Having put nearly 3000 miles on my 170CR 4x4 Elegance Estate in two months since delivery, I thought it would be good to summarise my thoughts so far. I hope my comments will be helpful to anyone considering buying one.

Design: aesthetically, it’s a matter of opinion but I really like it: it’s quirky, classy and elegant, and disguises its long overhangs pretty well. Functionally, it works well: it’s a long car that makes great use of its length to deliver exceptional space, although some more oddment storage would be handy in the cabin. I like the intelligent touches like the torch and the side pockets in the boot. It’s let down a little by money-saving details like the seat-folding mechanism – the hinge arrangement for the rear seat cushion is pretty shoddy and the seat back, when folded, is supported directly by the floorpan. This dents the leather of the backrest and headrests, so it’s not a good idea to leave the seats folded for any extended period of time. That said, I’ve found the secret of a flat floor: drop the backrest and then extend the headrests a little to clear the hump in the floorpan under the seat.

Quality: well-assembled; no rattles apart from the lower seatbelt mountings, which have free play and tend to tap against the plastic seat base over bumps. The plastics are as good as any comparable VW product and hence better than most other brands. The heated windscreen picked up a nasty stone chip on the motorway and I suspect a standard screen may have fared better. As others have noted, the door trims are too flexible to handle the bass of the upgraded sound system; I also think that the speakers themselves are of poor quality, although their shortcomings aren’t evident in undemanding use.

Performance: quick enough, with a nice surge of torque for pulling out of corners and for making progress on the motorway. Sensible use of the gears means that you rarely want for more acceleration.

Economy: efficient but not miraculous, and the MFD is ridiculously optimistic. 45.2 mpg indicated was actually 40.9 mpg brim-to-brim on a recent long gentle motorway run with a full load. Actual brim-to-brim figures have ranged from 34 mpg to 42 mpg, with an overall average in the high 30s. The car has often been laden with passengers and/or scuba diving gear, in weather conditions ranging from dry to torrential rain. Obviously the 4x4 system will take a toll too. I have driven it with a mix of styles from gentle economy-run cruising, giving a genuine 40+ mpg, to a fast motorway blast across Ireland – Galway to Dublin in 90 minutes with the cruise set at 84 mph, which resulted in 37 mpg on the MFD, so probably no more than 34mpg in reality. I’m not complaining: it’s a genuine luxury car that costs half what my other car costs to fuel. And I’m sure it will improve with more miles on the clock.

Gadgets: Park Assist can squeeze the car into a remarkably small space, and is worth it just for that capability; but it needs care to avoid kerbing the alloys. KESSY works well but would be better with a way of touch-locking from the boot rather than just from the front doors. The panoramic roof really lifts the interior although I worry that the fabric of the roller-blind sunscreen could be snagged by a high load or by a careless passenger reaching back for a bag. It’s a good idea to retract the sunscreen if there’s any risk of damage to it. The Columbus unit is excellent, as are the bi-xenon lights.

Driving experience: I’ve owned high-performance cars that try to pummel the road into submission. The Superb doesn’t: it flows with the road. Its soft, long-travel suspension demands smoothness – it will lurch and corkscrew a little if you throw it around - but it rewards smoothness with a deeply satisfying drive. Running late for the ferry home from Ireland, I crossed Connemara at 50-70 mph on the most demanding of wet, bumpy and winding roads, with totally secure grip and without bottoming out. Accurate steering and a lovely positive gearchange add to the pleasure.

Ride and refinement: the primary ride is terrific; the secondary ride, courtesy of 18-inch wheels, is a little less so but it doesn’t spoil the car. The tyres are also responsible for road roar which dominates the engine note at cruising speeds. At lower speeds, the diesel note is evident but more as a growl than a clatter. Overall, though, it’s quiet, smooth and relaxing.

Conclusion: an excellent car, well suited to all kinds of British roads, whose most important attributes are engineered up to a quality and not down to a price. I’m very glad I bought it.

Edited 8 September, 201015 yr by SeanC

Excellent and well written review. Thanks

Wow! Fifth Gear could not have done a better job.

My Superb is due BW40 - October 4th. How many weeks after your BW did you take delivery?

Wow! Fifth Gear could not have done a better job.

My Superb is due BW40 - October 4th. How many weeks after your BW did you take delivery?

Three weeks. Not too bad.

Wow that 4x4 system really kills the economy i have to work very hard to get mine below 40mpg on a trip

Wow that 4x4 system really kills the economy i have to work very hard to get mine below 40mpg on a trip

In fairness, it was heavily laden on my recent trip and the worst figures were in pouring rain. And if I believed the MFD, I'd think I was driving a Smart.

Very interesting review, well written and useful to know.

