I’m heading towards 1000 miles since we’ve had our Skoda Superb. She’s amethyst purple, 140 DSG 4x4 L&K so I now feel that I can comment with some (slight) experience. Our “fleet” ran to a Focus CC3 diesel manual (it’s the convertible if you don’t know what CC3 is), a Discovery 2 (high spec immaculate ES model) and a Saab Anniversary diesel auto convertible,

The Superb was bought to replace the Saab and the Disco and thus reduce our insurance and tax bills and give a bit more space in the drive. Our replacement had to be a car not an SUV, big (only the E class is bigger) and had to have a hole in the roof and preferably be auto.

SWMBO wasn’t keen on the black interiors, fancied ivory but was (with a sunroof) about a rare as unicorns. I took her to see an L&K and she loved it. The interior has been discussed a lot on the forum but I must admit, I reckon it’s OK – I don’t think it would work as well if the dash & wheel were black – an opinion I know many won’t agree with.

The colour is interesting, it says purple on the log book but no-one believes it’s purple and it matches our bronze Focus nicely.

I find the ride pretty good but I do think the 225 40 18s cause a fair amount of road noise – and my previous car had a fabric roof! It also handles well for a big car, I love the DSG box although its tendency to drop into first as you slow to a stop irritates as it isn’t as smooth as I would like. I also find that sometimes I “snatch” on the brakes as they have such a low pedal pressure – they are very reassuring though.

I noticed that another writer somewhere on this forum suggested that a DSG equipped Superb is slow off the mark – not compared to my last three cars, the Disco, the Saab and a Mercedes 200 CLK. In fact the Superb can move off as quickly as the old Range Rover 4.6 we ran a year or two ago. I think that the four wheel drive helps if you “floor” it out of a side road – as I have to every time I leave home.

The 140 CR is a bit disappointing in that it doesn’t have as much get up and go as I would like in the important 50 – 80 range particularly compared with the Saab which was 150 bhp and a conventional 6 speed auto-box.

I’m still fiddling with the seats but I’ve not been in them longer than an hour or so – tomorrow will tell as we’re on our first long run. Similarly fuel consumption, I always brim it and the last 36 litres disappeared at the rate of 39mpg with journeys being about 50% city and 50% fast A roads. I’m hoping for better but I reckon it’ll be another 20,000 miles before the motor gets nice and loose.

The best thing the park assist has done so far is render my daughter in law speechless – it hasn’t really worked when I needed it – but I’ll persevere. The sensors though are great – put the car in a space about 18 inches (45 cms for the youngsters) longer than the car this morning!

The Columbus is something which also causes controversy on this site, in the L&K the sound is pretty good once set up. TV/Video is a gimmick to me (but I’m not a TV type). The iPod control is OK but I’ve had better – scrolling through the lists of songs is a pain and I haven’t found playlists yet. One SWMBO and I agree on a set I’ll put some stuff on the HDD.

The sat-nav seems OK to me – but I’ve been on the Saab 2007 system for a while. Although I’ve driven a lot of hire cars and the system seems similar to a Freelander (hire car) I drove extensively and that was pretty good. I have put a speed camera warning system on my phone to compensate for this missing on the Columbus, I may go down the POI route or just use the upmarket Garmin living in a cupboard in the house!

My Samsung Galaxy III connected up as soon as I worked out that it was done through the maxidot system rather than the Columbus and has been brilliant – best phone system I’ve had in a car.

The sunroof is superb (it has to be on a Superb). The car is light and it is airy too whenever I can open the roof. A set of roof bars means she has transported a load of decking from my allotment to my home, while the towequipe load liner has allowed trips to the tip.

The luggage restraint system and the nets have surprised me - they’re a gimmick I use them all the time though as is KESSY. KESSY is brilliant each key is set up for each of us, I jump in and my key sets all my preferences, door locking, seats, mirrors, SWMBO jumps in with her key and it all change to her preferences. I assume that we could also vary our preferences for day running lights etc. – watch this space – I’ll find out.

So is it the “car for all seasons” – for me it’s heading that way – see how I get on with the 18 inch alloys and I’ve been reading about remaps!

Thanks for sharing your experience, enjoyed what you wrote.

I'm two weeks in to ownership of a 11 plate superb estate 1.8 auto petrol and am enjoying it.

first day I sat on the drive messing with all the bits and bobs. Came out the next morning and the battery was flat. Skoda assistance was there in 20 min and got me going.

I hate buying cars and it is usually at 10 year intervals when the previous one clapps out on the motorway and is unrepaiable. This time we decided to change while the old one was still running, to avoid buying in a panic and regreting it.

we toured round and considered Kia sportage and hyundai ix35 but settled on the skoda.

so far, so good.

KESSY is brilliant each key is set up for each of us, I jump in and my key sets all my preferences, door locking, seats, mirrors, SWMBO jumps in with her key and it all change to her preferences. I assume that we could also vary our preferences for day running lights etc. – watch this space – I’ll find out.
 

 

did you finf out ?

 

BMW have been doing this on their cars for decades lol

Sent from my Windows Phone 8X by HTC using Tapatalk

BMW have been doing this on their cars for decades lol

Sent from my Windows Phone 8X by HTC using Tapatalk

Maybe & its great... but is it really worth paying £1500-2000 solely for this gizmo / gimmick?

As much as I like it that's way too much....

That's why a similar specced BMW/Merc (& Audi's I guess) cost in the region of £40k..... pro's & con's with everything LOL :-)

A couple of quick questions to follow up on your KESSY point above?

Does each KESSY key remembers the settings particular to that driver and adjust the seats, mirrors accordingly?

What else does it control/remember that is personalised to that driver?

What happens if both keys are in the vehicle: how does it know which key belongs to the driver?

A couple of quick questions to follow up on your KESSY point above?

Does each KESSY key remembers the settings particular to that driver and adjust the seats, mirrors accordingly?

What else does it control/remember that is personalised to that driver?

What happens if both keys are in the vehicle: how does it know which key belongs to the driver?

Each KESSY remote can be programmed differently.

 

Yes, your individual KESSY fob can be linked to the seat positioning and mirror adjustment as well as things like the door unlocking. e.g. mine is set up to unlock all doors, my wife has hers set up to just unlock the drivers door.

 

When unlocking, the car will read the fob nearest to the sensor and take information from that one and use that one for the engine starting and other settings.

 

If you have one fob in your front pocket and the other in your back pocket it should read the one in your front pocket if you are facing the car and the other one if you have your bum nearest the sensor.

 

Now you are going to ask, what happens if I have both fobs in my hand, what does it do then. If it cannot distinguish a difference of distance between the two I understand that it should take info from the last one used, but I have never been brave enough to test it in case it gets all “techy” with me and refuses to talk to either.

 

By all means try it and let me know.

I remember having a rover 820 vitesse fitted with that seat memory nonsense back before the war, it packed up of course

Edited 15 July, 201411 yr by peterposh

I remember having a rover 820 vitesse fitted with that seat memory nonsense back before the war, it packed up of course

 

our focus (before this superb) had elecrtic seats. packed in too, half way between my position (6ft3) and the wife's (5ft6) was the straw (in long list of straws)  that broke the camel's back and saw us ditching it like a hot potato