Hi All

I am about to join the Skoda club, as I am on the verge of placing an order for a Superb 1.8TSI 4x4 Elegance hatchback. I've wanted one pretty much since the new shape came out, and have test drove them on several occasions, but it is only now that circumstances are allowing me to chop my 3-series tourer in for a factory build Superb.

I have spent A LOT of time considering the trim/options I would want and would really appreciate some comments from everyday users for if I have included things which aren't worth it or have omitted some useful options. Half the problem is that all the dealerships I have been into (Derby, Lincoln, Dartford & Worthing - you can probably tell I get around a bit with work!) have been less than satisfactory in terms of giving advice on these subjects, by either just saying 'yeah its good' without any real explanation of the technology or 'don't know'. It was beggers belief in one where I was asking about different Superbs in the showroom/forecourt asking which colour was which and the sales rep was following me around with brouchure saying 'I think its steel grey, but I suppose it could be brilliant silver or amethyst purple, its difficult to tell in the brochure as the colours are strange' WTF?!? They only sell Superbs in a dozen colours, surely the reps should know which colour is which off the tops of their heads! Anyway rant over.

I'll list some of the choices/options I am thinking about and if anyone has comments on those included or omitted they would be gratefully received:

• 1.8TSI engine - Drove both this engine and the 170bhp diesel and for me personally I like a manual gearbox and I think the 1.8TSI matches it really well. I may well get this chipped at a later date as I have with my BMW.
  
• 4x4 - I spend a lot of time driving to/on farms along single track roads, etc and this is really a must for me. I also work for myself and if I can't get to work due to snow then I don't get paid so I think the 4x4 should be a sound investment.
  
• Hatchback - I don't need all the space of the estate, as the main reason for the car is the comfort and space for the front (for me - 6'3") and rear seats (for 2 kids), and its not like the hatchback is small in the boot.
  
• Elegance - I would generally like most of the big items in this pack, i.e. full leather (especially with kids), sat nav, bi-xenons, 18" alloys. So seems good value for money.
  
• Hill hold control and tyre pressure monitor. Seems reasoanble at £115, especially as its a manual where more likely to get rollback starting on a hill.
  
• Roller blinds for rear windows. As mentioned we have 2 young kids so these would be really useful, and nice and discreet when not in use.
  
• Space saver wheel. As I understand Superbs don't have a spare wheel as standard and I could really do with one if I get a puncture on aforementioned single track roads in the middle of nowhere.
  
• Park assist. I live in Brighton, where a lot of parking is tight parallel parking where by the looks of it the park assist will come into its own.
  
• Sunset glass. Looks nice, and should reduce direct sun onto kids in the back.
  
• Mobile device interface. I am an iPhone addict, so this is a must (provided it works properly).
  
• Keyless enrty and start. Sounds that it would be great for me getting the kids into the car from nursery/school without having to juggle between holding a baby one handed while searching around for keys, again provided it works properly.
  

Other options I am not sure whether to go for:

• Sunroof (standard not solar). I can imagine its good for letting more light/air into the car, but it seems steep at £690 and I have heard concerns about water ingress.
  
• Auto dimming rear view mirror. Pretty reasonable on price, but does it work well?
  
• 10 speaker system. Is it worth the extra £300-odd extra?
  

Options I definitely don't need:

• Rear side airbags. Not supposed to use these in conjunction with child seats.
  
• Heated rear seats. No point with childs seats.
  
• Wood decor. Prefer the modern silver look.
  
• 6 CD autochanger. Only listen to mp3.
  

Don't know much about the heated mindscreens and washer nozzles, variable boot floors and net programmes, and neither did any of the sales reps I spoke to, so I am a bit in the dark as to how worthwhile they are.

Also, has anyone had the Guard-X treatment and is it good?

When I bought my BMW I paid about £1000 extra for the 5 year service and maintenance plan (basically 5 years free servicing, excluding brakes, tyres, etc) which worked out an absolute bargain. Do any skoda dealers offer something similar?

Finally (sorry I have been properly going on-and-on), I have sourced some initial prices through drivethedeal.com and they are about £800-1200 cheaper than list price depend on the model/spec entered. I have already been told by a couple of dealerships that they can move their price down towards the drivethedeal price, but not match it. Has anyone bought a car through drivethedeal, and did it work out OK?

Many thanks for those that have read all the way to the bottom of this meanderingly long post, I would really appreciate any feedback you have, and I am really looking forward to joining the Skoda fraternity :-)

Many thanks, Alex

The heated front screen and heated washers are well worth it, last winter and the recent cold snap we've had no scraping or deicing of the front and rear. Start the car turn on screen heaters (& seat!) clear the side windows get in and wipers clear the front and rear screens -simples!

Good choice of car, but was wondering why not a diesel 4x4? In your post you do mention that you get round a lot for work, would a diesel not be more beneficial?

Looking at the spec and options that you want, once again good sensible choice (what with the kids). The only one I would personally dismiss would be the MDi, the main reason is that with the built in bluetooth you can play songs directly off of the phone through the system. The other options that you are considering, sunroof, personal choice but I wouldn't, auto dimming rear view mirror is worth the money to take the glare off of the 'Chelsea Tractors' and once again, personal opinion I would say no to the speaker upgrade, the standard system is fine.

