First *72hr with a MY19 Sportline 272 [Yearly review]

[newbie69]

Well, time flies and soon I'll have clocked 12 months and 12K km with the car and thought it would make sense to make a follow up on the first impressions and how things have developed so far.

Faults-Reliability: Starting with the easy ones, nothing to mention here, car hasn't missed a beat, and, as expected with the gen3 TSI's, the oil level doesn't seem as if it plans to go anywhere other than the top mark of the dipstick. I practically only check every couple of months, out of the old habit and not of actual need to monitor anything.

Comfort and practicality: These are by far the Superb's strong points and ones that spoil you enough to make it quite hard to eventually replace it with something else I imagine. Even though we've never maxed out its space/cargo capacity it makes you wonder how you were managing so far with smaller cars. It's nice to have the extra "air" in the cabin and not feel cramped despite what or how many you're carrying - makes longer trips a real breeze. Also, the fact that you can throw almost every convenience option available in the car industry today on the car while managing to keep it to a very reasonable price still, means you'll have an experience which (for the money) is very hard to beat. You take a lot of convenience for granted and you notice immediately when jumping to a less equipped car. Half of the features I use on a daily basis on the car I'd think of as unnecessary luxuries before, but as of now they will be topping my spec list.

Interior quality and feel: I don't know exactly where the Sportline differs to a regular Superb, in fact i was completely unaware of the Superb (apart from being a big Skoda sedan/estate) before getting one because it seemed too big and irrelevant for my needs but I can say that the choices made for the Sportline's cabin make it look and feel much more like a sporty VW (one of which I was owning prior to the Superb so I have a pretty good comparison basis) rather than... a Skoda (especially with most people's idea of "a Skoda" even today). The leather steering wheel, soft plastic on door handles and dash, alcantara sports seats and door panels, light cf texture on the dash, essentially all the main items that as a driver you interact with daily, all help into sending out some subtle, but distinct sporty vibes and I am being completely honest when I say I don't feel a quality deficit anywhere compared to a GTI Clubsport. On a typical drive, there are no rattles or weird noises and all controls feel solid in place. Ok, there is the slightest of extra play on some controls like the rotary knob's panel on the steering wheel compared to an Audi, but it's not as if you feel that the main material is cheap or that the whole thing will likely come off at some point which is a feeling I am getting with another french car of the family. This has surprised also some colleagues who spend their time in 5 series and C Class. They have both said they didn't expect that level from a... Skoda. I guess the Superb being a flagship model and all some care has been taken in ensuring a minimum quality level as you definitely wouldn't believe this is the same brand that made the mk2 Fabia I once had, refined not being the first word that came to mind with that.



Above: night is a particularly good time to be in it



Performance and driving: This depends a lot on everyone's needs and history of-course but with roughly 340bhp courtesy of the JB4, translating to mid fours for 0-100km/h  and mid twelves for 100-200km/h times, I can say that the car is now ok in terms of acceleration, coming from a lighter and more powerful car I found it merely acceptable as stock. Knowing the engine's potential there's always an itch to scratch by unlocking some more serious figures but I just don't have the opportunity to drive it hard, in an appropriate environment, often enough to justify the upgrade. Maybe if I keep it for a few more years and I'm bored of its current pace.

Handling wise I will admit I wouldn't mind a bit firmer ride or more particularly less roll inclination. It's probably the latter as when switching the DCC to "Sport",  you have a good extra bit of road information and direct-ness at your disposal so I am almost sure it's a firmer rear anti roll bar that would do the trick, even on the stock suspension. Most probably something for this spring as it's a relatively easy DIY job. I will then re-assess what and by how much needs to be changed further (if anything) for my like.

On the grip aspect, I am still amazed at how much it finds, for a car that is 1600+kg and does not have a proper LSD. Front and rear remain firmly planted even during excessive throttle input and it would be impossible to hit the limits on a public road unless you are a top idiot I'd say. Traction is the funny part, 1 year in and still haven't been able to verify if the car has a working TCS system     Never seen that light flashing despite flooring it in various conditions so how could I know.


>>> Important note (even more for DCC cars) >>>  Remember to switch to Sport mode whenever you feel like driving the car instead of it, taking you where you want to go. I find the range of the variable factors like suspension firmness, steering weight, throttle lag etc. on this car has a greater operating range, and the effect of Sport mode vs Comfort is thus much more noticeable, than on a Golf GTI. The car feels much more ordinary (and slow) in any other mode you almost forget what it's capable of after a while if you exclusively drive in ECO, Comfort or Normal. I recently did that after several weeks of custom-ECO combination and realized the whole car came alive (not just the suspension) and was on its toes for my commands.


