So I picked up my Superb Hatch SE 2.0 TDI CR140 DSG exactly one month ago and thought it was time for a reasonably in-depth review of the whole experience now that we are properly acquainted.

Don't have any pictures to had, but it looks EXACTLY like brettd's SE Hatch here:

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/211243-new-car-purchase-170-dsg-in-black/

Anyway, first the dealer.

My local Dealer is Palmers in Watford, who are a large independent selling several 'brands' from a couple of sites in Watford, including Citroen and Peugeot as well as Skoda. I actually bought my last car (a Citroen C4) from them and have nothing but good things to say. This may be because I'm a Motability customer, and I know Motability are quite important to a lot of dealers, but even so, I've always been impressed. Of particular note is a young chap called Jay Taylor, who must be the nicest, most friendly and least pushy car salesman in the UK. As a result, both this and my previous purchase were done by him and I have every intention of buying my next Skoda from him (oops, does that give away the direction of this review?).

Every service has been a collect and return, done on time and with EVERYTHING that was pointed out for attention done every time.

So onto the car itself.

OK, so my previous car (as mentioned above, a Citroen C4) wasn't amazing. In fact, while it was flawlessly reliable in the 3 years and 62k miles I had it, the 1.6TD and EGS gearbox (that's Electronic Gearbox System, or Erratic Gear Selector as I called it) was not a bundle of fun. The gearchanges were pants and the engine was, to quote Blackadder, "Like an asthmatic ant with shopping", so the Superb didn't have particularly big shoes to fill. Fortunately for me, I do a fair few trips 'oop north' to Sheffield with work, and my hire cars have included a selection of current cars for comparison including the Insignia, Mondeo and Passat, so I wasn't going to be that easily impressed.

So the things that immediately impressed me:

The MASSIVE amount of space! I'm 6'4" and I could comfortably sit behind myself (if you see what I mean) and still have bags of leg room. The Superb is, give or take, the same length as a Mondeo, Passat or Insignia but seems to have some much more leg room and boot space and I don't really understand how this is possible. Has Dr Who been moonlighting with Skoda and flogging TARDIS technology perhaps?

AMAZING boot! Huge and with the twindoor system, super practical. A 2-week shop just falls in with space to spare.

Fit, finish and build quality. Every bit as good as brands like Audi and Merc in my view and for reasons that I can't figure, BETTER than VW manage on the Passat.

Ride quality, refinement and handling. Smooth, composed and comfortable. Quiet and relaxing on motorways and yet with very impressive body control around bends. It's a big, heavy car but doesn't feel it from the way it moves once you're behind the wheel.

The DSG gearbox and engine combination is an absolute peach. I've started using it in manual mode because the engine is so flexible that I can change up sooner and get slightly improved MPG, but even left to it's own devices it's great. The other thing is the way it revs SOOO freely. It's a cliché but it really doesn't feel or sound like a diesel, and it's so different to my C4 'taxi' that it's quite funny to think they use the same fuel.

Fuel economy! OK this was unexpected. I knew I was making a massive change from a super-eco, sardine-tin-build-quality Citroen, and I was expecting a pretty big hit to the fuel tank and wallet, but in practice it's been fine. Same size tank, so a fill-up costs the same and my (admittedly economical) driving style is seeing me get around 650 miles per tank (I travel outside normal rush-hour, so have an easy, non-stop/start run), which is only about 100 less than the C4.

Looks. In every picture I've seen The hatch version of the Superb looks a bit, well 'odd' really, but in the metal, I think it looks excellent. Very distinctive, with classic 'Exec' car lines. I also think it looks sooo much better that the overly fussy, slightly 'bling' Mondeo or Insignia.

Exclusivity. I mean seriously, how many do you see on the road? I do 90 miles a day on the M25 and hardly ever see another. I just love being different.

Standard Equipment. I have a bog-standard SE and tbh, I can't really imagine wanting much more. For the money, the level of kit on each trim level is fantastic.

So that's all the great stuff, but what about the things I DON'T like? Well I've though about this REALLY hard and I have come up with TWO negatives...

Twindoor Opening. It's been said many times before, but I'll say it again. It would be really helpful if it was possible (say via a switch on the boot lid itself) to set whether the default opening was 'Boot' or 'Hatch'

Cruise Control. Given that is is a VAG car, I was slightly disappointed that the superb doesn't get a little indicator on the dash which shows the set cruise speed, as on say the Golf Match DSG that I've driven. Oh and the +/- button doesn't seem to really step the speed up or down in increments by clicking it, which seems weird.

Thats' it though, so overall, pretty bloody pleased with it!!

Cruise Control. Given that is is a VAG car, I was slightly disappointed that the superb doesn't get a little indicator on the dash which shows the set cruise speed, as on say the Golf Match DSG that I've driven. Oh and the +/- button doesn't seem to really step the speed up or down in increments by clicking it, which seems weird.

This can actually be activated

BUT unfortunately it only works on the petrol engined cars

That is really bloody annoying!