500 miles - initial thoughts

[Superb170]

on a even slightly greasy road I spin right through 1st most of the way through 2nd then again in 3rd if I change gear quickly......

 

 

400Nm of torque

Is 150bhp/340nm torque the sweet spot then with the new Superb?  There is a point with FWD cars when the usefulness of the extra power is lost without 4x4 / diff system to get the most out of it.  There is also the increased wear on the front tyres.  I find my 170 with 350nm is right on that limit and any more power would be in effective (or even a little dangerous ) at times.

[peterposh]

do they still have the cruise control on the stick? :-/ I thought they would have dumped that . I like the controls on the steering wheel where I can see them

like the mondeo

[Bugginbob]

do they still have the cruise control on the stick? :-/ I thought they would have dumped that . I like the controls on the steering wheel where I can see them

like the mondeo

Yep. I've got used to them pretty quickly but it's not a well designed stick either. My wife's Bmw is more intuitive, up for up, down for down speed. The skoda is pull for up, press button for down. A bit odd.

[Bugginbob]

Is 150bhp/340nm torque the sweet spot then with the new Superb? There is a point with FWD cars when the usefulness of the extra power is lost without 4x4 / diff system to get the most out of it. There is also the increased wear on the front tyres. I find my 170 with 350nm is right on that limit and any more power would be in effective (or even a little dangerous ) at times.

It pushes the boundary for wet driving. I'd like more power in the dry but limited in the wet. My motorbike has a "wet mode" which drops its power by about 20%

[Gizmo]

on a even slightly greasy road I spin right through 1st most of the way through 2nd then again in 3rd if I change gear quickly......

 

 

400Nm of torque

 

Im fortunate that mine can be controlled with the throttle pedal... it’s not an on/off switch.

 

peter poshdo they still have the cruise control on the stick? :-/ I thought they would have dumped that . I like the controls on the steering wheel where I can see them

like the mondeo

 

This is the one thing I hated on my MKI Edition 100, the separate stalk is much better IMO.

 

Yep. I've got used to them pretty quickly but it's not a well designed stick either. My wife's Bmw is more intuitive, up for up, down for down speed. The skoda is pull for up, press button for down. A bit odd.

 

But if you push the stalk up then it will increase the speed by 5 MPH, likewise push it down and it decreases by 5 MPH.

[pipsyp]

Auto hold replaces hill hold on cars with the EPB by the way....and its better.

[Tony R]

So I've had my SE business estate for a week and a half and have covered 500 miles. My initial thoughts...

Good:

17's with standard suspension is pretty comfy

I like the non colour Maxidot (had the full colour version in my last VW)

Seats are nice

Generally really well finished inside

Great balance of features, has pretty much everything I could ever need

I like apple CarPlay, although it does crash sometimes.

The boot really is bloomin massive

My kids (3) have plenty of room in the back

The Helios wheels have grown on me

The electronic parking brake is great. Much better than others I've had and despite no hill hold spec'd the auto hold works perfectly on hills

Bad:

No easy shortcut to get back the apple CarPlay from another setting (may not have found it yet)

It's really loud on the motorway (road noise). My last golf was significantly quieter, in fact my caravelle was quieter and that's a van!

Not always a massive fan of the acc. It's great on a really quiet road but on a busier one I prefer the instant response of manually controlling the cruise, it takes too long to react when the road has cleared. Also can only increase in 5mph increments. What's that about?

Auto tilting wing mirror when reversing is way too slow, normally finished reversing by the time it's tilted

Handling is a bit "floaty" and uninvolving

Traction sucks, it spins it's wheels in the wet in first three gears but this is the same as all torquey diesels I've had

Thought it had full light assist

Washer jets are rubbish

Overall though I'm really impressed with the car. All the bad points are minor. It's my 40 somethingth car and the first I've ever bought without seeing or driving, I took a punt and I'm not disappointed. Mine is leased but I'd say if I was going to buy my own I'd want adaptive suspension to sharpen the handling, 18's to fill the arches, a more powerful engine and probably the dsg box as all the driver AIDS would be better with full auto.

