Hello - I've just joined the forum as I'm contemplating buying a Superb II to replace my 16 year old Rover, that has finally begun to succumb to tin worm. I wonder if I might ask for advice on a couple of matters?

 

I'd aim to keep the car for at least ten years, ideally longer. I doubt I'll do more than 4000 miles PA in it, including local potholed roads, and some motorway trips. Although I like to make progress, I'm not a boy racer and prefer comfort. To that end I'm looking for an Elegance, ideally with cream leather and the wood trim.

 

On my budget I'd be looking at 2012-2015, 70-100k miles. So some questions:

 

Although I'd like an auto, I'm tempted to go for manual because of horror stories around poorly-maintained VAG DSG boxes. I simply couldn't afford to throw another 4k at a wrecked gearbox. Sound fair? I assume there isn't a fat lot wrong with the manual box.

 

I'm also wondering about smaller wheels/bigger tyres because of the state of the lanes round here. For that and other reasons I'm tempted by the Greenline, but do people find the 1.6 under-powered for the size of the car? 105PS doesn't sound a lot for overtaking.

 

Thank you for your time. I may have further questions 😉

 

Cheers

Richard

The problem with Elegance trim is it normally comes with 18" alloys shod with 225/40R18 tyres which is not great for comfort or pot holed roads. I had an SE 2.0TDi with 17" alloys and 225/45R17 tyres and both 2012 and facelift 2014 Elegance models with the 18" alloys. All manual gearboxes and the latest one suffered a clutch failure at just 11,000 miles so don't think having a manual gearbox will save you money. Fortunately our 1 year old car was fixed under warranty (otherwise it would have been a bill of £1,100). This was my last Skoda diesel and since 2015 we have run 2 petrol Skoda's witha total mileage of 100,000 with no issues. Never driven a 1.6TDi Superb so no idea if they are underpowered but the 138bhp diesel in the 2.0TDi gives adequate performance.

11 minutes ago, shyVRS245 said:

The problem with Elegance trim is it normally comes with 18" alloys shod with 225/40R18 tyres which is not great for comfort or pot holed roads. I had an SE 2.0TDi with 17" alloys and 225/45R17 tyres and both 2012 and facelift 2014 Elegance models with the 18" alloys. All manual gearboxes and the latest one suffered a clutch failure at just 11,000 miles so don't think having a manual gearbox will save you money. Fortunately our 1 year old car was fixed under warranty (otherwise it would have been a bill of £1,100). This was my last Skoda diesel and since 2015 we have run 2 petrol Skoda's witha total mileage of 100,000 with no issues. Never driven a 1.6TDi Superb so no idea if they are underpowered but the 138bhp diesel in the 2.0TDi gives adequate performance.

Thanks. If I ended up with 18" wheels I'd be looking to replace them with 17" or 16".  Point taken about the clutch; though I think I'd take a risk on a clutch, whereas a whole gearbox is another matter.

 

I'm hoping someone can comment on the 1.6TDi, as I'm really tempted for the road tax, and it would have my having to replace the wheels

 

Cheers

Richard

Not sure whether the Greenline model had 205/60 or 205/55 Eco tyres but it was 15mm lower thanks to shorter springs and had privacy glass as standard to help the air con in summer and I believe it had a 5 speed manual gearbox with tall gearing to drop the revs at motorway speeds.

I ran a green line for nearly 3 years, not the fastest car in the world but adequate for the give and take roads we have. If you go for a green line only available as a manual. 

2 minutes ago, Mr Rubble said:

I ran a green line for nearly 3 years, not the fastest car in the world but adequate for the give and take roads we have. If you go for a green line only available as a manual. 

Thanks. Anything in particular to look for when buying a 1.6? Anything you particularly like or dislike about it? Would you buy one that was 8 years old? I'm thinking of bodywork, but also of bushes and seals and things that perish.

 

Sorry for all the questions, but I'm trying to increase my chances of getting this right 😉

 

Cheers

Richard

To " @Tanglewood63 " - I think that 1.6TDI is a big compromise for this big chassis. 2.0TDI is very good engine if have been maintained in right way. The "6DSG" is very good automatic transmission, again - if have been maintained in right way. 2.0TDI Engine and "6DSG" automatic transmission can travel 300.000 and more without any Problems.

 

Maintained = Used and Serviced, both in right way.

 

About the tires.. More bigger - less Comfort. For good roads - the 18" is OK. For bad roads - 17" is big, 16" is better. For good roads - difference between 18" and 17" is minimal. 18" is beautiful

2 hours ago, shyVRS245 said:

Not sure whether the Greenline model had 205/60 or 205/55 Eco tyres but it was 15mm lower thanks to shorter springs and had privacy glass as standard to help the air con in summer and I believe it had a 5 speed manual gearbox with tall gearing to drop the revs at motorway speeds.

After the facelift the Greenline got a 6-speed manual. Standard tyres were 205/55/R16 for the Greenline.

 

2 hours ago, Tanglewood63 said:

I'd aim to keep the car for at least ten years, ideally longer. I doubt I'll do more than 4000 miles PA in it, including local potholed roads, and some motorway trips. Although I like to make progress, I'm not a boy racer and prefer comfort. To that end I'm looking for an Elegance, ideally with cream leather and the wood trim.

