Hi all, today I just sold my old BMW 320d and I’m looking for a replacement. As not many cars offer such good value for money, I would be tempted to get a Superb. As alternatives I’ve considered a C class estate, an A4 Avant and potentially a Volvo, but it’s hard to find the right spec at the right price.

 

So back to the Superb, I’ve seen a few nice cars for sale, but I’m not decided on the engine yet. I clearly want a petrol as I’m only doing about 8-10k miles a year. The 272 or the new 280 is out of the budget, so I’d consider the old 280, the 220 or the newer 190. I’ve read the entire thread on the 280 vs 220 and the general impression I got was that the 220 tends to wheelspin a lot, but in general city driving they’re the similar. Does the 190 have the same issue and does it feel underpowered compare to the 220? I haven’t seen any complaints from Audi or VW owners with the same engine, so wondering if the applies to the Superb. Which is the engine to go with out of these?

The 220 and 190 are not underpowered for everyday driving,

Of course if you want to drive like it’s a sports car then not quite as good, but the extra power of 280 is all near top of Rev band so only ever likely to use it for short bursts

@AndreasZ If your old car was a BMW 320d then I assume you didn’t pick the engine for using like a sports car, (you would have have 330, 335 etc)  so probably won’t miss the extra power if you buy 190 or 220

 

As for wheel spin, a lot depends on the tyres, the factory fit summer tyres really do not like cold rain (or sleet, frost, snow) so putting premium all season tyres will help.

 

Edited 14 June, 20214 yr by SurreyJohn

Went through the exact same thing not long ago, can't comment on the engines as I was always going to go diesel but looked at all the other cars you mentioned before deciding on the Superb. 

 

As you say there's not much out there that offers the same VFM as it, I ended up going for it mainly because of the size, and liked the idea of a car that was such a standout colour (Dragon Green, in the sun its just something else). 

 

Mine came with some awful budget tyres on it and have changed these to PS4s and have zero issues with wheelspin, in fact I am often quite pleasantly surprised how well it handles for something so big thats tailored for comfort. 

Any of those engines would be fine and I doubt they'd feel underpowered.  Front wheel drive cars will often wheelspin in the right situation, but I doubt in normal use it would make much difference.  I've never managed to unstick my 280 and it does go quite well, but I am the first to admit its not in any way necessary. 

I ended up with the 190. This ultimately was governed by availability. 280s are quite rare, and not cheap, 220s were easier to find, but a 190 came up with the spec I wanted (towbar) and that was that. 

I took the view that I use it as a cruising machine, so the 30 loss wasn't so bad, and it's true to say that it's got more than enough get up and go on the motorway. 

Wheelspin wise it isn't great, but as others have said, the Pirelli P7s are far from the best and I'm sure some ps4s will sort it. 

 

I also had a look at V90s, but was surprised that a bigger car has a smaller boot. Lovely inside and out though. I think the V90 engine made me more comfortable with the 190 as the T4 is the same and T5s fell into the luxury tax band. 

After my annual mileage dropped from 30k to around 6-8k I decided to switch from a S2 Superb 170 Diesel to a 66 reg 280. Double the power & no wheelspin in any weather conditions, which was quite common in the old 2WD 170 diesel on damp roads. The extra power of the 280 is very useful when needed, even more so now I've had a REVO stage 1 remap done. The only downside vs the old diesel is the increased fuel consumption which hovers around of 25/26mpg around town & up to 36mpg on a run also, 99RON fuel is needed for best results. That said with far fewer miles being covered I can live with higher the fuel consumption & now I've experienced the capabilities of 4WD I don't think I would go back to 2WD unless it was a much lower powered model. 

I've been driving this 66-plate 220, DSG. DCC, ACC Sportline for 4.5 years. It's been a terrific car. It has plenty of passing power and wheelspin is a non-issue since I replaced the original Pirelli P7's with all-weather tyres. I did add a Pedal Box soon after buying to avoid the sluggish throttle response from idle, but have not otherwise spent a penny on the car, except for an annual service. My average fuel mileage after four years is 36 mpg.

 

I will drive this car until the government tells me to buy electric. Living in London, that could be sooner rather than later.

On 14/06/2021 at 22:29, SurreyJohn said:

The 220 and 190 are not underpowered for everyday driving,

Of course if you want to drive like it’s a sports car then not quite as good, but the extra power of 280 is all near top of Rev band so only ever likely to use it for short bursts

@AndreasZ If your old car was a BMW 320d then I assume you didn’t pick the engine for using like a sports car, (you would have have 330, 335 etc)  so probably won’t miss the extra power if you buy 190 or 220

 

As for wheel spin, a lot depends on the tyres, the factory fit summer tyres really do not like cold rain (or sleet, frost, snow) so putting premium all season tyres will help.

