Hi everyone

I'm off to look at a Superb 1.9 TDi Elegance later this week... from the pictures it looks in very good condition but I would very much appreciate help with a buyers guide for dumbies, as I've never owned a diesel before, let alone a Skoda.

I'm fairly good at spotting lemons I think, in 20yrs of driving and 12 cars, only 1 was a lemon and 1 was a very well concealed bodge job... neither dodgy cars cost me an arm and a leg thankfully... just pride.

I've done a little research already, so I'm aware of the water ingress around the pollen filter, is there anywhere else to check for water? What about mileage, this one has 160k on the clock but supposedly FSH (will check when I see it). How often should timing belt and water pump be done... I hear different things on this, with some saying every 40k which seems a little soon.

The engine I'm not sure about... some say it's 105hp and others 130hp with various amounts of torque, how do I tell which one it is?

Aside from that, are there any other mechanical and electrical systems I should pay careful attention to, I've read of issues with aircon needing regassing more often than usual.

The car is fully loaded, cream leather, satnav, electric seats, heated seats front and rear and so forth... so I'll be checking all that out.

Are there any discs that are supposed to come with the navigation system, and what version numbers should I look for to see if it's up to date... or is it easy to get copies of them up to date without paying inflated dealer prices.

Also.. cost of running, figures suggest it's capable of getting 55mpg on a motorway run... is this a realistic figure or just marketing bull?

I'll probably have a lot more questions to ask, especially if I end up buying it... I've checked parkers for average prices and one in good nick with 90k on the clock they say £3000, this one is up for £2100

Any advice, or links to guides would be appreciated.

Cheers

At that age it'll be either a 110bhp or a 130bph, the 110 has a five speed box and the 130 has a 6.

Timing belt is 60k not 40k.

It will easily get 55mpg on mixed driving and if its a 110 and driven carefully will see 60mpg, I havnt had a 130 though.

2100 seems about right but it's all down to the quality of the car at the end of the day.

I am no car expert; these are just the bits I've found out since owning Superb...

The satnav disc is just a CD which is copiable in a computer, however you should note that the laser mechanism can wear out prematurely when used with these discs. The readability of pressed vs burned discs is much better; constant re-reads prematurely age the unit. I had a copied disc for a while in my old 307 and the unit started to be quite slow reading the disc etc so I swapped back to a standard disc and all was good. If you look at the specs on CD and DVD drives they always state a lower read speed for CD vs CDR media precisely because of the difficulty in reading them. I managed to buy an original (used) 2010/2011 disc for £60 on ebay which for me is worth it.

The disc goes in the head unit (you can't play audio CD's in it, the drive is only for the nav disc). Should have CD changer in boot for music discs.

Re: water ingress - you might not be able to tell if there is water under the carpet by just touching the top of it - the carpet is very thick, and doesn't actually touch the bottom of the car in many places which can pool water. Most commonly on the driver side (via pollen filter) but can also enter drivers side (ECU housing / bonnet release / brakes I believe). Getting your hand under the front carpet involves taking off the trim panel at the front footwell, (1 screw, 3 clips) and pulling up the door plate (a little brute force upwards, 3 clips to get it up enough is the minimum). That is the minimum to get your arm (if not too big) under the carpet - you should be able to feel the CCM in a hollow on passenger side inside a plastic box, and the transmission module similarly located on the driver side. Feel inside the hollows - these are the lowest point at the front of the car - for any water.

On my car the only place I could feel water without getting under the carpet was the foam over the top of the passenger front wheelarch - which I could just (very tight!) squeeze my fingers up behind the dash, and the padding runs down behind the carpet a little but if you are feeling dextrous you can just about feel the bottom of the foam pad and slide your fingers under it. This was the wettest part of my car, that foam was sodden. Barely a drop under the carpet itself, though when I took out the pollen filter it was obvious I was about to get seriously wet without fixing it!

I've not managed to get under the back carpet yet, if you gently lever up the vents under the front seats you can touch around the carpet and bottom of the car in a couple of places - not the lowest part of the car, but will give you an idea. Be warned the plastic is very sharp on the floor grilles - I always strip my knuckles. To do it properly I think the front seat needs to come out - I don't think you can get the carpet up enough to investigate otherwise.

