Having just been through the whole “new car†process and having read Briskoda to address a couple of the questions we had about the Superb II, we have just closed the deal. Here is how we ended up with our second Superb – Elegance, TSI, Estate ….

I bought the first Superb in a state of shock. I’d just been the Merc garage and was so dumbfounded to find out that the car I’d been looking at was 3 years old and cost the Bolivian national debt, I staggered next door. Next door turned out to be the Skoda garage and I found myself driving away in a 1.9TDI Elegance Superb.

Never regretted the decision, I’d truly made the step past the badge and discovered the car underneath to the point that for Children in Need one year I charged 50p for people to insult my car. Some of the jokes very very funny and you need to be absolutely sure of yourself to genuinely laugh along with them, which I’m happy to say I could.

I loved that car and it was only a 3 year assignment overseas that required me to sell it. When we returned one of the first jobs was to get a car. When you are walking from dealer to dealer, the decision making process is very different to when you have the time to make the decision. Hence I ended up with a Ford Mondeo TCDI – A cracking car that has served us well for 18 months, however now was the time to make the considered choice.

The sales style from manufacturer to manufacturer varies greatly. The Ford dealer I went to was still doing the hard sell – borrow your car keys to review your trade in – give to a cup of coffee that has been micro waved so that it is impossible to drink and thus opening up the line “stay and finish your coffee†if you are about to walk. BMW were, well BMW and think that £400 in finance set up costs is OK because it is a Beemmer. Audi my daughter forbad thanks to Top Gear, Renault and the £250 to change a head lamp bulb didn’t inspire confidence, Citroen is our other car anyway and the Peugeot dealer talked over his shoulder to us and faked disinterest interest (the dismissive sell).

In the end our list boiled down to s straight race between the Superb Saloon and the Volvo S60 both in Diesel. The S60 was for a long time the front runner – this is an excellent car. One of the threads on Briskoda discusses the cruise control on the Superb and having driven the S60 I can understand what the original poster is talking about. The Cruise in the Volvo is light years ahead of most cruise controls. You set a maximum speed and off the car goes. If the radar (yes the radar) detects a car in front going slower it slows the car down and maintains the distance from the car in front that you have selected. When the car in front speeds up, so do you. If the car pulls off you accelerate back to your selected speed. For busy motorway driving this is fantastic, no more set – cancel – reset – repeat caused by people who just drive with their foot in a fixed position rather than maintain a constant speed and reacting to the road conditions – a real pet hate of mine as you might have guessed, only surpassed by the morons who drive in the middle lane looking at the wide empty vista of a 3 lane road.

The S60 was finally rejected because of the space each person got to sit in. The car appears to have been designed with 4 safety cells which packs each passenger in to a “cellâ€. For my wife her “cell†contained the edge of the centre console which stuck in to her elbow no matter where she put the passenger seat. The kids whereas they were happy felt a bit cramped, again a result of the “cell†design and for me it was great but the boot was a little smaller than the Mondeo and a lot smaller than the Superb. So whereas we liked the car there were a couple of major niggles that we took with us to the Skoda dealer.

The first dealer I spoke to couldn’t make a test drive for 3 days and then never bothered to reply to my quote request until I chased him. On reflection this was most likely due to the long wait list for a Skoda that we discovered later. Knowing that I wanted a Diesel Superb and that I was in the market for a car today not in 5 months time, effectively told him that I was not worth the effort. I’d have been much happier if he had just told me that, but everything happens for a reason and his impoliteness took me to another dealer.

Our reason to visit was to confirm all of the good things we already knew about the car and make sure that no one came across a show stopper no matter how small. This was the first time the kids had seen the new Superb and an instant hit would be right way to describe it. Remember that these are two teenagers for whom going car shopping with the old-ones is right up there with double French last thing on a Friday before the holidays, when it is sunny outside.

The leg room is amazing. My six foot tall (1.80m) 13 year old who just keeps on growing could sprawl behind driver’s seat. Normally he sits on the other side just to get the extra few inches of leg room. The ability to sprawl is very important when ensuring that you are an emotional void about everything (Emo). The irony was not lost on the old-ones that he was happy he could not have an emotion.

I know I’m preaching to the choir here, but on the off chance that you are doing research in to a new Skoda rather than a current owner, I urge you to go and check it out. The space in the Superb is similar to owning a Tardis (Doctor Who) it is bigger on the inside. Wife instantly liked it, partly because the kids are happy, partly because the arm rest doesn’t dig in and mainly because it is just so comfortable.