DQ381 7 speed:  For 95% of the situations, it's a better 'box than the DQ250 DSG6 especially when left at its Auto modes D & S. Butter-smooth imperceptible changes on D, longer holding onto gears but no more over-revving than needed in S (the Sport algorithm is very well judged, clearly improved compared to older 'boxes) , and a ridiculously long 7th gear that does wonders for economy. It has converted a traditional "DSG in Manual mode" driver like myself stick with its auto modes.  The 5% where it acts funnier than its predecessor is in some specific throttle-gear selection combinations in manual mode, where it does get confused for a second before it executes your command. I had never noticed those with the DSG6.  If those 5% situations are more frequent in your daily drive, I read that a DSG remap on the identical hardware Golf R improves significantly on them.


Conclusions coming right up...








 

[newbie69]

Based on all the above it comes with no surprise saying that I feel it's hands-down the wisest car choice I've ever made. Especially in a period where comfortable and hassle-free family carrying is the main duty of my drives, and the occasional solo spirited drive for my own pleasure is a rare one. It ticks so many boxes on so many levels, but also performs surprisingly well in others that are not supposed to be its strongest areas that I can't really think of any reasonable complaints. It's clearly all the car a family needs in the real world. And I should wrap it up at at this.

However, one thing which I could probably come up with, just to fire the discussion up of-course, is that it lacks a clear sports identity that (if I make any sense here) would make the idea of driving it , not so much the actual drive itself, more tempting. Ok, a slightly more focused ride as well would not hurt but that is something you can easily fix to your like, the "sport model reputation/character" (or lack of) is what you can't do much about.  Surely that is not an issue of the car itself though but of Skoda, for not having a long history of fast sedans.

For example, recently I've caught myself reading up on the new 340i xDrive. The fact is there would be no way into finding a similarly equipped 340i without spending almost twice the money of the Superb (comparing new to new), and even then, as a family carrier it would be an inferior car creating more issues than it solved. Absolute performance? If I really worried about those 5 extra tenths off the 0-100 time and maybe 1-1.5" off the 100-200 I could easily achieve it by a couple more upgrades and still save tenths of thousands. Handling would always be better with the 340 unless I went to really great ends with the Superb but would that improvement really transform my driving experience? I know I am enjoying my current drives already when I feel like pushing on, so why would I ever consider it when I am already ticking my boxes? For the money that it costs in particular. Yeah there's something about a 335/340 (or a C43)  that makes them tempting and it's not that they are fulfilling a certain need (in the more dull definition of need...) which other cars can't.

But then I take a moment with myself and think that if that's all that really differentiates such a capable all-rounder like the Superb to the more traditional sport saloons, it's probably madness to continue such thoughts. Let me be clear, I am not saying whoever buys a 340 or C43 is mad, not at all. This is based around my own needs and priorities and to which extent they are fulfilled, which is a pretty large extent currently, already making me think I could stick with the car for longer than I usually do. Time will tell...

PS. Edited as some thoughts were left out originally!

Edited 15 January, 2020 by newbie69

[shyVRS245]

Even after just 18 days with my 272 Sportline Plus I agree 100% with pretty well all your points and did contemplate say dropping it 25mm with some firmer Eibach springs yet I like the comfort (even without DCC) for 95% of the time and I have several speed humps to negotiate on our modern small estate where we live so clearance may become an issue. Although acceleration can seem dull in Normal or Eco modes compared to the majority of traffic on UK roads the normal performance is anything but dull and sometimes you wonder why the 2.0TDi in front is moving so slowly. Like you I wouldn't know whether my TCS light actually works despite driving on mainly soaking wet roads since I collected the car. Really looking forward to doing 6 long trips shortly and I'm sure it will impress even more than it has so far on my 27 mile (43km) commute.

[Markbro]

Leave that 2.0TDi in front of you alone, it's probably me in my manual 2wd 190TDi accelerating in the wet wondering if my TCS light switches off!!😁

 

One question though, how is tyre wear with all the power?

[shyVRS245]

24 minutes ago, Markbro said:

Leave that 2.0TDi in front of you alone, it's probably me in my manual 2wd 190TDi accelerating in the wet wondering if my TCS light switches off!!😁

 

One question though, how is tyre wear with all the power?

No wheelspin = no wear. Well that's the theory anyway.

