The 280PS Thread

[NX01]

Thanks for the advice and I appreciate the intention, but I'm actually far from being a newbie when it comes to continental motoring or driving performance cars. I have been doing anything from 3 to 10 road trips a year to Germany for the last 35 years and I always spend Christmas there. Over the years I've encountered most of the worst conditions - snow blizzard (so heavy that I had to hole up in a hotel until it passed), freezing fog (I had to stop in every rest area to remove ice from the front of the car), and worst of all, ice-rain.

After 25 years of having been a class-1 police traffic officer (I do usually try to keep that quiet!), a collision investigator and a casualty reduction officer,  I'm fairly well versed in handling high performance road vehicles (actually a VVankel* is about the only engine type I've never had the opportunity to drive - hey, Felix, you were a German, as were your mate's Rudolph Diesel and Nikolaus Otto). I know some of my posts may make me sound like I'm a little gung-ho but they're meant to be light-hearted tongue-in-cheek and safety is always my top priority. (Oh, and just to really make it sound like I'm bragging, I've done Brands and Silverstone too).

 

The 280 is speed-limited to 155mph (250km/h) and comes with W rated tyres (168mph 270km/h) - at least I'm pretty certain that's what they were, but they're now hibernating in their tyre blankets until next year.

I've also gone for the "tad ridiculous" W rated winter tyres based simply on my not wishing to tyre-restrict the car's performance. I've always tried to go for winter tyres rated above the vehicle's top speed.

 

In regards to the law on winter tyres in Germany, you're required to have tyres fitted that are suitable to the prevailing conditions. So if there's snow, sleet, hail or ice you must have winter tyres and without them can be subject to a spot fine, penalty points, and may even have a prohibition of movement issued and have your car removed at your expense. If you're involved in any kind of incident that causes inconvenience to other road users as a result of not having the correct tyres, all penalties are automatically doubled.

 

As for high speed driving on the Autobahn, there are now so many speed limits in force, never mind the number of Baustelle - wir Bauen für Sie, that the opportunity to really open her up is becoming more restrictive each passing year.

And for non-German readers, that translates as "Roadworks - we're building for you".

Personally, the greater driving enjoyment in Germany comes not on the Autobahn, but rather the high quality rural roads which really do put this country's roads to shame.

 

Edit: (* Ha, that'll teach the spellchecker! Trying to replace a highly respected German name with a load of asterisks)

 

I know exactly what you mean BillyJim, last summer we did our usual drive from Rotterdam down to Austria and must have seen upwards of 20 sets of roadworks.  The autobahn felt like one constant traffic jam, for some reason the German drivers have a problem with roadworks and we found kilometres of tailbacks just getting into them despite not actually losing any lanes.  In the end we came off and used the A Roads and a map and our average speed nearly doubled and we were not exceeding the speed limit either.....  I think in the end it took 19 hours to cover 650 miles!, we even found a 5 mile tailback at 1AM!.  Least next year we will have SAT NAV and a car with decent headlights (current Mondeo has shockingly bad lights) so could have continued into the night on A Roads without having to rejoin the autobahn which I think would have saved us a couple of hours and been far more enjoyable as there really are some interesting towns to be seen.

[sooty1444]

76 year old boy racer now,bless him!!

[eurotraveller]

Who’s that?

 

BillyJim: incidentally, what size of winter tyre do you have, and what type of rims?

 

I presume Skoda Germany run some good package offers – especially when taking the euro into account.

[BillyJim]

Who’s that?

 

BillyJim: incidentally, what size of winter tyre do you have, and what type of rims?

 

I presume Skoda Germany run some good package offers – especially when taking the euro into account.

Who's that? That's sooty1444's dad, that is.

 

The Winter tyres are same size as the summer tyres - 235/45 R18. Wheels are Škoda's 18" Zenith bronze ordered through the dealer at the same time as ordering the car. At £744 they were the equivalent price in Germany back in July.

