Had the car about 24 hours now so thought I'd share my first impressions.

Good impressions -

Feels generally well screwed together, car feels more "planted" to the road around roundabouts/curves etc compared to the Mk1. Despite not being a very good looking car (IMHO) I think we chose wisely as it does look good in black with the chrome trim around the doors setting it off nicely. On board electronics gizmos are a lot easier to use than it appears in the manuals! Samsung Galaxy S phone paired with the on board blue-tooth system once I got my act together as at first the phone was timing out since I wasn't quick enough putting the access code into the phone (slight niggle below)! Even at this stage fuel consumption is fairly good despite the engine/transmission feeling very tight, should improve a bit too with a few thousand miles under the wheels. Music system works well from 16Gb SDHC card (first had to sort all the MP3's into folders by artist name, music system it didn't like the way WinAmp has sorted them on my laptop, it took 30 minutes to do that on the SDHC card). Next I need to suss out how to transfer the MP3's to the on board HDD.

Not so good impressions - Upper left leg is very uncomfortable, there's nowhere to put it and my knee/thigh is hard against the left side of the foot well. I hope I get used to this, or I'll not be able to drive long distances in it. This part of the car seems a lot narrower than the Mk1, I think it's due to the east/west engine on the Mk2 compared to the north/south layout of the older car. Engine seems to lack low down grunt of my old 2.5 V6 but I don't suppose that is a surprise, I guess it will improve with the miles. Leather seats nothing like the quality of the old car.

Niggles - Phone book will not upload from the Galaxy S to the car, error message says the phone book failed to upload. No idea why that happens. I can't find a way of opening the boot when the key is in the ignition switch (even though car is not running). There doesn't seem to be a remote boot release switch and if one key is simply inserted into the ignition switch even in the off position, then the other key can't unlock the boot. Pressing the general "unlock" button on the drivers side of the car doesn't seem to unlock the boot with the key in the ignition. Can't seem to find a USB port to charge my phone, I'm very surprised if a 2012 model year car hasn't got one. More cheese paring - no warning triangle in the boot!

Overall, I'm quite happy with the car but I do hope I can find a way of getting my leg comfy or I'll have problems. Thanks to whoever recommended getting floor mats from Cyberspares, I'm very pleased with the fit and quality of the mats for ~£40.

USB port is not standard in elegance, either. At least it`s not here in Finland. But why do you even need that to charge your phone ? Buy a "normal" 12V-charger for your phone, it costs about 5 euros ( I bought one for 4,9 last week)..... :yes:

USB port is not standard in elegance, either. At least it`s not here in Finland. But why do you even need that to charge your phone ? Buy a "normal" 12V-charger for your phone, it costs about 5 euros ( I bought one for 4,9 last week)..... :yes:

That is exactly what I'll do!

Stretched Octy Fred.

And is your camera broken, y'know the folks love pictures don't you

I agree,my left knee is always resting on hard plastic of centre console when driving in traffic:-( .motorway with cruise control on is ok:-) ,still love my elegance despite this little niggle:-)

Stretched Octy Fred.

And is your camera broken, y'know the folks love pictures don't you

Yes, took the photos last night, black car against black background though................

I agree,my left knee is always resting on hard plastic of centre console when driving in traffic:-( .motorway with cruise control on is ok:-) ,still love my elegance despite this little niggle:-)

Not on my own then. Such a big car inside and the space for the drivers legs is so poor! Hope I get used to it.

B6 Passat is the same.

B6 Passat is the same.

Should have paid more attention before buying. Mrs Bloggs thinks it's fine, but I'm taller and I sit with my knee bent and leg leaning towards the left, hence the problem.

Should have paid more attention before buying. Mrs Bloggs thinks it's fine, but I'm taller and I sit with my knee bent and leg leaning towards the left, hence the problem.

At least 2 solutions to this one, over the years I tried both. I'm 6ft5" (197cm) tall, and quite often drive 12hr+ trips with 3/4 tank trip periods (4h+) at a time so driver comfort is a priority.

1. Check your seat angle, is your lower thigh supported by seat base? If not, that's the main problem not the console (despite the pain in your knee ), the weight of your legs should rest on the seat even if you're tall and cannot extend legs. To fix this you need to machine a steel or aluminium plate with holes to move front of the seat upwards.

Here is my age-old post on how to do this. At the time I also moved seat backwards, but in a later post you can see that on Mk1 Superb I just moved front of the seat upwards by 1in/25mm.

2. If your legs are supported but you still feel the console biting into your leg, put a gel pad in the place of contact.

1. Check your seat angle, is your lower thigh supported by seat base? If not, that's the main problem not the console (despite the pain in your knee ), the weight of your legs should rest on the seat even if you're tall and cannot extend legs. To fix this you need to machine a steel or aluminium plate with holes to move front of the seat upwards.