If you could get VCDS on it, see any errors (autoscan is very useful), and then clear them and drive it / start it / stop it a few times and then check again that might be useful for you to see if there are any gremlins.

Re: parking sensors - when engaging reverse you should hear a short, mid beep. If you hear a long high beep, or lots of beeping and you aren't near anything, chances are a sensor is out. If you hear nothing, it might have been unplugged to mask a failure. Once you've had the long high beep, the system has deactivated and you won't hear it again until you turn off/on the ignition. The sensors are expensive (almost £100 each at the moment from dealer I think). Some people swap out whole system for something cheaper, I was lucky (for the moment) that Skoda used warranty covers their replacement.

The moulding at the very bottom of the doors, though it looks like bodywork is actually bolted on plastic, look around the edges of the door where it meets this trim for any signs of corrosion.

Edited 14 February, 201214 yr by jimbof

At that age it'll be either a 110bhp or a 130bph, the 110 has a five speed box and the 130 has a 6.

Timing belt is 60k not 40k.

It will easily get 55mpg on mixed driving and if its a 110 and driven carefully will see 60mpg, I havnt had a 130 though.

2100 seems about right but it's all down to the quality of the car at the end of the day.

Funny my 130 PD doesn't have 6 speed box. Only 5 gears...

Funny my 130 PD doesn't have 6 speed box. Only 5 gears...

+1 most (if not all?) PD130's are 5 speed.

The water ingress is the most serious fault they suffer with, but alternator pulleys and seized wishbone bolts happen regularly too.

Cambelt is also every 4 years - so budget £300 for it.

+1 most (if not all?) PD130's are 5 speed.

The water ingress is the most serious fault they suffer with, but alternator pulleys and seized wishbone bolts happen regularly too.

Cambelt is also every 4 years - so budget £300 for it.

Apologies I thought the superb 130 would be the same as the octavia, didn't realise superbs were behind the times on this, suppose it pays to have the octavia instead.

suppose it pays to have the octavia instead.

Only if you must have a hatchback.

The MKI Superb Comfort is better equipped than a MKI Octavia Elegance, the Superb Elegance is in a different league to the Octavia, I have owned both and the Octavia is nowhere near as good, as good as it is.

Apologies I thought the superb 130 would be the same as the octavia, didn't realise superbs were behind the times on this, suppose it pays to have the octavia instead.

Having owned both an Octavia and now a Superb, the Superb nocks socks off a similar spec Octavia!

I get 55mpg no probs on the Motorway at 80mph, mines a 5speed too. Best I've seen from it is 62mpg, on a trip to Wales!

If its an elegance it will be the 130bhp as IIRC they didn't offer the elegance with the 105/115bhp engine?

The satnav disc is just a CD which is copiable in a computer

Please tell me how - I tried to make a copy of mine to keep as a back-up disc in case of damage/loss, but just couldn't get the pc to do it. It's clearly protected in some way, so I gave up in the end and bought one a couple of years newer for £25 off fleabay.

cheers

If its an elegance it will be the 130bhp as IIRC they didn't offer the elegance with the 105/115bhp engine?

I think...

the last pre-facelift Elegances were 115bhp, and no 130 version was available due to its proximity to the 140 2.0 appearing in the facelift version (with 6-speed box I think). Also, believe the badge on the boot is meant to be different in some way (with some red digits on the 130?). Engine code probably the only sure way to tell (130 is code AWX, presume tthe other outputs are different).

But I think the main indicator is that an Elegance of that vintage was either a diesel 1.9 130 or a 2.5 160. Or a petrol 2.8 180. I think...

Edited 16 February, 201214 yr by sidewaze samm

Thanks for the replies... unfortunately the seller of the car hasn't bothered to reply to me at all to arrange a viewing.

I have spotted another one on ebay, but it's white (I'm not a fan of white cars) and I'm not close enough to be able to pop round.