I know "smaller is better" but having had 16" and 18" before I've struggled to notice any difference in real-life handling - and the 280 can only go down one size to 17".

Steel rims are popular in Germany because they aren't as prone to deterioration from rock salt as alloys - but for me, as the wheels will be on the car for nearly half the year, it's vanity rules over practicality.

Buying any of the winter options in Germany just isn't practical for me. They'd take up too much boot space to bring back and if I went for the storage/fitting option I couldn't guarantee I'd get to Germany when I need them.

 

[BillyJim]

I just love the new adaptive cruise when travelling and am not quite sure why I ordered the 280 now... 

Then you may be interested in this thread, which hasn't been answered yet (but I hope to at the end of next week).

[eurotraveller]

Interesting indeed, thanks. I too look forward to your feedback as my next trip will likely not be until the spring.

 

On the one hand it’s perhaps not so relevant because of the autobahn driving scenario I described above – I cannot see ACC being of much use in that situation anyway. Then again, it’s brilliant especially in busy roadworks situations, and there are certainly plenty of those, too. Besides, you have to pass through Belgium and/or Holland first…

[GuzziDibble]

 

"Furthermore, does the 280 supplied in the UK even come with summer tyres that are rated for the speed of which the car is capable - but which is of course not legally possible here. Do they make that saving because they can? I was meaning to ask the dealer. They would need to be at least ZR-rated."

Legally all cars have to be fitted with tyres rated to their maximum speed.

I sweat each time I put one of my bikes in for it's mot as it's fitted with knobbelies which are rated too low.

[l4wrence]

Do I love my choice of a 280? Ohhhhh yesssss!!! Apart from the poor windscreen washers already discussed I don't have any major dislikes. Can drive sedate or exhilarating, lovely machine

[lukas883]

280 its a perfect machine however im waiting for Sportline model, i test drive already Style 190ps dsg (Ireland) and car it's fantastic, just not quick enough for me, i was asking them about sportline and that i got a couple days later

 

Hi Lukas,

 

Thanks for coming in on Saturday.

Skoda product manager has confirmed that Skoda Ireland is trying to bring in Superb Sportline for next year.

He is estimating that the car might be available to order for June or July.

 

That’s is all the information we have for now.

 

I hope my information was helpful.

 

Look forward to hear from you.

 

If anyone have more information about Sportline, please share

[eurotraveller]

I’m interested: what would be the appeal of a ‘sportline’ spec? Would I choose it over L&K spec? Highly unlikely.

 

Why? Two main reasons: First, it’s a big barge that’s overwhelming about comfort; especially while cruising long distances. ‘Sport’ is about as far removed from the car’s DNA as it’s possible to be. Second, I find the stealthiness of car’s performance potential –which few people would ever expect – a major selling point.

 

Any ‘sport’ seats in a ‘sportline’ model would have to be extraordinarily good to make me want to switch. Meanwhile, I'll rather do my racing on a track in a vehicle designed and built for the purpose.

[Gizmo]

Spec wise I assume it will be along the lines of the vRS... so somewhere between the SE and SE L, then with the added sporty bits, personally I like my toys too much to consider one over an L&K, despite liking what I have seen of the Sportline. 

[Colinjoiner]

Totally agree with eurotraveller on his two points and I can not quite understand why lukas883 thinks the 190 DSG is not quick enough.If you are buying a superb for sport I would suggest you buy the Vrs Octavia.I take it you do not have speed cameras or jam sandwiches in Ireland.

I had a test drive in the 190 L&K which was very good but decided to get the 1.6Tdi SE DSG which would better for my needs and performance and I am very happy with my choice .Just switched from a 2.0cdti Insigna and I do not notice any significant change in performance .

[lukas883]

Well, my current car have 270ps, maybe that's why i feel that 190ps its not enough. This will be my 1st brand new car and i wanna 110% satisfaction. We have here already few 280ps cars and this lads know what im talking about Vrs octavia its not a option for me because this is only front wheel-drive. I like aggressive look of sportline model, sport seats and few other sporty details, for me  that was a love from first sight when i saw this model in Frankfurt motor show i knowed already that this is a version for me. Car its huge, its fast, looks fantastic and i love it, thats all.  