Here is my age-old post on how to do this. ..........

On the Elegance the electric seats have front and rear seat squab height adjustment

Thanks for the tips, I've been monkeying around with the seat settings and improved it somewhat. I've ended up now sitting much lower than I am used to but I'll not notice it after a while, I reckon. I have now set my seat position as memory position 1. I'll have to tell Mrs Bloggs to use memory position 2 for when she drives.

Yes, forgot about it electric ones have this adjustment. On older cars they were also considerably higher than manually operated ones, so manual adjustment + steel plate with 6 holes was a better choice for taller drivers. Plus you lose the storage space under seat with electrics.

But at least you've got it sorted without resorting to DIY .

I hope it is sorted, my leg is still hard against the foot well but I will have to do a longer drive to try it out. Thanks.

Is the lack of leg room for the driver something that only RHD cars suffer from? I've noticed in my MkI that the pasenger's floor mat is wider than the drivers and also the centre console between the driver and passenger is not assymetric because it seems to be shaped to give a liitle more space on the left.

I'm surprised that Fred Bloggs has set the drivers seat low to ease the problem as I'd have though, as dieselV6 says, the seat needs to higher?

I'm looking to change to a MkII next year and am a little concerned about the space as I'm 6'1" and do make some long journeys in summer - last year we went to Croatia.

I'm looking to change to a MkII next year and am a little concerned about the space as I'm 6'1" and do make some long journeys in summer - last year we went to Croatia.

I currently have a 2009 MkII Twindoor and am awaiting delivery of a New Combi. I am 6' 4" (193.5 CM) tall and find no problems with finding a comfortable driving position. I am often in the car for 2-3 hrs a day (today was over 4 hours - 196 miles) without problems. However, I put this down to two things: DSG tranmission and Elegance trim, the former not requiring me to find a comfortable position on/off clutch and the later, the range of adjustment offered by the seat. One of the reasons I recently changed my order from 170 Cr 4x4 to 3.6 V6 was to get the DSG box.

OK thanks. I was planning on having DSG and Elegance, but I'm not sure in which model yet, so it seems as though I'll be alright with that combination.

Is the lack of leg room for the driver something that only RHD cars suffer from? I've noticed in my MkI that the pasenger's floor mat is wider than the drivers and also the centre console between the driver and passenger is not assymetric because it seems to be shaped to give a liitle more space on the left.

I'm surprised that Fred Bloggs has set the drivers seat low to ease the problem as I'd have though, as dieselV6 says, the seat needs to higher?

I'm looking to change to a MkII next year and am a little concerned about the space as I'm 6'1" and do make some long journeys in summer - last year we went to Croatia.

To clarify, the entire seat base needs to be DOWN as low as possible, but the front edge of seat base needs to be higher to support thighs correctly, or in other words the seat base needs to be tilted towards the back.

RHD have always got it worse when it comes to foot rests on either side of clutch and accelerator, but to be fair, many cars do not have foot rests there at all (you only need these on a long trip and only if you're tall).

However, main problem for long legged drivers (you can be tall but still have average legs) is that seat base angle is too small and you're sitting on too small portion of your behind, cutting off circulation and overstressing the joints, mostly knees. Not to mention the console biting you in the leg.

You can easily adjust seat base angle with electric seats, though I am still not a fan of them because of space lost and long term reliability concerns. Since over the years I made 2 angle correcting steel plates (1 for each car) and it does not look like VAG is going to change front seat mount anytime soon, my effort to make manual seat comfortable for a tall driver (myself) is about 10min (undo front seat mount screws, put the steel plate in, redo / torque the screws).

However, main problem for long legged drivers (you can be tall but still have average legs) is that seat base angle is too small and you're sitting on too small portion of your behind, cutting off circulation and overstressing the joints, mostly knees. Not to mention the console biting you in the leg.

Same problem for short legged but long bodied people too !!! (yep i'm a freak of nature)

I find I have to have the the whole seat up because with the DSG you can just rest your left leg on the console but moving the right leg between brake and accelerator without having it supported on the seat and the door is just agony after a 2 hour drive.

Is the lack of leg room for the driver something that only RHD cars suffer from? I've noticed in my MkI that the pasenger's floor mat is wider than the drivers and also the centre console between the driver and passenger is not assymetric because it seems to be shaped to give a liitle more space on the left.

I'm surprised that Fred Bloggs has set the drivers seat low to ease the problem as I'd have though, as dieselV6 says, the seat needs to higher?

I'm looking to change to a MkII next year and am a little concerned about the space as I'm 6'1" and do make some long journeys in summer - last year we went to Croatia.