Oh and I've averaged 42.3 mpg (via the trip) on my first tank (527 miles) average speed of 33 mph.

 Maybe I have missed something but what engine  is your  vehicle fitted with?. Thanks.

[RickTT]

 Maybe I have missed something but what engine  is your  vehicle fitted with?. Thanks.

 

I would expect it will be a 2.0 TDI 150 or the 1.6tdi 120 with the car been a SE Business

[Bugginbob]

2.0 tdi 150.

[JesVRS]

I'll add my thoughts in here as well, as many are similar to yours 'Bugginbob'.

 

I've only done 200 miles in my SE Business 150 estate.

 

Firstly, the appearance of the car has grown on me. I've got it in black, with silver roof rails, helios wheels. It looks fine. The lights make take it from looking like a premium car to a 'less-than-premium' car. The xenons would have enhanced the image loads. And that also brings me on to the first shortcoming:

 

- the lights are terrible. I've been blinding everyone as I forget i'm on main beam, they're that bad. The distribution of light is bad, the colour is bad, the throw is bad. 

 

- there is no way to get back to Apple CarPlay if you navigate away from it, without going through the whole menu system. Hopefully i'm missing something.

 

- the washer jets are a joke, I thought they were broken. I could urinate with more gusto.

 

- I feel little to no difference between driving modes, but that might just be me.

 

- The auto hold takes a lot of getting used to, I keep pulling away with the handbrake on... that's really my fault though.

Apart from these (minor) problems, i'm very impressed with the car. I'd recommend one, and know I will be happy with it for 2 years. I wouldn't bother with any options given it is only a lease.

[Bugginbob]

I'll add my thoughts in here as well, as many are similar to yours 'Bugginbob'.

I've only done 200 miles in my SE Business 150 estate.

Firstly, the appearance of the car has grown on me. I've got it in black, with silver roof rails, helios wheels. It looks fine. The lights make take it from looking like a premium car to a 'less-than-premium' car. The xenons would have enhanced the image loads. And that also brings me on to the first shortcoming:

- the lights are terrible. I've been blinding everyone as I forget i'm on main beam, they're that bad. The distribution of light is bad, the colour is bad, the throw is bad.

- there is no way to get back to Apple CarPlay if you navigate away from it, without going through the whole menu system. Hopefully i'm missing something.

- the washer jets are a joke, I thought they were broken. I could urinate with more gusto.

- I feel little to no difference between driving modes, but that might just be me.

- The auto hold takes a lot of getting used to, I keep pulling away with the handbrake on... that's really my fault though.

Apart from these (minor) problems, i'm very impressed with the car. I'd recommend one, and know I will be happy with it for 2 years. I wouldn't bother with any options given it is only a lease.

Mine is also black with silver rails and Helios :-)

I don't notice much diff with driving modes either unless it's in "Eco" when it feels like it's down on power.

I like the auto hold. I have not touched the handbrake switch once since collecting the car, it does it all automatically perfectly for me. Does it not engage/disengage automatically on yours? Mine holds via the auto hold when at a standstill (green light) and engages/disengages when pulling away and when turning the car off (red light I think).

I drove my wife's car this morning and got out of the car before I remembered I needed to jump back in and pull the handbrake up! Could have been embarrassing.

[muddyboots]

I drove my wife's car this morning and got out of the car before I remembered I needed to jump back in and pull the handbrake up! Could have been embarrassing.

Got back in my Yeti today after driving the Superb over the weekend, and a couple of times I tried to drive off with the handbrake on....

[Rebelred]

 

- the lights are terrible. I've been blinding everyone as I forget i'm on main beam, they're that bad. The distribution of light is bad, the colour is bad, the throw is bad. 

Replace the bulbs with Osram Night Breakers, they make a huge difference, I put these in my last Superb & my Passat before that.