So it looks like I'm back to looking again, not just at the Superb... Need a car with plenty of legroom as my dad is disabled and getting in and out of cars is difficult. So I'm giving up the sports coupe, leaving the V6 petrol engines behind and going for something sensible... but if I give that up, I want luxury and toys to make it easier on me.

Budget is only around £2500 at the moment, but each month I can add a little extra.

So if anyone knows of a car being sold... elegance preferred with satnav is the ideal choice... but I'll compromise on either the leather or the satnav but not both.

Please tell me how - I tried to make a copy of mine to keep as a back-up disc in case of damage/loss, but just couldn't get the pc to do it. It's clearly protected in some way, so I gave up in the end and bought one a couple of years newer for £25 off fleabay.

cheers

your laser mechanism won't thank you... seriously stick with an original unless you want to get a new drive for your MFD. But if you must, I believe cloneCD can do it. (this is I think how the torrents which are about came to exist...)

Thanks for the replies... unfortunately the seller of the car hasn't bothered to reply to me at all to arrange a viewing.

I have spotted another one on ebay, but it's white (I'm not a fan of white cars) and I'm not close enough to be able to pop round.

So it looks like I'm back to looking again, not just at the Superb... Need a car with plenty of legroom as my dad is disabled and getting in and out of cars is difficult. So I'm giving up the sports coupe, leaving the V6 petrol engines behind and going for something sensible... but if I give that up, I want luxury and toys to make it easier on me.

Budget is only around £2500 at the moment, but each month I can add a little extra.

So if anyone knows of a car being sold... elegance preferred with satnav is the ideal choice... but I'll compromise on either the leather or the satnav but not both.

The wide opening doors are a real bonus if you have someone with mobilty issues.

your laser mechanism won't thank you... seriously stick with an original unless you want to get a new drive for your MFD. But if you must, I believe cloneCD can do it. (this is I think how the torrents which are about came to exist...)

The newest discs have the information written on the CD in a special manner. They are very very hard to copy.

And as pointed out why would you try to burn your laser out. £128 quid might be pricey but if your DX unit dies. Gulp, and proberbly not worth repairing / replacing these things are still pricey on Ebay when they come up. Just keep an eye out on ebay for an original disc.

I just can't see how they justify the price of the UK CD when for my Navman I got ALL of Western Euorpe update for less than £50 and it has more places on it (as well as fuel stops etc). Rant over.:wonder:

The newest discs have the information written on the CD in a special manner. They are very very hard to copy.

And as pointed out why would you try to burn your laser out. £128 quid might be pricey but if your DX unit dies. Gulp, and proberbly not worth repairing / replacing these things are still price on Ebay when they come up. Just keep an eye out on ebay for an original disc.

I just can't see how they justify the price of the UK CD when for my Navman I got ALL of Western Euorpe update for less than £50 and it has more places on it (as well as fuel stops etc). Rant over.:wonder:

Captive market I guess; when you consider the price of the nav system itself it is a bargain of course! lol

As you say they come up on Ebay quite often. There are a couple of German companies selling brand new discs for around the £95 mark. I bought a second hand 2010-2011 disc set for £60. Once it arrives, I'll have a 2006 disc I'll be putting up on Ebay.

So if anyone knows of a car being sold... elegance preferred with satnav is the ideal choice... but I'll compromise on either the leather or the satnav but not both.

With your present budget I think you'll have to compromise - iirc, satnav was optional on Elegance models til just before the facelift models, when the optional full nappa leather also became standard and there's not much hope of getting a lower spec Comfort with it. But to be honest, it's not the most intuitive user-friendly or flexible system, though it is nice having it built in with the extra directions in the MFD. If I had to choose I'd forego my satnav, buy a Garmin and keep my heated nappa seats any day. Remember, it's heated rear seats too, which is quite rare in any car.

Good huntin'

With your present budget I think you'll have to compromise - iirc, satnav was optional on Elegance models til just before the facelift models, when the optional full nappa leather also became standard and there's not much hope of getting a lower spec Comfort with it. But to be honest, it's not the most intuitive user-friendly or flexible system, though it is nice having it built in with the extra directions in the MFD. If I had to choose I'd forego my satnav, buy a Garmin and keep my heated nappa seats any day. Remember, it's heated rear seats too, which is quite rare in any car.