Heated windscreen I would also say is a must along with the washer nozzles.

You will find a mixed bag of opinions and may find yourself changing spec.

Hope the above information helps, but as I said, it is all down to personal preference.

Lee

Regarding maintenance, Skoda do fixed cost maintenance in 3 forms, service only, service and maintenance and service maintenance and tyres up to 4 years.

I have the 1.8tsi 4x4 elegance and its a fantastic car! I really cannot fault it in any way at all.

In terms of options, the tpm and hhc are great, I specced mdi but use the hard disk and sd slot more, and the sunset glass is not a strong tint, i would possibly suggest a aftermarket tint instead.

I did not spec the park assist, but many on here think its good value if you need front sensors. However I did order the heated screen and its been great over the last few months.

a spare wheel is a good choice to make too.

Heated screen and nozzles are worth speccing. I went for the sound upgrade which in practice was let down by too much resonance in the door cards. this problem is now apparently now resolved. I always have music on in the car and I have specced the sound upgrade again on my new Superb which is on order at the moment (also a 4x4 as it happens)

Extras are similar to yours except I have gone for the 170cr and i do not require a sunroof.

Enjoy your new motor when it comes, The BMW will then become an overpriced and underspecced memory!!

170cr seemed the better buy to me i tried the 2l tsi the engine seemed a bit thrashee to me also 10 miles to the gallon more with the cr at least

heated front screen a must

park assist if you parallel park all the time very good had this on my hatchback works very well ,but i dont parallel park very often so did not bother on the estate went for electric tailgate instead

you do need front parking sensors its a big car plus you will get a picture of all the car on the Columbus screen with just rear sensors you only have the rear of the car

you dont need MIDI all your music goes onto hard drive from sd card or just use sd cards

dont forget there is no rear wiper on the hatchback, having had both cars i would go for the estate its a better all round buy if money is not a problem.

bill

Hi Alex,

I’m also about to place an order (1.8TSI Estate), so I can’t offer much advice on options, but I’ve bought two cars off Drive The Deal and both transactions were simple and straight-forward. I like the fact that all money including the deposit is paid to the main supplying dealer. That said this time around I’m really tempted to try autoebid as they are a further £500 off the Drive the Deal price (still a first registered car). I have a slight hesitation about paying part of the price to autoebid but I’d use a credit card on the initial payment, so I can’t see any potential downside.

Sun blinds, I’ve seen a couple of comments on here regarding the sun blinds not covering the whole of the window and as others have recommended I’m opting for some non-OEM versions that cover the whole rear passenger windows and in the case of the Estate the rearmost side windows. I have them in a Touran and Golf, the window can open with the blind in place and from the outside it just looks like a darker tint and keeps prying eyes out.

Quick question from me – rear side airbags - not to be used in conjunction with child seats, I just wondered if you could let me know where this advice came from as I was about to spec them? I have two child seats in the back but can’t find a definitive answer anywhere.

Edited 22 February, 201214 yr by artichoke273

Hi Alex,

Sun blinds, I’ve seen a couple of comments on here regarding the sun blinds not covering the whole of the window and as others have recommended I’m opting for some non-OEM versions that cover the whole rear passenger windows and in the case of the Estate the rearmost side windows. I have them in a Touran and Golf, the window can open with the blind in place and from the outside it just looks like a darker tint and keeps prying eyes out.

Can you advise of the OEM blinds that you suggest for a Superb estate?

I'm not sure whether to soec the sunset glass or blinds or both - or go as you suggest...?

Also does anyone know if the Auto dim mirror is too dark with sunset glass?

Thanks

I went for http://sonniboy-auto-sichtschutz.de/shop/product_info.php?info=p84_Skoda-Superb-Combi-from-2010-to------.html&XTCsid=u1ck28s87ng0gvo3tu7rj03gd3 to go with the sunset glass. It looks good from the outside and you can't see in through the window but you can still see out very well. It does make the inside of car noticeably darker, particularly during the extended winter we're having at the moment, but I do have the panoramic roof to compensate. They are easy to pop in and out depending on whether the sun has got it's hat on.

Auto dim mirror works fine with the sunset glass on it's own. I haven't had a chance to test the auto dim mirror with sunset glass + rear window blind.

Hi,

I started to place an order with drivethedeal and agree that they do seem to offer the best price.

However I didn't place the order for a couple of reasons.

The main reason was that they could not deliver till about December, I was looking to place the order around the middle of May. Don't know if there is still such a long delay but at the time they stated that they had one dealer willing to offer the quoted price and that dealed had 'used up all their quota' or some such thing. :|

I ended up placing my order with Preston Motors at Forrest Gate on 31st May. The car was built at the beginning of last week and (with fingers crossed) I hope to collect it by the end of the month.

I have purchased the 1.8TSI Elegance Estate manual.

Did not go for the sunroof as I had one on my previous car and rarely opened it.

Did not get keyless as I had it in a hire-car in the States and whilst OK I thought it a bit gimmicky and instead went for the improved sound system as my luxury option.