[Gizmo]

 

- the lights are terrible. I've been blinding everyone as I forget i'm on main beam, they're that bad. The distribution of light is bad, the colour is bad, the throw is bad. 

Replace the bulbs with Osram Night Breakers, they make a huge difference, I put these in my last Superb & my Passat before that.

 

Or better still a HID kit, if you think the Night Breakers are good then a HID kit will blow you away.

[Rebelred]

Or better still a HID kit, if you think the Night Breakers are good then a HID kit will blow you away.

I put a HID kit in to my Wifes previous Mark 6 Golf. Lights were unbelievable but you had to turn the lights on straight away when you started the car otherwise one headlight wouldn't come on. Very strange! Thankfully we have the bi-Zenons in both our cars now. Well worth it.

[Pete T]

Or better still a HID kit, if you think the Night Breakers are good then a HID kit will blow you away.

Someone is gonna say it, so I may as well be the first - HID in halogen reflector headlight = bad idea.

[Gizmo]

Someone is gonna say it, so I may as well be the first - HID in halogen reflector headlight = bad idea.

 

A std HID ket yes, having seen a H7R (might have been a H4R?) HID kit fitted to a Fabia with no scatter, the R (reflector) is the important bit.

[Pete T]

A std HID ket yes, having seen a H7R (might have been a H4R?) HID kit fitted to a Fabia with no scatter, the R (reflector) is the important bit.

I think I'll stick to halogen personally. Just ordered a set of Philips Extreme Vision 130%, see if they're an improvement on stock.

[RickTT]

I will be going for the best bulbs possible... cant go retro kitting non legal kits to a lease car.

[JesVRS]

I will be going for the best bulbs possible... cant go retro kitting non legal kits to a lease car.

 Same. I use OSRAM nightbreakers on my Abarth. They're good, well more than that, they're a significant improvement. Is it a ball ache to change the bulbs? Only took 5 minutes to change the lights in the Abarth. 

[Rebelred]

Same. I use OSRAM nightbreakers on my Abarth. They're good, well more than that, they're a significant improvement. Is it a ball ache to change the bulbs? Only took 5 minutes to change the lights in the Abarth.

The Superb 2 was simple,Octavia also so assuming this Superb should be the same - remove the rubber cap & twist anti - clockwise. Plenty of room to work with also. Volkswagons on the other hand.......

[peld]

ive only done 150 miles but have a 250 mile single journey next week.

 

My very initial thoughts are:

+ great looks

+ good build quality, everything feels "solid"

+ even though its only a 150 engine its got a good bit of poke

+ the room in the boot!

+ the space in the back!

 

- gearbox and clutch seems a bit vague. i've stalled a few times as the bite point isnt as noticeable

- i think the passenger "mirror clearer" blower doesn't work

- im 6'4" and im not looking forward to my long drive - my left leg seems quite uncomfortable against the central dash. my recent cars have been quite tall (Kia Sorento and Ford C-Max) so its noticeable how different and low a normal car is.

[RickTT]

ive only done 150 miles but have a 250 mile single journey next week.

 

My very initial thoughts are:

+ great looks

+ good build quality, everything feels "solid"

+ even though its only a 150 engine its got a good bit of poke

+ the room in the boot!

+ the space in the back!

 

- gearbox and clutch seems a bit vague. i've stalled a few times as the bite point isnt as noticeable

- i think the passenger "mirror clearer" blower doesn't work

- im 6'4" and im not looking forward to my long drive - my left leg seems quite uncomfortable against the central dash. my recent cars have been quite tall (Kia Sorento and Ford C-Max) so its noticeable how different and low a normal car is.

Regarding your leg, just keep getting the miles in and I bet it will be ok... I have been the same in the past when jumping from one long term car to another for long miles.. But your leg muscles soon adapt. I felt it in back of my thigh as some seats don't have base extenders

[Tesla]

The centre arm rest lid, is it meant to be on some sort of ratchet system or is mine broken?

[philsmith]

Yes just pull it up slightly and it will lock to your preffered position, pull it right up and down again and it will close.