 

Although I'd like an auto, I'm tempted to go for manual because of horror stories around poorly-maintained VAG DSG boxes. I simply couldn't afford to throw another 4k at a wrecked gearbox. Sound fair? I assume there isn't a fat lot wrong with the manual box.

 

I'm also wondering about smaller wheels/bigger tyres because of the state of the lanes round here. For that and other reasons I'm tempted by the Greenline, but do people find the 1.6 under-powered for the size of the car? 105PS doesn't sound a lot for overtaking.

 

The wet clutch DSG is a reliable 'box if it's had the oil changes carried out every 60000 km, but on the diesel Superbs that's only available on the 2.0 CR engine. The 1.6 TDI got the 7-speed dry clutch DSG option and there are potential issues with that one from the factory.

 

As for whether the power is enough, the Superb 2 in Elegance spec is about 1.7 tonnes with driver and a tank of fuel. It's up to you whether you think 105 bhp is enough to drag it around. Personally I don't, hence having the 170 bhp model. Everyone has their own take on these things. I'd suggest taking one for a test drive and see what you think of it.

 

The Greeline specification is available in Elegance trim, so you can have the toys and the higher profile tyres if that matters to you. It's not hard to find the 16" wheels available second hand either so if you bought an Elegance on its standard 18s it wouldn't be hard to swap over. I've summarised a bunch of wheel/tyre info here if you want to read further on that topic.

A word of caution about your planned annual mileage: unless this is going to be primarily motorway mileage, the TDI is not a good option. It doesn't cope well with frequent cold starts and short journeys and any savings on fuel/tax are likely to be eaten up by increased maintenance costs. A petrol model may be a better bet.

2 minutes ago, chimaera said:

After the facelift the Greenline got a 6-speed manual. Standard tyres were 205/55/R16 for the Greenline.

 

 

The wet clutch DSG is a reliable 'box if it's had the oil changes carried out every 60000 km, but on the diesel Superbs that's only available on the 2.0 CR engine. The 1.6 TDI got the 7-speed dry clutch DSG option and there are potential issues with that one from the factory.

 

As for whether the power is enough, the Superb 2 in Elegance spec is about 1.7 tonnes with driver and a tank of fuel. It's up to you whether you think 105 bhp is enough to drag it around. Personally I don't, hence having the 170 bhp model. Everyone has their own take on these things. I'd suggest taking one for a test drive and see what you think of it.

 

The Greeline specification is available in Elegance trim, so you can have the toys and the higher profile tyres if that matters to you. It's not hard to find the 16" wheels available second hand either so if you bought an Elegance on its standard 18s it wouldn't be hard to swap over. I've summarised a bunch of wheel/tyre info here if you want to read further on that topic.

A word of caution about your planned annual mileage: unless this is going to be primarily motorway mileage, the TDI is not a good option. It doesn't cope well with frequent cold starts and short journeys and any savings on fuel/tax are likely to be eaten up by increased maintenance costs. A petrol model may be a better bet.

Thanks for this. I would actually prefer a petrol for the reasons you give. I'm struggling however to find a petrol car with the trim spec I want. It's not so much the cream leather as the wood trim that seems to be extremely rare in the UK. If you know of such a car please let me know 😉

 

Cheers

Richard

3 minutes ago, Tanglewood63 said:

Thanks for this. I would actually prefer a petrol for the reasons you give. I'm struggling however to find a petrol car with the trim spec I want. It's not so much the cream leather as the wood trim that seems to be extremely rare in the UK. If you know of such a car please let me know 😉

 

Cheers

Richard

That's pretty much how I ended up with diesel too - I wasn't interested in the 1.8 TSI and finding a 2.0 TSI was next to impossible. I'd suggest using Autotrader to search  and don't be afraid to travel.

3 minutes ago, chimaera said:

That's pretty much how I ended up with diesel too - I wasn't interested in the 1.8 TSI and finding a 2.0 TSI was next to impossible. I'd suggest using Autotrader to search  and don't be afraid to travel.

I think I could now quote chapter and verse on every Superb II Elegance on both Autotrader and Ebay 😉

Buying an 5-8 year old Superb with between 70-100,000 miles on it and a diesel engine, and then doing 4,000 miles a year in it is a bad idea in my opinion.

 

You are very much signing up to DPF and EGR issues. A Superb of that vintage will already have a DPF with close to 50% ash load and an EGR with either carbon build-up or water ingress.

 

What does your 4,000 miles consist of, a handful of long journey's and being stood for prolonged periods, or frequent / daily short journey's?

 

The 1.6 is a common rail engine so has the catalyst to aid the DPF, but nevertheless the MkII Superb is now an ageing design and is very much a part of the era where DPF's need to get hot regularly and for long enough to do their thing. Your Superb will be constantly trying to regenerate and will ruin your fuel economy and see some potentially big bills crop up quite quickly.