Good huntin'

I agree, I'd rather have leather than satnav, I've got a tomtom 910 with a built in 20gb hard drive and maps of UK & Western Europe that are now 2yrs old, and maps of the USA & Canada that are 5yrs old. In my current car I've pulled the dash and wired it all in behind, and it sits on the dash rather than on the screen, and is wired into the aux channel on my stereo. I'm assuming that the stock stereo on the Superb doesn't have an aux input (most don't). Swapping the unit out for my own isn't a problem unless the stereo is also used for other things... Does the stock one do MP3?

Heated seats probably hold more sway than satnav if I'm honest... I want the folks to be as comfy as possible on long trips, and I don't want any fighting over who gets the heated one.

I've been searching for a couple of months now, and after looking at some cars and falling in love with others and then dismissing them... I'm currently leaning towards the Superb and the Honda Accord estate.. Ideally I'd love a black Alfa 156 sport wagon in black with red leather, But I fear there is just not enough room in the back for the folks, especially as I need to have my seat pushed back fully in most cars or I can't drive.

I need enough room in the back to reduce them getting/feeling cramped and I need a boot large enough to accommodate a folding wheelchair and some luggage... Some cars I find look prettier in their estate form.

I've discounted all BMW's as they're more costly to insure than most others I've checked on, I like the Volvo S80 & V70 as well as the Saab 9-5 estate and the Jaguar X-Type estate... I have a back up plan that involves a Mondeo and I really don't want to use the backup plan if I can help it... But I do need to find a car within the next 6 weeks. Been checking reliability on the ones I like and have found the Skoda, Jaguar and Honda rate very well (not in the order) so that's another big plus for me... My current car rated 97th out of 100 of the most reliable cars of the decade between 1995-2005, and yet it's proven to be very, very reliable.

I've discounted all BMW's as they're more costly to insure than most others I've checked on, I like the Volvo S80 & V70 as well as the Saab 9-5 estate and the Jaguar X-Type estate... I have a back up plan that involves a Mondeo and I really don't want to use the backup plan if I can help it... But I do need to find a car within the next 6 weeks. Been checking reliability on the ones I like and have found the Skoda, Jaguar and Honda rate very well (not in the order) so that's another big plus for me... My current car rated 97th out of 100 of the most reliable cars of the decade between 1995-2005, and yet it's proven to be very, very reliable.

For legroom and comfort and a budget of £2500 you won't get much better than the Superb with the 1.9 TDI. I'd have thought that X-Type estates in that price range would be very ropey indeed.

The Honda Accord is a decent car and v reliable but the ride is not quite as comfy or as quiet as a Superb. The economy isn't brilliant on an Accord either.

No doubt you will be aware of it but it is difficult to overemphasise the water leak problem on the Superb. It is near universal due to the dodgy pollen filter. Check that the interior lights, alarm, boot lock, remote central locking etc are all working. Some will say to check for damp carpet in the passenger footwell but this can be misleading - the carpets are very, very thick and can take a load of water before the dampness will start to show. It's a real shame because otherwise the Superb is a great car for comfy cruising without spending a fortune. Unless you start looking at S-Class Mercs and the like you won't beat it for rear legroom either.

I love my Superb but it has caused me no end of grief. In my 12 months of ownership I've had the following problems, all of which were linked to the water ingress:

1) New brake servo

2) Replacement CCM

3) Rewired all the nodes and multiplug linked to CCM (about 20+ connections)

4) Replaced boot unlock motor (burnt out)

5) New pollen filter and seal

6) Hours and hours spent drying out carpet

It's cost me about £500 in parts because I've done the work myself but if you're not mechanically minded an old £2500 Superb with an untreated water ingress issue could easily be a moneypit.

Volvo S80/V70/S60 with the D5 engine is also a very good shout, especially the earlier D5 engines if you want to go for a diesel.