[newbie69]

3 hours ago, Markbro said:

One question though, how is tyre wear with all the power?

It's really not that much power to be honest (even the 340bhp), and as Shy said, there shouldn't be any extra wear as there is no slipping. Most of the time (ie. when the rear axle is disengaged) the car drives as a FWD anyway 

[penguin17]

I wish I had the option to spec the Virtual cockpit on mine. It just makes the interior so much nicer.  

 

@newbie69 are you aware of any non-OEM Pretoria style wheels that are sold by a respected alloy brand, ideally TÜV approved?  I'd love to get the VW ones but at £400+ each they aren't cheap.  I wish I had the cash at the time to to have bought your Supernova's, I also prefer them much more than the Vega's. 

[newbie69]

17 minutes ago, penguin17 said:

I wish I had the option to spec the Virtual cockpit on mine. It just makes the interior so much nicer.  

 

@newbie69 are you aware of any non-OEM Pretoria style wheels that are sold by a respected alloy brand, ideally TÜV approved?  I'd love to get the VW ones but at £400+ each they aren't cheap.  I wish I had the cash at the time to to have bought your Supernova's, I also prefer them much more than the Vega's. 

I very much agree on the VC's effect.  I specced it as I'm a sucker for all tech gadgets but I quickly realized it is a very powerful feature/option in the overall cabin impression that you get, makes the car feel like it's the latest thing out there and that you ain't missing much compared to the hi-tech digital interiors of the German lux trio. In that sense I think it's going to provide that "feel like new" effect for longer than the dials ever could. It's also nice choosing what screen and what content you'd like showing up there depending on your mood, and, you get to modify the speedo to show more speed increments than stock and a max speed of 280km/h   

Pret clones exist on ebay, but TUV approved ones it's a negative. There's "similar" 5 spoke designs but if you've got that one stuck in your head it's going to be hard to accept something else, at least it was for me for over a year so I ended up sourcing a reasonably priced set of used Prets.

That been said, the same set on two different cars has gradually reduced its wow factor in my eyes so I was considering a change this spring. Shall I keep you posted? Keep in mind I have managed to get couple of scuffs on one of them but I think a wheel shop should be able to fix it easily.
 

Edited 15 January, 2020 by newbie69

[penguin17]

1 minute ago, newbie69 said:

I very much agree on the VC's effect.  I specced it as I'm a sucker for all tech gadgets but I quickly realized it is a very powerful feature/option in the overall cabin impression that you get, makes the car feel like it's the latest thing out there and that you ain't missing much compared to the hi-tech digital interiors of the German lux trio. In that sense I think it's going to provide that "feel like new" effect for longer than the dials ever could. It's also nice choosing what screen and what content you'd like showing up there depending on your mood, and, you get to modify the speedo to show more speed increments than stock and a max speed of 280km/h   

Pret clones exist on ebay, but TUV approved ones it's a negative. There's "similar" 5 spoke designs but if you've got that one stuck in your head it's going to be hard to accept something else, at least it was for me for over a year so I ended up sourcing a reasonably priced set of used Prets.

That been said, the same set on two different cars has gradually reduced its wow factor in my eyes so I was considering a change this spring. Shall I keep you posted? Keep in mind I have managed to get couple of scuffs on one of them but I think a wheel shop should be able to fix it easily.
 

Thanks.  Yes, plenty on eBay but hard to know if which are good and which are just soft crap that would buckle, at best.  I also like the 

 

Are yours 18's or 19's? I'd prefer 19's as I'd like them for Summer use and I have a new'ish set of R19 PS4's so would rather not have to buy a full set of tyres in another size. 

[newbie69]

I got the good stuff Penguin   19" flow formed and lightweight (9.6kg) Golf R/Clubsport alloy.

Originally this was the only size but eventually, VW made them in 18" too but only cast and in fact heavier (and much cheaper) than the 19" alloys. If I can spare Sunday morning to go get them out of their storage and take couple of photos I'll be able to show you the exact marks.

Edited 15 January, 2020 by newbie69

[penguin17]

8 hours ago, newbie69 said:

I got the good stuff Penguin   19" flow formed and lightweight (9.6kg) Golf R/Clubsport alloy.

Originally this was the only size but eventually, VW made them in 18" too but only cast and in fact heavier (and much cheaper) than the 19" alloys. If I can spare Sunday morning to go get them out of their storage and take couple of photos I'll be able to show you the exact marks.

Nice and thanks. Don’t go to any trouble though as I’m not in any great rush at the moment.