 

Btw, L&K 280 its not available in Ireland.

 

Peace

[Superb170]

I take it you do not have speed cameras or jam sandwiches in Ireland .

Oh don't worry we have those as well! Mostly mobile speed vans actually which is why I spend a lot of my time on cruise control

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Nick_H]

Well, my current car have 270ps, maybe that's why i feel that 190ps its not enough. This will be my 1st brand new car and i wanna 110% satisfaction. We have here already few 280ps cars and this lads know what im talking about Vrs octavia its not a option for me because this is only front wheel-drive. I like aggressive look of sportline model, sport seats and few other sporty details, for me  that was a love from first sight when i saw this model in Frankfurt motor show i knowed already that this is a version for me. Car its huge, its fast, looks fantastic and i love it, thats all.  

 

Btw, L&K 280 its not available in Ireland.

 

Peace

 

I think the difference is thus ... We collectively as L&K and SE L 280 owners like to depart the traffic light Grand Prix with the driver in the car next to us saying to his wife .... 'My God ! WTF has he got under the bonnet ?'

 

Lukas883 meanwhile likes to pull up to the lights, look across to the other driver and see the look of ' Oh 5hit' on his face.

 

Edited 27 December, 2015 by Nick_H

[lukas883]

Well said Nich_H 

[l4wrence]

SWMBO actually loves driving this car. I am getting ferried about to the pub on the way back but also, on the way there! I'm tempted to say I will be sitting in the back al a chauffeur style

[Nick_H]

Not managed to get my Mrs to drive it yet !! She prefers her i10 ....

Edited 27 December, 2015 by Nick_H

[old newbie2]

Not managed to get my Mrs to drive it yet !! She prefers her i10 ....

That's sad.

If I owned your car I'd be given the keys to her vRS & told that I could only drive the 280 when it needed fuel!

 

DC

[old newbie2]

SWMBO actually loves driving this car. I am getting ferried about to the pub on the way back but also, on the way there! I'm tempted to say I will be sitting in the back al a chauffeur style

You should, that's the real point of the Superb...

[Nick_H]

That's sad.

If I owned your car I'd be given the keys to her vRS & told that I could only drive the 280 when it needed fuel!

 

DC

 

I think she's just nervous because its so big and an auto.... Once she's taken the plunge she will be OK. She only drove the Scout when she had to ...

[BillyJim]

A rather longwinded post but I thought I’d share my first Superb III 280 experience after 8 days on the continent and back.

200 miles UK, 700 miles through France, Belgium, Holland and Germany. 100 miles locally in Germany.

 

I had Driving Mode set to Individual. ACC and Steering where set to Sport, DCC was set to Comfort on the motorway, Normal or Sport off the motorway.

 

Comfort

Absolutely brilliant. Driving and sitting in the car for over 12 hours (thanks mostly to EuroTunnel delays), it really did feel as if I’d just done a trip to the shops and back when I reached my destination.

In the Superb II I would start to feel discomfort at the base of my spine after about 2 hours - which was also an issue reported by others. No such problem for me in the Superb III.

 

Performance

This was limited to around 70 to 90 mph until I reached Germany. Once on the unrestricted sections of the German Autobahn I was able to open her up. At 140 mph the car was as stable as at 70 mph, despite being slightly windy conditions.

It was a pleasantly unusual experience to have to slow down behind the highly popular Porsche, Mercedes, Audi and BMWs and wait until they moved out of my way, which used to be very much vice-versa in my Superb II.

Even at 140 mph I was still occasionally moving out of the way to let others pass.

The Germans are extremely well behaved on the Autobahn. Unfortunately the same can't be said for many of the large number of foreigners who seem to lack the spatial awareness needed on these high speed roads.