Looking in the boot (the back) I am starting the think that perhaps an estate is a better option than a saloon and this car is right here and right now. The headline price is the same as the S60 when I add the options on both sides so that I get and apples for apples comparison. Quick family chat gets a thumbs up all round, everyone is happy and I go to see what deal I can do with the sales man, when we realise that the car we are looking at is petrol. Regardless the whole family is sold on the car and so I go to talk over the cost of a diesel and in the process find out about the long wait time. We are just about to leave the dealer to find out what is out there in diesel when he quietly tells me that the petrol cars are enjoying a Skoda promotion, “VAT free†(minus 20%).

“Pardon?†is exactly what I said and the dealer confirms that the Skoda deal to pay the VAT is running. A bunch of maths later and we have worked out that using the retail prices, over 45000 miles (72,000kms) and using UK fuel prices, the petrol car with the 20% discount offers a lower cost of ownership than the diesel by £1,500. We haggle a bit more about the price, in a very nice way and finally agree on a figure that makes us both happy.

There is a bit more to this story, which rotates about the finance and the stupid registration of cars by manufacturers, but that is a different story and this post is already looking a bit like a Tolstoy novel.

Suffice to say that the Superb II Elegance Estate in Ice Blue, 1.8 TSI, DSG with power seats, sunset glass and auto park is currently in the valet bay waiting for the dealers required ownership period to expire so that I can go and collect it.

Buyers remorse as it is now 24 hours after buying it – Not a drop!!

Edited 1 May, 201115 yr by Picturesports

Good description of the rational approach to buying a car. Agree the rear space is a huge plus point with teenagers (but wait till they have learnt to drive- then YOU get to stretch out in the back while being driven around- bliss.

Enjoy.

Congrats on the purchase.

I did pretty much as you did in terms of the selection process before placing my order for a Superb estate last Friday, except that the other car in the final two was a 5 series estate.

Need an estate partly because my son is in his first year at Uni, so have to move his world 3 times a year and also for golf, fishing and all round flexibility.

Doing only 15k pa I too couldn't justify the additional expense over a diesel so went for the 2.0 TFSI Elegance.

Can't wait

Enjoy the purchase!!

Picturesports,

Nice write up, similar thoughts here... the other one for us was the E-class estate, debatably a better car... bootspace for camping trips was a largely contributing factor, but for the price of a Superb Elegance the big Merc just isn't affordable! Never thought I'd ever own a Skoda, but I now know its a hidden gem. Personally I think the Superb estate is a good looking car, the twin-door still needs to grow on me but I can see its appeal.

All in all the Superb (and Skoda) is giving what are "more premium" marques an incredibly good work out... so far Skoda are proving they are as good as anything out there and in this current economic climate they are laughing all the way to the bank (past the other manufactures hopefully) and deservedly so!

Enjoy it when you pick it up...

stef

Hi

I had a couple of Volvos including a very lovely and FAST 850 T5R, then went to Audi as they felt better built and I liked the styling.

I drive an Audi All-Road (until the arrival of my Superb , counting the days!) and would have loved another, but, to get a new one to the same spec as my V6 would have to spend about £20k more!!!!!!

Now I believe the Audi is a better car, sorry guys, but not a £20k better car.

To match on price I would need to get a secondhand Audi, with about 30k miles on the clock, but I wanted a new car.

The Superb fits the bill for me, quality build, great price, loads of space and with the 4wheel drive and V6 it has the pace.

You don't see that many Superb estates about, which to me is a good thing as it also makes the Superb more exclusive.

Congrats on the purchase.

I did pretty much as you did in terms of the selection process before placing my order for a Superb estate last Friday, except that the other car in the final two was a 5 series estate.

Need an estate partly because my son is in his first year at Uni, so have to move his world 3 times a year and also for golf, fishing and all round flexibility.

Doing only 15k pa I too couldn't justify the additional expense over a diesel so went for the 2.0 TFSI Elegance.

Can't wait

Enjoy the purchase!!

I did some comparisons on the Which website looking at diesel vs petrol, and found the diesel car cheaper (not taking into account the £30 road tax on the Greenline vs £250 for the petrol) and found diesel cheaper for similar mileage of up to 15K. I did forget the VAT offer though!

Still, I will aim to keep the car for at least 5 years and just like the idea of low emissions/road tax.

Just re-done the calcs and will take 5.1 years to recoup the difference at current fuel prices (taking the no VAT offer into account), but in 5 years the Greenline will save £1100 in tax so less than 5 years in reality.

I wonder when I'll actually get the car!

I did some comparisons on the Which website looking at diesel vs petrol, and found the diesel car cheaper (not taking into account the £30 road tax on the Greenline vs £250 for the petrol) and found diesel cheaper for similar mileage of up to 15K. I did forget the VAT offer though!

Still, I will aim to keep the car for at least 5 years and just like the idea of low emissions/road tax.

