Chaps, out of interest what other cars did you consider before buying your Superb II's. I'm talking cars with similar prices here. At the end of this year I am planning to sell my Octy Estate and get a 1.8 TSI Elegance twin door. My budget will be £10 to £12k, so I should be able to get a 3 yr old with sensible miles judging by the current cars for sale on Autotrader. I have also considered A6's, 5 Ser's and E Classes but at this money they will be 5 or 6 years old and quite leggy. Most important to me is boot volume (shape doesn't matter so much) and rear legroom to accommodate a group 1 rear facing car seat. If its VAG group it must NOT be 2.0 TDI (will never own this engine for as long as I live - don't ask its a whole other story). Happy to consider other diesels and other manufacturers - so what are your suggestions. So far I can't come up with anything that matches the Superb - did you all have the same problem.......?

Similar list to you - I was looking for something 12 months old max though.

E class estate was favourite but expensive servicing and parts prices - plus the dealers in general put me off.

I was thinking of a 5 series tourer - had a 320d a few years ago and in 4 years and 120,000 miles it never went wrong and went like a rocket when required but again ownership can be expensive.

Looked at volvo's - but they don't make anything big enough - outside of an xc90.

Final option would have been a modeo estate, but space in the back with 3 kids was an issue.

Superb ticked all the boxes - especially value and build quality. No brainer for me really.

I've had a 320d before and it was brilliant 120k on the clock when sold and only cost me routine parts and servicing. Main dealer rates were however twice that of Skoda and parts expensive too. Would consider a 520d or 530d touring but the only ones in my price bracket are old or leggy and of course still expensive to maintain. I just wish Skoda had put a different diesel in the Superb!

If its VAG group it must NOT be 2.0 TDI (will never own this engine for as long as I live - don't ask its a whole other story).

2.0 CR TDI in the current Superb is a totally different engine from the old 2.0 PD TDI with the oil pump failure that plagued the mk1 Superb and Passat.

I assume that's what you're referring to.

Nope a long list of failures that I suffered and owners still seem to suffer, turbo failure, EGR failure, Porous Cylinder Head. And if I get the CR engine with my current low miles/short journeys I can no doubt add DPF failure to the list. Really, don't go there, I'm sure it's a decent engine for mile munchers but I am very anti it and always will be. Sorry !

Nope a long list of failures that I suffered and owners still seem to suffer, turbo failure, EGR failure, Porous Cylinder Head. And if I get the CR engine with my current low miles/short journeys I can no doubt add DPF failure to the list. Really, don't go there, I'm sure it's a decent engine for mile munchers but I am very anti it and always will be. Sorry !

Ah yes, I agree emission based crap has ruined modern diesel engines if you don't do high miles.

Best of luck with the search then!

Ah yes, I agree emission based crap has ruined modern diesel engines if you don't do high miles.

Best of luck with the search then!

You don't need to do high annual mileage, but the DPF is definitely not suited to town driving or shorter trips. I don't do high mileage by today's standards, but most of my trips are at least 10-12 miles each way so the engine (and DPF) does get a chance to warm up. Judging from the length of time the car takes to show as up to temp (can be 5-7 miles), I'm guessing anything under 10 miles really doesn't give it a chance to heat up and burn off the soot in the DPF.

For shorter runs and around town driving, definitely avoid a diesel with DPF and go for a petrol.

Edited 30 July, 201213 yr by Phil_P

Recently Autocar tested the new Kia Optima against the Mondeo, Passat and Superb. The end result was:

If you want sharp handling, go for the Mondeo

If you want comfort go for the Pasat or the Superb.

However it was a close run thing between the three and they reckoned that anyone in the market for any of the three would be happy with any of them, if you get my drift

There was a distant fourth - the Kia.

My "other cars to consider" were Ford Mondeo, Toyota Camry and Nissan Teana - the latter two, I believe, are not present on West European market, but they are in US.

Take a look at the Hyundai SantaFe 2.2CDX 7 seater. I had one as a hire car recently and admit to being very pleasantly surprised. Swallowed 4 adults and my 2 kids (one in an infant seat, the other in a child seat) with no problem. As a 5 seater, the boot is seriously massive (and I mean huge), much more room across the (middle) rear bench than the Superb, so it is actually possible to sit 3 adults or any combination of adults and child seats and I found it to be a pretty decent drive, good torquey engine and comfortable too. Not as fuel efficient as it's a big beatie, but a potential outside bet for a Superb replacement.