Have you considered a Passat? Identical to Superb (including water ingress issue) and while there are 4 inches less leg room in the back there are a lot more of them for sale and also an estate version.

The Mondeo isn't bad either if you can get one in Ghia or Titanium spec although some of the earlier TDCi engines were v problematic on the Mk 3, which will be the most common model in your price range. Nowhere near as nice a place to be as the Superb on a long journey though.

I have considered the Passat as well as the A4 and A6... but the price difference remains rather high. Whilst I can see myself getting a 2003 Superb, I cannot find a Passat or A4/6 for under £2500 that isn't around the 2000-2001 age with very high miles.

I have a list of cars I'd happily buy now, and the last resort backup of the Mondeo... it all depends on which car comes along first at the right price/condition.

Still hoping for a Superb though... might even be worth trying to get the budget closer to £3000, but that means pushing it back to the end of April and car tax is due on mine at the start of April.

Just out of curiosity... is the water ingress more likely depending on the slope the car is parked on... If I was to park it nose down on the drive, would it be more or less likely to leak?

Edited 19 February, 201214 yr by Heckler

TBH your budget is not enough to get you into a half decent PD130 Elegance (do not under ANY circumstances be tempted with a 2.0 PD140 as they eat oil pump drives for breakfast and will cost you as much again to repair!)

Although this one comes close:

2004 SKODA Superb 1.9 TDi PD 130 Elegance

FWIW the Superb is miles better than the Passat it is based upon.

By comparison to the Elegance Spec Superb, a Passat in most trims feels like a very cheap place to be in. Seats are awful for a start. Then he interior lighting - the Superb has illuminated door handles, cat's eye (which only the top of the range Passat 4 litre W8 has!) is standard on all Superbs, and the list goes on. My opinion only of course, but price aside, I would much rather drive a Superb than a Passat. Longer more elegant body, quieter aerodynamically and smoother too - unlike the Passat, the Superb is an excellent very long distance cruiser. Every summer we do around 3-4k miles cruising around Europe and only a Mercedes S-class could do this job better - in my humble opinion.

Agreed the Superb nocks hell out of the Passat. I looked at Passats and for the budget I had I was looking at something 10yrs old, low spec that had been round the clock. I love my Superb, I do alot of motorway miles and it eats it up, but then it's still nimble enough round the streets. Plenty of poke in it when needed. And it doesn't look out of place parked up next to BMW's, Merc's etc of a similar class, especially as I work for myself and have to deal with alot of high end management who are driving the aforementioned.

Mines only the comfort spec, but it's still better spec'd up than most similar cars. Then the 1.9 PD engine, it's reliability and how easy it is to work on! If it wasn't for the fact me an my missus want to have another baby next year, I'd be changing it to the last of the PD130 elegances. However I'll be going for a Galaxy with the PD130 engine in!

I am going to try and push the budget to £3000, might take me a little longer to get there... but there's always the overdraft if I need it.

If anyone sees a decent one under £3000 with leather, heated seats and so forth could you please let me know. I'm in East Northants so the closer the better.

I did put a bid on a Honda Accord 2.2 cdti executive estate on ebay... but it was withdrawn from sale as no longer available... typical.

And I missed out on an Audi A6 Quattro estate with the 2.5 V6 tdi... it went for £2300 in the end, and I only went as high as £2250

Edited 20 February, 201214 yr by Heckler

I am going to try and push the budget to £3000, might take me a little longer to get there... but there's always the overdraft if I need it.

If anyone sees a decent one under £3000 with leather, heated seats and so forth could you please let me know. I'm in East Northants so the closer the better.

I did put a bid on a Honda Accord 2.2 cdti executive estate on ebay... but it was withdrawn from sale as no longer available... typical.

And I missed out on an Audi A6 Quattro estate with the 2.5 V6 tdi... it went for £2300 in the end, and I only went as high as £2250

The accord is a very good car, if your going to be buying the cheaper ones off eBay make sure you give them a good check over before handing them any cash, you could be buying someone else's problems! Take your time buying one, don't just go for the name and gadgets.