 

The two petrol engined Superb's are not recommended either, neither the 1.8 TSI or 2.0 TSI have great reliability records, unless of course you fancy the 3.6 V6! 😀

 

Do you really need the space of the Superb? The Octavia has some better options, with either the 1.2 TSI and 1.4 TSI engines, which are both brilliant by the way.

 

I'm guessing your budget is around £6,000?

 

Here is a MkII facelift Octavia, 1.4 TSI, Elegance spec (more sparse than an equivalent Superb, but still well fairly well specced as standard), DSG too and low mileage...

 

 

You can even get a MkIII if you prefer the looks...

 

Yes, I do want a Superb, but thanks for the suggestions. My budget is 6-9k. If I were content with black leather and silver trim, I would be spoilt for choice.

 

My annual journeys would be a mostly rural round trips of around 6-20 miles, a dozen or more 'A' road round trips of around 60 miles, and maybe a dozen or so long motorway journeys a year. Hard to estimate really. How long to get a DPF hot?

 

I do fancy the V6 but not the road tax!

 

The thing is, all cars are going to have maintenance and repair issues.

 

 

During the summer months you rarely notice the DPF performing regens, if the ambient temperatures are high enough it'll passive regen (rather than active regen) most of the time, (at least outside of the mileage parameters that trigger a default regen).

 

It'll be during the colder months where you'll see issues. On days where temperatures are below 5 degrees Celsius my 2.0 TDI CR140 could take up to 10-15 miles at between 40mph and 60mph before the coolant temperature hit 90 degress, even longer for the oil temperature.

 

In slow moving or stop/start traffic the engine will rarely ever reach operating temperature, another downside to thermally efficient diesel engines.

 

I'm not trying to put you off the Superb, I ran a MkII for 8 years and close to 200,000 miles, they really are fantastic cars, but I honestly believe your journey types and annual mileage is asking for trouble, especially on a well used diesel version.

 

I'd be tempted to squeeze the budget by another £500 and go for the MkIII...

 

Thanks, I appreciate it.. Doesn't have the interior I want to be in, though 😉 As far as I can tell, cream leather means a II.  

 

How do you think the DPF issue would stack up for say, a 2012 1.6 TDi with under 40k miles? Obviously the same money will buy me either an early, low mileage car, or a later car with  hiler mileage. I'd been tending towards the latter, but am now wondering whether I was right.

...and what about remaps?   https://www.celtictuning.co.uk/services/performance-stats/skoda/superb-3t-2008-2015/diesel/1-6-tdi-cr-103-bhp-2008-2015-ECU-remap-chiptuning/stage-1#t3-content

 

I'll be selling my Mk2 laurin and klement 170 dsg 4x4 for around 9k very soon. 

On 21/03/2020 at 19:51, Tanglewood63 said:

Thanks, I appreciate it.. Doesn't have the interior I want to be in, though 😉 As far as I can tell, cream leather means a II.  

 

How do you think the DPF issue would stack up for say, a 2012 1.6 TDi with under 40k miles? Obviously the same money will buy me either an early, low mileage car, or a later car with  hiler mileage. I'd been tending towards the latter, but am now wondering whether I was right.

 

An eight year old Superb with 40,000 miles on it suggests an annual mileage of 5,000 miles, again not ideal for DPF-longevity as that is likely to be a life of similar journey types to yours.

 

If you're dead set on a diesel then the best thing you can do is to get yourself a DPF app for your phone, and a Bluetooth OBD plug-in. When viewing cars ask the seller if they're OK with you reading the ash levels inside the DPF.

 

You can see on this car, the DPF is currently running at 89% capacity (small yellow number at the bottom of the black area), i.e. it is nearly dead...

 

 

 

At 75% load the DPF can only be regenerated via a forced regeneration, at 95% it is full and at end-of-life.

Yes, I'm rapidly coming round to the idea of petrol

It's a shame that all the MkII 1.4 TSI's are the lowly 'S' models, so no chance of leather, let alone cream leather. Petrol was still inferior to diesel back when they were being ordered I guess.

 

This is the cheapest petrol Superb I can find with the lighter interior...

 

 

 

Edited 23 March, 20206 yr by silver1011

It's got the silver trim though.

 

Maybe I should just get an XF. You get a choice of wood with XFs 😉

Cream leather and a wooden dash?

 

You're definitely on the wrong forum 😂

Or move to China...

 

That's horrible. Not like this:

7 hours ago, silver1011 said:

 

An eight year old Superb with 40,000 miles on it suggests an annual mileage of 5,000 miles, again not ideal for DPF-longevity as that is likely to be a life of similar journey types to yours.

 

If you're dead set on a diesel then the best thing you can do is to get yourself a DPF app for your phone, and a Bluetooth OBD plug-in. When viewing cars ask the seller if they're OK with you reading the ash levels inside the DPF.

 

You can see on this car, the DPF is currently running at 89% capacity (small yellow number at the bottom of the black area), i.e. it is nearly dead...

 

 

 

At 75% load the DPF can only be regenerated via a forced regeneration, at 95% it is full and at end-of-life.

very poor mis information. the yellow percentage does not mean it is nearly dead at all, its just close to doing a regen which will drop the percentage to around 20%. perfectly normal.