 

Fuel Consumption

I didn’t take any notice of the actual figures, but it was around 10-11 l/100km or 26-28 mpg. Not bad considering I was quite often the fastest car on the road.

My Superb II 170 diesel could make the entire journey from door-to-door on one tank if I drove conservatively - but these are “family visits”.

Once a year I have a continental road trip with friends and never drive conservatively. I was surprised to discover that I needed to refuel at the same places in the 280 as when “hammering” my 170 diesel.

Needless to say the slightly larger fuel tank of the Superb III helps, increasing the relative range.

 

Lights

These switched automatically (in Travel Mode) to “Driving On The Right” when I arrived in Calais and again automatically reverted to “Driving On the Left” when I returned to Folkestone.

The manual says the AFS is disabled when Travel Mode is enabled. This did not appear to include the lateral beam movement, which still adjusted on bends.

I never had the opportunity/requirement to try the Smart Light Assist. It should switch to standard Light Assist (dipping as opposed to masking) when Travel Mode is active.

 

ACC

Like the lights, this switched automatically too when arriving in Calais and again in Folkestone upon my return (in regards to the no undertaking over 50 mph restriction).

The ACC can only be set to a maximum of 160 km/h or 100 mph. The joy at higher speeds is that it remains active but doesn’t enforce braking. Taking my foot of the loud pedal at 225 km/h didn’t induce braking. The car slowed through normal rolling resistance until it reached the set 160 km/h. Only if the ACC detected a slower vehicle ahead, before reaching 160 km/h, would it then start braking.

Having mentioned this to a friend, who has a Mercedes E 350 ACC equipped car, he advised me that as soon as he takes his foot of the accelerator at higher-than-set speed it will immediately brake to slow to the set speed. That’s one-up for the Superb IMHO.

Having assessed the ACC behaviour on the outward journey, I had the ACC set to 160 km/h for most of the return journey. I was primarily using the speed of the traffic ahead of me to regulate my own speed. If I was approaching a much slower car I either indicated and moved out shortly after the ACC detected the car (so before it started automatically slowing), or if traffic was heavier I simply moved out much earlier.

In France the motorway speed limit between the Belgian border and Calais jumps up and down like a yo-yo, between 90 km/h and 130 km/h. Traffic was too light to rely on other vehicles dictating my speed and with the numerous speed cameras now installed it wasn’t desirable to have ACC set at a high speed. This was when I found the flick up/down of the ACC stalk to increase/decrease in 10 km/h jumps was indispensable.

Thanks mostly to ACC it was my most stress-free continental journey to date. ACC blows the socks off Cruise Control.

 

Traffic Assist

This was initially a small, but brief, disappointment.

The French motorway, which was 130 km/h dry, 110 km/h wet, was shown correctly, but on the approach to each exit there is a 90 km/h sign with a black bent-right arrow indicating the slip road has a 90 km/h limit. The ASR was picking up each of these signs as being the speed limit on the motorway.

Strangely, on the return journey, it ignored them!?

It was very good at showing conditional-related limit signs (when wet, during specific hours) and no-overtaking signs.

I had the colour maxi-dot displaying my actual speed in km/h (in vehicle data) and the ASR at the top of the display. This can only display one sign. If there are others they are offset and obscured behind the initial sign. As Traffic Signs is the next option above Actual Speed in the Vehicle Data it was simply a matter of scrolling the steering wheel thumbwheel one notch if I wanted to see all the signs clearly displayed.

I was hoping to see how it responded to the blue “minimum speed” signs, which on a particularly high valley bridge on my route vary depending which lane you are in, but as it turned out these have now been removed.

Germany was also the only place I've seen the proper black & white derestricted sign show on the Traffic Assist.

 

SatNav

Before setting off I had downloaded and enabled PPOIs for fixed safety camera locations, mobile safety camera locations, discount stores Lidl, Aldi and Kaufland, and Free Toilets, as well as the built-in National Borders.

