf R estate sounds like a much more "down-to-earth" choice after all those cars but its specifications sound very very promising and it also offers the "low-profile" status I like (at least compared to the others). Not crazy about the way it looks (can't be happy with anything, can I??) but maybe if i see it in person I'll change my mind...

It definitely ain't broke the reason I am considering a change of some sort is that in its current state it does not fully meet my desire for a more sporty drive. I will spend some more money either way, the question is whether the cost of mods involved starts to make this a false economy compared to buying a different car. I bought the car knowing as stock it won't be perfect for what I am after but that it has the base to build upon. However, a 30K car with 10K mods is always worth much less when selling up than a 40K car despite both cars having cost the same amount of money. I'm not too worried about going much faster than i already go. A downpipe and stage 2 map will probably find their way on the car at some point but it won't be that much different anyway. And to better the times I'm currently seeing with a more expensive car it would mean A LOT of mods and money so this is not the main goal. What I would really like is a closer connection with the road, some more playfulness and adjustability when pushing on, a more involving drive (but not necessarily faster) experience in general. I used to go karting and I was tracking all my capable cars before the Superb so this is something I miss and probably the reason I am having thoughts about those more "focused" machines.

I am nearing the 2 year ownership mark soon with my Sportline 272 and this car has surprised me more than any other before it. Not sure if it was the fact I had low expectations from a "heavy family Skoda" (even though I had another Skoda some years back) or if it is really that good as a package but I definitely can't make up my mind on where to go next, meaning to either a different car or a different state of tuning/performance with this one. Needless to say it has excelled at the daily family duties although I am not the most demanding user in that aspect, not much cargo carrying, no dogs, no towing, no off-roading, just the typical urban family drives and activities that I'm involved in. I've only once needed all of the boot space also, it is mostly empty. In terms of options and comfort it's packed with everything I could tick off and I only now appreciate the amount of luxuries it offers when I look at other potential purchases and I am repeatedly shocked at the features and equipment I see missing (in some cases not even available as an option). Virtual cockpit, RGB ambient lighting all around, electric seats, remote heating, electronic boot with touchless opening/closing, adaptive cruise control with lane guidance just some of the examples I appreciate every day but the list could go on for a few pages. The only cars that come close it in terms of equipment would be latest models from 5 series, A6 and E-Class if, on a full spec. Performance wise it's a car that with just a remap and an intake is hitting 60mph in 3.8" and the 1/4 mile at 12.2" and with some basic suspension mods (lightweight wheels, firmer rear arb, springs) is now able to corner decently. The DCC definitely helps in that although I crave more in that department as I've always enjoyed sharp cars. My single "issue" so to speak is that it lacks a distinct sporty character. As I said it has considerably improved since stock, and most people are hugely impressed by it when taken for a drive, but the best way to put it is that it feels much more like a capable family car/cruiser that can accelerate and corner much better than expected, rather than a true sports saloon that can also do the family stuff all-right (get the difference?) So apparently there's two ways I could go forward: a) Stick with it and continue to improve it: Next things would have to be uprated dampers or coilovers and bigger brakes and further stage 2 tuning. Estimated cost around 4-5K EUR but i still would not be able to address everything I'd like to. b) Switch to something sportier from factory which I would only touch in terms of a stage 1 remap and (maybe) springs if it sat too high although I'd rather avoid that. That "something" would have to be inherently more playful and able to handle a few hot laps (not racing) around a track in stock form without worrying how to return home and be more involving due to its drivetrain setup. For option b) the logical choices are 335i/M340i, C43 estate, Golf R / Cupra estate, (no Audi below an RS4 would be a real upgrade in terms of driving so that's ruled out) According to current market prices in Sweden I could get decent money for a 2019 car with my low mileage and equipment so it makes option B tempting. The problem is I find issues with almost all cars I've shortlisted: F30/31 335i/340i - gorgeous on the outside, pretty dated and dull on the inside, I'd honestly take the Superb's cabin with a digital cockpit any day (wife agrees to that too) G20/21 340i - Lovely car overall, not yet in the price range I'd ideally like to remain though C43 - love the exterior, interior not so much. Better than the F30 but something in that main screen and analog speedos from 2017-18 is not looking so great for an upgrade I've also got a "fear" against the premium German brands in that they attract all sorts of unwanted attention that I'd rather not be associated with. 7.5 Golf R - Essentially same car but with slightly firmer suspension, yet the overall behaviour would remain the same Cupra estate - as above Now there is a car which looks very promising: The Mk8 Golf R unveiled yesterday (in estate form, not shown yet): Finally, an e-diff at the front and a proper torque vectoring system at the rear (forget Drift modes) similar to a Focus RS and A45S sounds is if it has all the ingredients to be a great driver's car apart from just a great all-rounder (but rather average in driving) that the 7.5was. Not crazy about its looks but if it is as good as I expect it I could probably live with it, will go on order later this month. And after all that, I go back to my car to drive off and still think it's a really beautiful design that is also doing stuff I would not think it would be possible to do/get from in a Skoda a few years back. Let your views roll...

Not really, they provide less gains for a higher price, plus they offer limited features compared to the JB4 which is tried and tested on this platform. Just a question, since you are investing in an expensive coilover set I assume you plan to stick with the car for some time, in that case doesn't it make sense to go with an ECU remap?