I too have kids but they are older so the heated rear seats are in as are the extra airbags.

Went for the built in sunblinds as they appeared a neat solution.

No sunset glass, for the reason already mentioned above.

Heated windscreen I think is a must, the heated nozzles were an easy (cheap) addition.

Considered the MDI but with the Columbus hard drive plus the ability of plugging in 32 gig SDHC cards, together with the bluetooth connections I decided to give it a miss.

I got the park assist, for the occasional use it will get but more importantly the confidence boost that it gives my wife and me from just knowing that it is there should we need it!

Am currently looking to buy a Superb and have a quick question if you don't mind - did you get close to the drivethedeal price in the end? I've looked at their site but haven't yet asked for a quote.

Hi, you can get a quote online from Drive The Deal without entering any personal details.

When I decided to buy I completed the required personal details and pressed 'go' to start the process.

They contacted me within a day or two and said that they could supply the car at the price shown online, with expected delivery of 14 weeks or so.

A couple of days later they apologised and said that the dealer that would supply at that price would take the order but delivery would be more like 6 months as the dealer had used up their quota (or something).

That was too long for me and someone on this forum suggested that I try Preston Motors (that someone was a customer of theirs) as, from my sig, it was not far from me.

I spoke with them and they came back with a price that whilst not as low as Drive The Deal was better than any other dealer quote that I had got so far.

They said that they would expect me to get the car within 12-14 weeks so I put the order in on 31st May.

My car is on it's way from Sheerness to the dealer as I write this so I expect to get it next week. If so it will be more like 8 weeks from order to collection.

In truth I hope to collect it this weekend, but that is my heart talking, my head says that it will be after the weekend.

So in summary, the dealer was a bit more money than Drive The Deal but I liked being able to speak face to face with someone who was knowledgeable and able to deliver.

Tried to get a quote from DtD without putting any details in but it wouldn't allow it. Put in my name and address and got a quote. To print it though, you have to buy it which means giving them my credit card details. Not something I want to do at this point so I did a print screen instead. They quoted me £26763 cf £30190 on the Skoda configurator. Will see over the next couple of weeks how dealer deals compare.

Agree with you re. dealers - I prefer to deal face to face unless the difference is irresistible!

Edited 17 July, 201213 yr by Yearofthegoat

My configurator came to just over £29k but I go it for just under £24k with the vat offer.

Make sure you ring a few dealers up and ask them what they charge for PDI.

They will not be able to give you a big discount as the car is heavily discounted already.

I got £400 off my car by ringing 4 dealers!!!!

Mine is a L&K 2012 twin door 170CR

Black Magic paint

Auto dimming rear view mirror (Worth the money as this dimms the exterior mirrors as well!!!)

Heated waterjet nozzles

5 year 100K mile Skoda Warranty extension

Lifeshine

Total was £23679 with 12 months RFL, ready to go

I'm seeing one dealer tomorrow for a test drive and a quote, have asked to see a different dealer on Monday for more figures. I visited another dealer back in May and am still waiting for them to call me about a test drive - they say manual 2 litre 170 Superb estates are like hens teeth. I don't think they're taking me seriously as it has been three months now and no call. Once I've got other quotes though I might give them a ring to see what they can do.

Edited 18 July, 201213 yr by Yearofthegoat

Worth phoning some further afield, as your local dealers will have a fair idea of what their immediate competitors are offering. Most dealers worth their salt will offer delivery on the back of a transporter. I was quoted £1a mile for shorter distances (100-200 miles), with 400 miles dropping to more like £250-300. Or save the money and let the train take the strain.

Deposit over phone on a credit card so protected by Section 75 and pay the balance on a debit card once the car is delivered and inspected. I've done this a couple of times with drive the deal dealers but the Superb came from Lee at Preston which was only about 40 miles from me, so I just got SWMDME to drop me off.

I got mine from Lee too, seem to see Preston Motors mentioned quite abit on here.

Make sure you ring a few dealers up and ask them what they charge for PDI.

They will not be able to give you a big discount as the car is heavily discounted already.

I got £400 off my car by ringing 4 dealers!!!!

Mine is a L&K 2012 twin door 170CR

Black Magic paint

Auto dimming rear view mirror (Worth the money as this dimms the exterior mirrors as well!!!)

Heated waterjet nozzles

5 year 100K mile Skoda Warranty extension

Lifeshine

Total was £23679 with 12 months RFL, ready to go

Just re-looked at my invoice but for the 140 L&K, (steel grey) same as yours but with heated windscreen, KESSY, space saver, hill hold control, rear side airbags and MDI: - £23490 with 50% down and interest free over two years . They were doing some very good deals then. Plus I got the deaer to buy and fit the chrome grille which looks really nice.

My bug bear is that as a prestige car auto dimming should be standard!

I am very pleased with the car.

Edited 18 July, 201213 yr by Danny 57

Well, just got back from Colbornes (Peasmarsh, just outside Guildford) and they were very helpful, test drive was good, checked that our child seats would fit, which they did. Even the wife liked it. Unfortunately though they wouldn't budge from the list price of a new Superb at all, which was disappointing. On to the next dealership then...