Excellent and well written review. Thanks

+1 thanks

The car has often been laden with passengers and/or scuba diving gear.........

Mine will also be used a lot for my scuba gear, is the load restraint system any good for securing a twinset and gear gulper? I assume it is a bit flimsy for this?

Do you have the variable boot floor? If so does it cope with extending over the rear bumper with the scuba gear still on it?

Mine will also be used a lot for my scuba gear, is the load restraint system any good for securing a twinset and gear gulper? I assume it is a bit flimsy for this?

Do you have the variable boot floor? If so does it cope with extending over the rear bumper with the scuba gear still on it?

I think the load restraint system (especially the aluminium partition component of it) would last less than five minutes with a twinset sliding against it! I just wedged my gear in. The load restraint system is ok for lighter, more regularly-shaped loads such as cardboard boxes. The extending strap component is fine for things like flower pots.

Yes I have the variable boot floor. Mainly it's useful for levelling the floor and creating a shallow hidden space underneath. It pulls out over the rear bumper but takes quite a tug due to sliding friction on its runners (there are no bearings), and this gets worse with a significant load on it, especially as the floor has to be lifted while being pulled. Another issue is that a small forward edge flap of the floor lifts up as you pull the floor out. The intent is to 'hook' behind anything on the floor and ensure it moves out with the floor, but the reality is that if there's a load on that flap (as there may well be with the seats folded), the floor can't slide out at all.

There's also the issue of what to do about wet gear that won't go into the gear gulper. I bought a huge piece of pond liner off a roll - the flexible black nitrile rubber type - doubled it over to make a twin-layer sheet and draped it in the boot. The sheet can be raised up along the boot sides and folded up a few inches at front and back to make a bucket shape to retain water. The front part of the sheet can be supported by the rear seats (if up) or (if the seats are folded) by dry stuff packed in front. The rear part of the sheet can then be folded down when the boot is open to overlap and protect the rear bumper, and to drain water. It worked really well. Afterwards, the whole sheet can be drip-dried, folded and tucked into the space under the variable boot floor.

Cheers.

I was intending to buy a rubber bootliner to keep the boot dry (as I have an OE one in my current MKI Superb and it does a great job) but I am unsure if this will be very practical as it will still leave the aluminium floor rails exposed to the salt water on my kit, my next option would be the pond liner as you suggested, this as you say has the added benefit of covering all of the bumper when placing kit into the car, so should alleviate the need for a clear bumper protector to protect the paintwork.

:think:

Cheers.

I was intending to buy a rubber bootliner to keep the boot dry (as I have an OE one in my current MKI Superb and it does a great job) but I am unsure if this will be very practical as it will still leave the aluminium floor rails exposed to the salt water on my kit, my next option would be the pond liner as you suggested, this as you say has the added benefit of covering all of the bumper when placing kit into the car, so should alleviate the need for a clear bumper protector to protect the paintwork.

:think:

I agree that the bootliner on its own could leave the rest of the boot wet, especially as it doesn't seem to have a deep-enough lip around the edge to contain sloshing water. Another advantage of the pond liner option is that it can be re-shaped for different load configurations. To protect the carpet totally, I may get that bootliner for daily use and put the pond liner over it when off diving. Thanks for the link.

No problem.

TBH the bootliner is deep enough to catch all the water from my kit, the lip is only around 15mm (ish) high but then there is never that much water left on it as everything bar the twinset goes in the gear gulper anyway and the twinset is only damp after a 30 min boat/rib ride back.

As I say my only concern is salt water corroding the exposed alloy bits .

That's a good review SeanC, I would agree with a lot of what you wrote based on my experiences with the 170 hatch I had (and why I'm happy to have another Superb on order).

The only item I disagree with is the park assist. I had it onthe last Superb and never used it. Agreed it would no doubt get you parked in very tight gaps but I try to avoid those anyway as there are too many 'park by ear' people on the road.

Interesting to read about the fuel computer being wildly optomistic. I found mine was almost spot on, error of only about 1 to 1.5 MPG over read when I checked it several times.

Your fuel consuption is still good for the size and performance. The XC70 I currently have is quoted as averaging better than 40mpg. I'm certainly not naive enough to believe that, but an average of 28mpg with a light right foot and mostly A road 25 mile commute.

I'll be delighted to run a same size 4x4 diesel estate that gets near 40mpg!

Mark.

Having put nearly 3000 miles on my 170CR 4x4 Elegance Estate in two months since delivery, I thought it would be good to summarise my thoughts so far. I hope my comments will be helpful to anyone considering buying one.

