Hello all,

I havent posted for a while but have been busy trading in my Octavia VRs for a nice shiny Superb. Its 12 months old and is the Elegance 4x4 model with park assist.

Anyway the reason for the post is to pass comment on the stunning overall quality of this car and its 4 wheel drive capability. Last week on the 18th of December I took my son to France to see some of the World War 1 battlefields. As we all know the weather was, as we British say with massive understatement a little inclement. On arrival in Calais after taking 3 hours to do the last 3 miles into Dover and coupled with a 7 hour delay on the ferry while the French decided what to do we were faced with a foot of snow on the ground. Suffice to say the car coped admirably with this and - 8 degree temperatures for the first two days and provided amazing levels of grip. I had to do something really stupid for the traction control to kick in but it was phenomenal. During these two days we went to the Menin Gate for the last post ceremony and toured the Ypres Salient, all the time it continued to snow and freezed all day long and all night. We then moved onto the Somme and stayed in a fantastic house called Chavasse Farm in a village called Hardecourt Aux Bois. Well by the time we arrived in the village it was 2000 HRS, freezing and snowing and the last 5 miles off the N25 was on a small B road. All of this has 8 inches of compact snow with ice and then 4 inches of fresh snow on top. We were the first vehicle down the road and it was a hideous road to do in these conditions. Plenty of hills, worst being a nasty 1 in 5 for about 300 metres with a tight turn at the top so it was difficult to get a run up at it although by keeping the car in a nice low gear we got round with a few slight dramas etc. Suffice to say the car coped with everything the conditions could throw at it and got us safely to the farm. I was not looking forward to a potential night in the car with my 10 year old son should we have got stuck although we were of course well prepared etc. Over the coming two days the car coped with worse than this with the lowest temperature being - 19 degrees and absolutely amazed me with its overall capability and just how settled it was in this weather. On the way out on the last day there were 4 French 4x4's waiting on the bend mentioned above and they watched me with some Gallic interest to see whether we would make it up the hill...suffice to say English pride was satisfied and I even managed a sunny "Bonjour" as we sailed past. So I was already very impressed with the car and the vaue for money but this trip left me simply staggered at how well it coped. It really is a Superb machine and knocks all of my friends very expensive Audi Quattros out of the way. I was very pleased that the snow shovel stayed in the boot and think I can safely say that if the car had not been 4 wheel drive we would have either had to cancel the trip or would have ended up spending Christmas in France. The farm had 3 properties for rental and all were booked that week...we were the only ones who made it! If anyone wants any pictures I will post some on request.

On a slight comedy note the only thing that took the edge of this sobering trip was when we discovered that one of the most lethal German machine guns of the entire war was made by Skoda under licence...ah well.

Cheers.

Great report! I would Love to see some Photos of the Car, Weather and the places you visited also!

It really is a Superb machine and knocks all of my friends very expensive Audi Quattros out of the way.

I love comments like this.. Given that it's the exact same system as used in the A3 and TT quattro models, how on earth

can it "knock them out of the way"?

Hi craig was thinking of doing the same swap my self your thoughts / regrets on if you still think it was a good idea or wish you still had your octy vrs

On a slight comedy note the only thing that took the edge of this sobering trip was when we discovered that one of the most lethal German machine guns of the entire war was made by Skoda under licence...ah well.

Cheers.

Here's something a little bit more powerful than a machine gun but still a Skoda!

47mm Cannon

I love comments like this.. Given that it's the exact same system as used in the A3 and TT quattro models, how on earth

can it "knock them out of the way"?

When I say knock them out of the way I am referring to price. My friends new A4 All Road cost him over 30K, mine was £18950 and the spec it comes with is excellent. On his Audi he had to tick a lot of option boxes. Cheers.

Hi craig was thinking of doing the same swap my self your thoughts / regrets on if you still think it was a good idea or wish you still had your octy vrs

Hi, no regrets at all. The car surpasses all my expectations. Sure it would be nice to have a bit more power, expecially as the traction allows you to exploit it in every gear...I could always get it chipped. If you have kids, as I do, it is very refreshing not to have them kicking the back of the seat on a long journey as the leg room is massive. Cheers.

Great report! I would Love to see some Photos of the Car, Weather and the places you visited also!

If you can help me with some instruction I will post some for you. Do I need to add them to Flickr or the like or can I post the directly into this thread?

Thanks in advance.

Adding them on Flickr would be probably be best, with a html link to them.

Cheers

http://www.flickr.com/photos/exmoorrambler/

Hi I have set them up at the above so I assume a simple cut and paste job into your browser and the jobs a good un!

Hope it works. Thanks.

Great pictures. How did you manage to keep the car looking so clean apart from the snow on the top??

Great pictures. How did you manage to keep the car looking so clean apart from the snow on the top??

Honest answer is that I have no idea at all! The car is a work horse and does roughly 500 miles per week so its not cosseted at all, add two kids into that with the usal sticky stuff everywhere and you get the picture. I can only put its glossy appearance down to the amount of snow and general sleet that hit it as we were driving...

Great photos, your trip is something I've always said I'd do with my son time to look at ferry prices I think. The snow only make an already bleak view all the more sober.

Double post, please delete when you get time mods.

Edited 29 December, 200916 yr by spencem

Great photos, your trip is something I've always said I'd do with my son time to look at ferry prices I think. The snow only make an already bleak view all the more sober.

Ferry is the best deal by far. We paid £85 return which was open so you could turn up anytime you wanted. It was fast, efficient and comfortable and much more interesting that the tunnel for kids.

To be honest I found it a really sobering experience. I have always been somewhat critical of the French and their national psyche but this visit has made me understand them a little bit more. Their country has been devastated twice in 30 years by Germany and the number of deaths is hideous. Chatting to an old guy in Aras (in very broken French) he explained that his family house was destroyed in WW1 and then again in WW2...plus that the Germans killed 3 of his brothers, his father and his mother! if this was England then how would we all feel?

Anyway I heartily recommend it but try to avoid the snow,

Cheers.

I enjoyed your account. Sobering thoughts on War.

Nice Photos and the Snow really adds to the Soldiers Cemetary. Definately a place I would like to visit myself, I'm off to Aushwitz at the end of Feb, but i'm flying there though!

Edited 31 December, 200916 yr by TheOne

Thanks for the report and photos. We had a week in France and Belgium in September, staying in Arras and Bruges, and visited Vimy Ridge and the Ypres battlefields during our trip. It was a fascinating but sobering experience summed up by the messages left by today's young visitors at the grave of a 15 year old British soldier at Essex Farm cemetery. We enjoyed some fine autumn weather - the cemeteries must have felt really bleak in the snow.

Your post reminded me that we found ourselves following a grey Superb from the UK around many of the Ypres battlefield sites on Saturday 19 September. Don't want to turn this into a Spotted You thread, but wondered if it was anyone on here?

There are all kinds of other things to do in this area if you fancy a break from the battlefields. It was good to be able to abandon the car for a day to explore Bruges (and its beers) on foot and by boat. We also visited Chateau Pierrefonds (Camelot in TV's Merlin) and the nearby WW1 Armistice site at Compeigne.

Good report and photos, thanks