After a week, I still do not like the driving position. With the seat higher, my left leg is jammed hard against the centre console. I have to have the seat as low as it will go with the seat itself angled up as described. This is seriously compromising my ability to see the corners of the car and my ability to judge my position on the road. The driving position is definitely far worse than on my old Mk1. In my Mk1 I had the seat at maximum height and liked it that way. I only have myself to blame, I took not enough notice before I bought it. It is a nice car, but I have mixed feelings about its comfort for a long drive.

Hi i am on my second Superb and my left leg/knee gets very sore at times i have always wondered was the center console the problem i think it is as my leg is always leaning against it. Some days i get a limp in my leg and i did not hurt my leg through sport etc i bought a 09 Greenline brand new then changed it in October 2010 for a 170 Elegance so i have discomfort in me left leg over a year now. It must be the driving position/center console in the Superb. I am only 5' 7'' so its not only tall people feeling this. Think i will google this see if it pops up on any other forums.

Ray Waterford Ireland.

After a week, I still do not like the driving position. With the seat higher, my left leg is jammed hard against the centre console. I have to have the seat as low as it will go with the seat itself angled up as described. This is seriously compromising my ability to see the corners of the car and my ability to judge my position on the road. The driving position is definitely far worse than on my old Mk1. In my Mk1 I had the seat at maximum height and liked it that way. I only have myself to blame, I took not enough notice before I bought it. It is a nice car, but I have mixed feelings about its comfort for a long drive.

You could try to get the seat back to more upright position. Granted, you'll be a bit scissorjacked, but at least you'll see the road better. Also, try the seat height in a few positions to find the pain minimum :'(

If you had manual seats, the solution I posted earlier would allow you to move the seat further backwards as well as change angle. I remember Octavia Mk1 and Mk2 seat rails visibly longer than Mk1 Superbs, so chances are Mk2 Superb also would have at least 20mm extra space. Not sure about how electric seats are mounted to chassis, perhaps it is still possible to put a spacer?

But apart from that, the only cure for the console problem is either a gel pad, an angle grinder :p, or a different car

Edited 18 November, 201114 yr by dieselV6

Doesn't really help any but I found my MK1 Elegance a comfier car to drive but my MK2 Elegance has a better driving position if that makes sense. I'm 6'2 and have my seat as low as possible, slightly tilted upwards and the steering wheel quite high. Did take me a couple of weeks initially to find my ideal seat position but really can't complain. On occasion daily mileage can reach almost 600 and I don't the seating uncomfortable at all.

Thanks again for the comments, I'll see if I can get things better but after a week, it's the best I've managed so far. I'm going for a drive tomorrow, about 200 miles. I'll see how I get on.

Had the car about 24 hours now so thought I'd share my first impressions.

Good impressions -

Feels generally well screwed together, car feels more "planted" to the road around roundabouts/curves etc compared to the Mk1. Despite not being a very good looking car (IMHO) I think we chose wisely as it does look good in black with the chrome trim around the doors setting it off nicely. On board electronics gizmos are a lot easier to use than it appears in the manuals! Samsung Galaxy S phone paired with the on board blue-tooth system once I got my act together as at first the phone was timing out since I wasn't quick enough putting the access code into the phone (slight niggle below)! Even at this stage fuel consumption is fairly good despite the engine/transmission feeling very tight, should improve a bit too with a few thousand miles under the wheels. Music system works well from 16Gb SDHC card (first had to sort all the MP3's into folders by artist name, music system it didn't like the way WinAmp has sorted them on my laptop, it took 30 minutes to do that on the SDHC card). Next I need to suss out how to transfer the MP3's to the on board HDD.

Not so good impressions - Upper left leg is very uncomfortable, there's nowhere to put it and my knee/thigh is hard against the left side of the foot well. I hope I get used to this, or I'll not be able to drive long distances in it. This part of the car seems a lot narrower than the Mk1, I think it's due to the east/west engine on the Mk2 compared to the north/south layout of the older car. Engine seems to lack low down grunt of my old 2.5 V6 but I don't suppose that is a surprise, I guess it will improve with the miles. Leather seats nothing like the quality of the old car.

Niggles - Phone book will not upload from the Galaxy S to the car, error message says the phone book failed to upload. No idea why that happens. I can't find a way of opening the boot when the key is in the ignition switch (even though car is not running). There doesn't seem to be a remote boot release switch and if one key is simply inserted into the ignition switch even in the off position, then the other key can't unlock the boot. Pressing the general "unlock" button on the drivers side of the car doesn't seem to unlock the boot with the key in the ignition. Can't seem to find a USB port to charge my phone, I'm very surprised if a 2012 model year car hasn't got one. More cheese paring - no warning triangle in the boot!

Overall, I'm quite happy with the car but I do hope I can find a way of getting my leg comfy or I'll have problems. Thanks to whoever recommended getting floor mats from Cyberspares, I'm very pleased with the fit and quality of the mats for ~£40.

Fred, did you buy this as a brand new car? If so how long did you have to wait? This is the same spec as I ordered in September.