Design: aesthetically, it’s a matter of opinion but I really like it: it’s quirky, classy and elegant, and disguises its long overhangs pretty well. Functionally, it works well: it’s a long car that makes great use of its length to deliver exceptional space, although some more oddment storage would be handy in the cabin. I like the intelligent touches like the torch and the side pockets in the boot. It’s let down a little by money-saving details like the seat-folding mechanism – the hinge arrangement for the rear seat cushion is pretty shoddy and the seat back, when folded, is supported directly by the floorpan. This dents the leather of the backrest and headrests, so it’s not a good idea to leave the seats folded for any extended period of time. That said, I’ve found the secret of a flat floor: drop the backrest and then extend the headrests a little to clear the hump in the floorpan under the seat.

Quality: well-assembled; no rattles apart from the lower seatbelt mountings, which have free play and tend to tap against the plastic seat base over bumps. The plastics are as good as any comparable VW product and hence better than most other brands. The heated windscreen picked up a nasty stone chip on the motorway and I suspect a standard screen may have fared better. As others have noted, the door trims are too flexible to handle the bass of the upgraded sound system; I also think that the speakers themselves are of poor quality, although their shortcomings aren’t evident in undemanding use.

Performance: quick enough, with a nice surge of torque for pulling out of corners and for making progress on the motorway. Sensible use of the gears means that you rarely want for more acceleration.

Economy: efficient but not miraculous, and the MFD is ridiculously optimistic. 45.2 mpg indicated was actually 40.9 mpg brim-to-brim on a recent long gentle motorway run with a full load. Actual brim-to-brim figures have ranged from 34 mpg to 42 mpg, with an overall average in the high 30s. The car has often been laden with passengers and/or scuba diving gear, in weather conditions ranging from dry to torrential rain. Obviously the 4x4 system will take a toll too. I have driven it with a mix of styles from gentle economy-run cruising, giving a genuine 40+ mpg, to a fast motorway blast across Ireland – Galway to Dublin in 90 minutes with the cruise set at 84 mph, which resulted in 37 mpg on the MFD, so probably no more than 34mpg in reality. I’m not complaining: it’s a genuine luxury car that costs half what my other car costs to fuel. And I’m sure it will improve with more miles on the clock.

Gadgets: Park Assist can squeeze the car into a remarkably small space, and is worth it just for that capability; but it needs care to avoid kerbing the alloys. KESSY works well but would be better with a way of touch-locking from the boot rather than just from the front doors. The panoramic roof really lifts the interior although I worry that the fabric of the roller-blind sunscreen could be snagged by a high load or by a careless passenger reaching back for a bag. It’s a good idea to retract the sunscreen if there’s any risk of damage to it. The Columbus unit is excellent, as are the bi-xenon lights.

Driving experience: I’ve owned high-performance cars that try to pummel the road into submission. The Superb doesn’t: it flows with the road. Its soft, long-travel suspension demands smoothness – it will lurch and corkscrew a little if you throw it around - but it rewards smoothness with a deeply satisfying drive. Running late for the ferry home from Ireland, I crossed Connemara at 50-70 mph on the most demanding of wet, bumpy and winding roads, with totally secure grip and without bottoming out. Accurate steering and a lovely positive gearchange add to the pleasure.

Ride and refinement: the primary ride is terrific; the secondary ride, courtesy of 18-inch wheels, is a little less so but it doesn’t spoil the car. The tyres are also responsible for road roar which dominates the engine note at cruising speeds. At lower speeds, the diesel note is evident but more as a growl than a clatter. Overall, though, it’s quiet, smooth and relaxing.

Conclusion: an excellent car, well suited to all kinds of British roads, whose most important attributes are engineered up to a quality and not down to a price. I’m very glad I bought it.

Do you think that the Sound Upgrade is not worth it? I have gone for it, but from what you are saying I will be disappointed and not up to the B&O in my Audi.

Great review and well written, it would put many a motoring magazine to shame, I also find that it is an excellent car, and wins hands down when compared to the passat estate I had prior to my superb, I moved from skoda to vw, and then back again, as i realised where the value and build quality lay.

Do you think that the Sound Upgrade is not worth it? I have gone for it, but from what you are saying I will be disappointed and not up to the B&O in my Audi.

I'd probably go for it, but I think it likely you'll see a significant reduction in quality from the Audi B&O system. It's inevitable as Skoda has to economise somewhere.

Took delivery of mine 2 week ago and the trip computer says I'm getting 55-60mpg on my 20-mile daily commutes to the train station (country roads). Will see how accurate that is.

Nice review. Thanks for taking the time.

Superb review. Thank you for your thoughts.

As others have already noted...Excellent review!

Although I don't own one, I do, however, would like to add that 1 SMALL -ve are the cup holders (from my experience from test drves). I wish there were more of them and larger.