Just re-done the calcs and will take 5.1 years to recoup the difference at current fuel prices (taking the no VAT offer into account), but in 5 years the Greenline will save £1100 in tax so less than 5 years in reality.

I wonder when I'll actually get the car!

I take your point when you compare petrol to the greenline, when I did the maths I compared against the TDI 170 CR

Key thing when comparing petrols to diesels in the Superb range (IMHO) is depreciation unless you are going to keep it forever

Key thing when comparing petrols to diesels in the Superb range (IMHO) is depreciation unless you are going to keep it forever

It's still early and I'm being slow...! If planning to buy and keep the car from new, is the point that a diesel is the one to buy every time?

AH

Key thing when comparing petrols to diesels in the Superb range (IMHO) is depreciation unless you are going to keep it forever

I'm certainly planning to keep mine for the foreseeable future

Buying a car is a totally individual thing so I’m not challenging anyone’s choice – this is more a theoretical financial argument which is what happens (a lot) when you are married to my wife.

For us the formula for petrol over diesel worked like this. These are list prices as we reasoned that within limits the dealer had the same amount of commission to be talked off either car

Elegance 1.8 TSI 160PS 7spd DSG £20,804 (pre vat price)

Elegance 2.0 TDI CR 170PS DPF DSG £27,105 (inc vat price)

Difference £6,301 which is the current Skoda offer to buy a petrol rather than a diesel

UK Diesel price of £1.38 per litre – UK Petrol Price of £1.34 per litre (at our local Asda) difference of 4p per litre and with 4.454 litres to the gallon Petrol costs £5.96 per gallon and Diesel £6.14

Using the Combined Consumption, the petrol travels 38.7 miles per gallon and the diesel 46.3 – so the petrol needs to travel a further 7.6 miles which takes 0.19 of a gallon of fuel.

So for every gallon of diesel you will need 1.2 gallons (rounded) of petrol .

Expressed as cash that is £6.14 worth of diesel to cover 46.3 miles and £7.15 worth of petrol to cover 46.3 miles – which is very frightening all by itself.

To cover 45,000 miles therefore you will need £5,968 worth of diesel and £6,950 worth of petrol. Petrol is more expensive by £982 but the car cost £6,301 less leaving a balance of £5,319 which divided by 3 (years) and minus a healthy slice of scepticism is £1,500 per year less to run over 15,000 miles.

If I use the Extra Urban the figures, the results fall more in favour of the petrol as the difference per gallon of fuel falls from 7.6 miles to 6.4 miles.

All of this assumes of course that you drive according to the book figures and that the book figures are right in the first place. All engines and petrol prices are the same, zero wind resistance, no traffic jams, no moments of exuberance and that all of us drive exactly the same journey under the same conditions each and every day.

Two things stand out to me; the figures are better than when I worked them out on a scrap of paper in the dealer (hooray!!) and, is it me of do I notice that to balance the petrol to diesel costs currently requires an adjustment of 20%, exactly the percentage Skoda are giving off the car …….

Depreciation for me is something I fixed with a PCP, nonetheless it is a good point – would you rather a 100,000 mile diesel or petrol? At that point I’d go for the diesel.

Edited 2 May, 201115 yr by Picturesports

To Afgan Hound's question, I think the clever folks at Skoda have got the balance exactly right. Over 5 years and say 80,000 miles the total cost of ownership is going to be very close on either model. Without the 20% discount on the petrol models it would be the diesel hands down cheaper.

So the question becomes save now and pay later (petrol) or money down and save over the long run (diesel).

My brain hurts now .....

Edited 2 May, 201115 yr by Picturesports

Need an estate partly because my son is in his first year at Uni, so have to move his world 3 times a year and also for golf, fishing and all round flexibility.

This was certainly one of the reasons I went for a Superb Mk1 four years ago; it reminds me of a classic quote by the Vice-Chancellor of son Mk2's University who told new parents who had just brought their children there for the first time: "Congratulations on having just been part of the largest mass movement of consumer electronics in the country's history!".

My current Superb saloon replaced a top of the range Mercedes E-class; over the past four years it has consistently proved to be a better car in every way, at just over half the price of the then Merc equivalent.

If Skoda ever get round to building the Combi I've had on order since the beginning of February, I have no doubt I will find it an even better experience!

To Afgan Hound's question, I think the clever folks at Skoda have got the balance exactly right. Over 5 years and say 80,000 miles the total cost of ownership is going to be very close on either model. Without the 20% discount on the petrol models it would be the diesel hands down cheaper.

So the question becomes save now and pay later (petrol) or money down and save over the long run (diesel).

My brain hurts now .....

Or affordability at time of order!! :no: