Disappointing ride and handling on superb mk3 estate

[Malthus]

I recently bought a new superb and I am also incredibly disappointed  with the ride quality. I have a sel estate running on 18 inch pegasus wheels. The ride pleasant and smooth on decent roads but crashes and fidgets on poor roads  to the point where I flinch when I no I can't avoid the imperfections . It also also very quick bottom out and crash coming off speed bumps as the spring rates are very poorly controlled. The body control in general is very poor which results in far too much lean driving even slightly quickly. The front suspension is also very noisy and knocky like a car that's done 100000 miles. My old 3 series which had 150000 on the clock was better in this regard.

I think the the ride  handling balance is very poorly judged. An audi or beemer may be quite firm riding but at least they counter this by being planted in bends. Kind of wished I bought a 5 series now and suffered the extra cost, as  I don't belive the superb is worth the savings. I have other issues with the car which I won't bore you guys with but suffice to say I am very  disappointed  with the car. Just wish it drove as well as it looks as I genuinely love the way it looks. 

I am on a pcp and I am seriously considering rejecting the vehicle. I think I will look into this transport blocks issue first though. 

 

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[Ootohere]

Good idea on checking the Transport Blocks, pity that was not done on day one.  

?

What pressures do you have the tyres at?

 

As to the other issues, you might as well fire away with them, whats up?

Edited 24 August, 2018 by Offski

[Malthus]

Hi offski. 

Not sure about the tyre pressures but I will check that. 

With regards to the other issues. The start stop system is very unpredictable and will often cut the engine before I've stopped moving which can be alarming to say the least. My sister's Tiguan does the same thing so maybe a VAG thing, but still not great. 

I also find the car lacking in the NVH refinement. The road and wind noise are particularly disappointing. The refinement is nowhere near the A4 estate that my brother in law has.  

The other issue is the seats which aren't very supportive, which is an issue in a car with such poor body control and roll.  It feel like you could slip out the seat on roundabouts. The leather probably doesn't help with this, but it would not be an issue if the car handled better.  

Overall just very disappointed with it and kind of wished I'd got an A4 or another premium vehicle. 

[Ootohere]

I wish people would check the tyre pressures of any car they collect to test drive, hire or buy rather than trust people that you do not know to do it.

It lets you have an idea of how they look after cars, if tyre pressures are not correct are wheel nuts tight?

(Are transport blocks removed, type thing....)

 

Reset the TPMS after adjusting the tyre pressures.

[Malthus]

It's definitely something I should have checked but ultimately I don't think it will correct what is bad damping and spring rates. 

The springs are too soft but the dampers aren't up to the job of controlling the springs. I suspect the dampers are one area where they have kept costs down. Dampers are after all the greatest factor in ride quality. Maybe some better dampers are the way forward, or perhaps a better car. :-\ 

[Lol6]

Mine was a much smoother drive after three suspension blocks had been removed and the bangs and crashes disappeared.

 

i agree about the sloppy body control.  I have DCC and the sport setting plus the accurate steering helps but it is no sports car.

 

I run my tyres 34 psi all round and check with a decent gauge regularly regardless of the tyre pressure monitor.

 

I have Pirelli P7s.  Poor grip, noisy and too hard.  Looking forward to changing them!  Michelin or Goodyear.

 

Buy a pedal box from DTUK.  Makes a huge difference to the way the car performs in terms of throttle response.

 

I have grown to like mine but it was no instant love affair.  Give it a bit of time.

 

 

[drewellis]

I guess a superb estate isn't exactly the right car to expect good handling from, especially compared with an A4 or 5 series. Audi and BMW are pretty good at 'driving dynamics' 

 

As for the suspension noises and crashing, I'd go back to the dealer and get them to check it out. My Superb is nearly 3 years old now with 30k on the clock and the suspension (albeit DCC) is still pretty silent and the ride is nice.

[Malthus]

I agree with what you are saying which is why I never bought the the superb expecting it to handle like a 3 series. I bought the superb as a comfy family car which it is for a lot of the time until it hits a pot hole or something when it turns into a a hard crashy ride. This would be acceptable if it had the handling to back it up like the 3 series's that I've had, but it doesn't. 

There is no ride handling balance. I didn't want another hard car like the 3 series but I did get one unfortunately, but without the ability to go around corners without it feeling that it going to roll over.  

[jaggafredde]

Might not make a difference for you but does your car have adaptive chassis?  If so, have you tried experimenting with the different modes?

 

The Sport setting makes it really stiff. But then the pot holes will be brutal...

 

Personally I use Normal but I definitely wish there were more than 3 modes, Comfort makes it feel like you’re riding a boat, Normal is comfy but can be too loose for action, and Sport feels like there are no dampers. :P

Somewhere between Normal and Sport would be perfect.

 

[drewellis]

18 minutes ago, jaggafredde said:

Somewhere between Normal and Sport would be perfect.

 

Agreed. Comfort is great on my motorway commute but with passengers on board it makes everyone feel sick lol. Normal is still pretty soft. I feel like the current normal should be Comfort, current normal should be sport, they should have a tour setting between the 2 like in the insignia for slightly sporty but comfy ride and then current sport for spine shattering but fast country roads

Edited 25 August, 2018 by drewellis
Previous attempt made no sense at all...

[jaggafredde]

1 minute ago, drewellis said:

Agreed. Comfort is great on my motorway commute but with passengers on board it makes everyone feel sick lol. Normal is still pretty soft. I feel like normal should be Comfort, sport should be normal, they should have a tour setting like in the insignia for slightly sporty but comfy ride and then sport for spine shattering country roads.

Yup.

Seriously, just a simple 1-5 setting on each mode would probably do it for everyone. It’s analog so I don’t understand why there is only 3 dampers settings. Even with Indivudual you’re backed into a corner far too soon. 

It’s still cool that the settings can be felt so much though, on some cars you don’t feel a thing when switching modes.

[drewellis]

1 minute ago, jaggafredde said:

 

It’s still cool that the settings can be felt so much though, on some cars you don’t feel a thing when switching modes.

Yes and it's instant too, I've never experienced DCC before my Superb but I'm well impressed with it. You see a bit of rough road coming up, flick into comfort and you're sorted!

[Malthus]

30 minutes ago, jaggafredde said:

Might not make a difference for you but does your car have adaptive chassis?  If so, have you tried experimenting with the different modes?

 

The Sport setting makes it really stiff. But then the pot holes will be brutal...

 

Personally I use Normal but I definitely wish there were more than 3 modes, Comfort makes it feel like you’re riding a boat, Normal is comfy but can be too loose for action, and Sport feels like there are no dampers. :P

Somewhere between Normal and Sport would be perfect.

 

My car doesn't have adaptive chassis but I have driven an l and k with it and didn't rate at all as none of the modes seemed right. Perhaps indicating once again that the dampers are not good enough. 

I actually discounted the car at this point as the ride on this car was terrible. The karoq I drove on the same day was actually far better but my wife didn't like the SUV. 

I have the superb another chance because it's such a lot of car for the money and I put it down to the 19 inch wheels on the land k. Also when I test drove my car it seemed much better but now it seems they choose roads that didn't show the cars our inherent flaws with ride. 

I really regret not listening to my initial impressions for the car and prehaps not listening to my wife. Only got myself to blame I guess.  

[drewellis]

I've got 19s on my L&K and I think it's made the ride better, handling is improved and suspension doesn't feel as much like custard as it did. It does crash over some pot holes but no more than any other car, I'd still recommend you get it properly checked.

 

One thing I should mention tho, my Mrs has a 66 plate A3 convertible S-Line (but we ordered it with the softer SE suspension) and that does feel a bit more "well put together" in terms of driving on rough roads and hitting pot holes - I'm not sure if this is an element of build quality difference, or just car size/wheelbase/ride height etc

[Malthus]

3 minutes ago, drewellis said:

I've got 19s on my L&K and I think it's made the ride better, handling is improved and suspension doesn't feel as much like custard as it did. It does crash over some pot holes but no more than any other car, I'd still recommend you get it properly checked.