Unfortunately the SatNav “bonged” whenever I was in the vicinity of any of these PPOIs (which for mobile safety cameras meant every over-bridge), as well as the built-in Petrol Stations and Car Parks (which I couldn’t disable). In the end I disabled the vicinity alert and removed all my PPOIs, except the Fixed Safety Cameras, whenever I was on the motorway network.

I did like having the “manoeuvres” mini-window on the map display. This gave me a good overview of the journey ahead, not only showing where to turn off but also how far (in time and distance) to the next rest area, petrol station, restaurant and border. I could have done without the restaurant info, but couldn’t find a way to disable it.

Another nice touch was the colouring of the next turn - blue for motorway, yellow for A road (Bundesstraße) or black for any other - effectively matching the actual roadside direction sign colours.

 

Winter Tyres

Although fitted, they simply weren't needed, for which I'm grateful - but it would have been nice to see how the Haldex behaves.

Like here in southern England, the weather in northern Germany over Christmas was mild but windy, mostly dry but some rain showers.

I was glad I'd opted for W rated tyres, so I wasn't speed restricted. The only concession was that I added .4 bar (6 psi) for the anticipated consistent higher speeds.

 

DAB and DVB

Not much to say. They simply worked - everywhere.

 

Other Disappointments?

Only one, and quite minor. I expected the clock to automatically switch to one hour ahead, but it didn’t. It is set to use the GPS time signal but I still needed to manually select the “GMT+1” timezone.

 

Made Me Smile...

1) My elder brother is a German resident. He was sat in the front passenger seat, which in his own car would be the driver’s seat. My sister-in-law and mother were sat in the back nattering.

On a Schnellstraße (“Fast Road”, unrestricted like the Autobahn) I said to my brother this is what 280 PS feels like as I rapidly accelerated to over 200 km/h. My sister-in-law, briefly forgetting I was actually the driver, immediately scolded my brother for driving too fast!!!

2) In Belgium, at night, I was in the outside lane using ACC to match the speed of two slower cars trying their dismal hardest to overtake. A numpty drove right up behind me leaving little safely margin and then sat there with his left-hand indicator on.

I briefly dabbed my brake pedal to give him the benefit of viewing my lovely looking full LED rear brake lights in all their glory.

It was so brief it didn't even disable the ACC.

A total instant over-reaction ensued. I’d never seen a car disappear backwards so fast!!!

 

In Summary - it may not be the fastest car or the most luxurious car I've driven, but it's the best overall car I've ever driven on the continent in over 35 years.

[philsmith]

Great report, looking forward to my first continental trip to Stuttgart and back via Utrecht at the end of March, can't wait!

Might even take the German route which I have been avoiding lately due to the large amount of road works on the Autobahns, the French route to Stuttgart doesn't give you much time on them, only the last couple of hours driving.

Edited 29 December, 2015 by philsmith

[BillyJim]

Great report, looking forward to my first continental trip to Stuttgart and back via Utrecht at the end of March, can't wait!

Might even take the German route which I have been avoiding lately due to the large amount of road works on the Autobahns, the French route to Stuttgart doesn't give you much time on them, only the last couple of hours driving.

I can honestly say you'll love it.

I have more "family trips" planned for northern Germany (Hanover) in a few months time, but the next "Men Behaving Badly" road-trip - the one I'm really looking forward to - is to Ulm in August, so I'll be passing through Stuttgart.

I've already decided the Lille-Belgium-Luxembourg-Stuttgart route will be my preferred route. On paper - toll free, 30 km shorter and only 12 minutes longer (because of the Belgian speed limits!).

[philsmith]

I always took the Belgium, Spa, Karlsruhe route, but not through Luxembourg as the traffic can be bad, up until a couple of trips ago when the roadworks in Germany got so bad that I tried the French route through Riems and Metz. Yes you have some tolls but there is no traffic through France at all so it works out more economical and quicker in the end. Not as much fun as 120 mph plus driving in Germany though!