 

One thing I should mention tho, my Mrs has a 66 plate A3 convertible S-Line (but we ordered it with the softer SE suspension) and that does feel a bit more "well put together" in terms of driving on rough roads and hitting pot holes - I'm not sure if this is an element of build quality difference, or just car size/wheelbase/ride height etc

I think getting the car checked is definitely a good idea but I think the problems lie with cost cutting and lack of tuning for the dampers and springs and way they work together. 

I agree about the A3 as my experience with them is a car which has a brilliant ride handling compromise which gives you a lot of confidence over rough tarmac. The only car which I felt was better was the Hyundai i20 oddly. Ridiculous that such a cheap car does it better than the superb. My brother in law's A4 feels very similar to the A3 and kind of makes me wish I spent the extra. 

With regard to the previous comments and the adaptive modes.  I feel a fully adaptive mode which apapts continuously like the 5 series has would be perfect but this is a far more expensive car so fair enough I guess. 

[MartiniB]

that definitely must be transportation blocks
cause usually TDIs owners can't hear such annoying noises
which turned out to be standart for most of tested Superbs :(

 

https://youtu.be/abPGeEu9iWE

 

https://youtu.be/VS7UyS6cbyY

i have only one recept -
at least once a year i doing long(~6kKm) trip,
when on European highways i can fully enjoy performance of 220ps

[jaggafredde]

10 minutes ago, Malthus said:

My car doesn't have adaptive chassis but I have driven an l and k with it and didn't rate at all as none of the modes seemed right. Perhaps indicating once again that the dampers are not good enough. 

I actually discounted the car at this point as the ride on this car was terrible. The karoq I drove on the same day was actually far better but my wife didn't like the SUV. 

I have the superb another chance because it's such a lot of car for the money and I put it down to the 19 inch wheels on the land k. Also when I test drove my car it seemed much better but now it seems they choose roads that didn't show the cars our inherent flaws with ride. 

I really regret not listening to my initial impressions for the car and prehaps not listening to my wife. Only got myself to blame I guess.  

I understand how you feel, while

I do love my current Superb (Hatchback 4x4 TDI 190HP L&K) the dampers are one of the things I’m not fully satisfied with. 

 

But I’m slowly adapting to it and comparing other cars in similar price range makes the Superb seem like a luxury car. And from my perspective the 190hp tdi engine is beastly! This grey bearded man has suddenly started behaving like a 20year old, to my wifes annoyance I take every opportunity I find to stomp on the gas!  

[drewellis]

24 minutes ago, MartiniB said:

that definitely must be transportation blocks
cause usually TDIs owners can't hear such annoying noises
which turned out to be standart for most of tested Superbs :(

 

https://youtu.be/abPGeEu9iWE

 

https://youtu.be/VS7UyS6cbyY

i have only one recept -
at least once a year i doing long(~6kKm) trip,
when on European highways i can fully enjoy performance of 220ps

ah yes i remember, that first video is the well known rattly first gear in DSG gearbox. But as you say 220ps makes up for it lol

[philsmith]

I had a six month old 5000 miles Citroen C5, top of the range petrol V6, about 15 years ago that had the same sort of problem, slow speed rattly, or I would call it chattering, gearbox. But this was even on super smooth surfaces.

Citroen refused to fix it under warranty, said it was normal, so I sold it and have never bought a Citroen since.

 

Gladly I have no such chattering on my Superb.

Edited 25 August, 2018 by philsmith

[Malthus]

1 hour ago, jaggafredde said:

I understand how you feel, while

I do love my current Superb (Hatchback 4x4 TDI 190HP L&K) the dampers are one of the things I’m not fully satisfied with. 

 

But I’m slowly adapting to it and comparing other cars in similar price range makes the Superb seem like a luxury car. And from my perspective the 190hp tdi engine is beastly! This grey bearded man has suddenly started behaving like a 20year old, to my wifes annoyance I take every opportunity I find to stomp on the gas!  

I have the same issue with my wife on at me because I can't resist the urge to floor it in my 190.  I find myself drivjng like a 20 year old hooligan in a golf gtd ( which shares the same engine ). Just a shame the ride and handling don't match the lovely torquey engine.  Also the 6 speed dsg doesn't match as well as the 7 speed would, but this is denied by VAG politics.  

Also denied by these politics are the lovely V6 diesels. It's a shame they can't be had in the superb as this would elevate it.  

I agree it's a very luxurious car for the money but the lack of ride/handling balance stops it being properly luxurious. 

[xman]

I've grown to realise that the Superb is simply a large three piece suite (2 armchairs and a setee) on wheels. A bit like captain slow and JC use to joke about. In Malthus's case he has an extension built on, could convert that into a kitchenette.

It's not meant to go round corners very fast as the coffee and cakes and lounge palm would fall over.

Edited 25 August, 2018 by xman

[jaggafredde]

55 minutes ago, xman said:

I've grown to realise that the Superb is simply a large three piece suite (2 armchairs and a setee) on wheels. A bit like captain slow and JC use to joke about. In Malthus's case he has an extension built on, could convert that into a kitchenette.

It's not meant to go round corners very fast as the coffee and cakes and lounge palm would fall over.

Haha well that’s one way to put it   

 

One thing is for sure, it’s a faaantastic car to be a passenger in, even with two kids stealing the sofa in the back you ride like a king in the passenger armchair as well  

 

I do miss built in screens for the kids. The aftermarket mounted tablet solutions look cheap compared to what I saw in a Volvo. 

[jaggafredde]

2 hours ago, Malthus said:

I have the same issue with my wife on at me because I can't resist the urge to floor it in my 190.  I find myself drivjng like a 20 year old hooligan in a golf gtd ( which shares the same engine ). Just a shame the ride and handling don't match the lovely torquey engine.  Also the 6 speed dsg doesn't match as well as the 7 speed would, but this is denied by VAG politics.  

Also denied by these politics are the lovely V6 diesels. It's a shame they can't be had in the superb as this would elevate it.  

I agree it's a very luxurious car for the money but the lack of ride/handling balance stops it being properly luxurious. 

I think new Superbs have 7 speed DSG?

 

In the end, you can’t get everything with Skoda since it’s a lower budget brand (even though they’re climbing up on that ladder), usually VAG puts new technologies in Audi first (which might come with initial problems...), by the time it comes to Skoda (with the initial problems fixed...) then Audi will have something new again. And so on.

But you’ll pay nearly twice as much to get a fully specced Audi... 

Place your bar of maximum payment and just go from there. That’s how I ended up with my MY15 Superb MK3.  

[Ootohere]

Malthus,  have you checked what those tyre pressures are at today. 

 

My guess is around 45-50 PSI.

[Malthus]

1 hour ago, jaggafredde said:

I think new Superbs have 7 speed DSG?

 

In the end, you can’t get everything with Skoda since it’s a lower budget brand (even though they’re climbing up on that ladder), usually VAG puts new technologies in Audi first (which might come with initial problems...), by the time it comes to Skoda (with the initial problems fixed...) then Audi will have something new again. And so on.

But you’ll pay nearly twice as much to get a fully specced Audi... 

Place your bar of maximum payment and just go from there. That’s how I ended up with my MY15 Superb MK3.  

I understand Skoda's place in the Volkswagen group and that Audi get the first pick for the decent kit, but I don't think it being unreasonable for even the cheaper cars to have suspension and dampers up to the the task of controlling the car.  

As I said that I've drove Hyundais that nail this essential component and they are very much a budget brand. To be fair they are behjnd in other areas but at least they tackle bumps properly and I don't think it's unreasonable to expect a 30k car to do this, especially one that is meant to be geared to comfort. 

I agree about setting your budget and working up from there but I felt the superb would hopefully punch above its weight a bit more and I now wish i stretched the budget a bit more, especially as Audi are quite good on PCP.  Live and learn I guess.