 

The 320D was the most exciting practical car I could get in my (very low!) budget. Ended up being a money pit, as it was expected for 130k+ miles, but now I'm ready to get into something much newer and relatively sensible. I'm very tempted by the 280, but I'm not a fan of the 6 speed box and the higher RPM on the motorway. 272 is a bit of a stretch, especially considering I'm not willing to compromise on the Canton, which not many used cars have. This is why I'm debating between a newer 190/220 with all I want and an older decently specced 280. 

 

I'm planning to go for some premium tyres anyways, given how thin they are.

1 hour ago, freelunch said:

I've been driving this 66-plate 220, DSG. DCC, ACC Sportline for 4.5 years. It's been a terrific car. It has plenty of passing power and wheelspin is a non-issue since I replaced the original Pirelli P7's with all-weather tyres. I did add a Pedal Box soon after buying to avoid the sluggish throttle response from idle, but have not otherwise spent a penny on the car, except for an annual service. My average fuel mileage after four years is 36 mpg.

 

I will drive this car until the government tells me to buy electric. Living in London, that could be sooner rather than later.

Amazing, no wonder why Skoda is one of the most reliable brands. I'm also living in London and I'm fed up with the speed bumps, which I think a Superb would handle relatively well.

 

That mileage isn't far off of what I've seen in my 2008 320d, with a mix of city and motorway driving, which honestly is quite lame for a 2.0 diesel. I'm very tempted by the 280, but also mindful that it's possibly more suitable for the autobahn where you can properly stretch its legs. On our motorways though, I'd imagine the 220 is good enough. How's the road noise with the all season tyres?

On 15/06/2021 at 16:34, Colin170CR said:

After my annual mileage dropped from 30k to around 6-8k I decided to switch from a S2 Superb 170 Diesel to a 66 reg 280. Double the power & no wheelspin in any weather conditions, which was quite common in the old 2WD 170 diesel on damp roads. The extra power of the 280 is very useful when needed, even more so now I've had a REVO stage 1 remap done. The only downside vs the old diesel is the increased fuel consumption which hovers around of 25/26mpg around town & up to 36mpg on a run also, 99RON fuel is needed for best results. That said with far fewer miles being covered I can live with higher the fuel consumption & now I've experienced the capabilities of 4WD I don't think I would go back to 2WD unless it was a much lower powered model. 

This is what I've been thinking, I'm probably doing about the same miles as you, so I would definitely trade 10 mpg for a much punchier and exciting, yet practical Superb. Have you had any issues with tyres wearing faster or unevenly?

On 15/06/2021 at 10:04, JBD1974 said:

I ended up with the 190. This ultimately was governed by availability. 280s are quite rare, and not cheap, 220s were easier to find, but a 190 came up with the spec I wanted (towbar) and that was that. 

I took the view that I use it as a cruising machine, so the 30 loss wasn't so bad, and it's true to say that it's got more than enough get up and go on the motorway. 

Wheelspin wise it isn't great, but as others have said, the Pirelli P7s are far from the best and I'm sure some ps4s will sort it. 

 

I also had a look at V90s, but was surprised that a bigger car has a smaller boot. Lovely inside and out though. I think the V90 engine made me more comfortable with the 190 as the T4 is the same and T5s fell into the luxury tax band. 

That's a good point, it's hard to balance all the options you want and yet get under the higher tax band. For me the audio system is one of the top criteria and to get a Volvo with a Bowers&Wilkins AND petrol engine at a reasonable price is quite impossible. While the B&W on the Volvo can't be directly compared to the Canton, the rest of the package isn't far off the Superb. 

 

I found some pretty good PCP deals for 190s with Canton and sunroof, which are two of my main preferences. Does yours have DCC and if not, do you feel the car is too floaty?

25 minutes ago, AndreasZ said:

I'm very tempted by the 280, but I'm not a fan of the 6 speed box and the higher RPM on the motorway. 272 is a bit of a stretch, especially considering I'm not willing to compromise on the Canton, which not many used cars have. This is why I'm debating between a newer 190/220 with all I want and an older decently specced 280. 

 

I'm planning to go for some premium tyres anyways, given how thin they are.

I went for the 280 as my budget simply couldn’t stretch to a 272 at the time. £20k for a 20k miles Sportline was my upper limit but I’m very happy with it. My biggest gripe is as you mention the 6 speed box cruising speed. You are doing 2.5k rpm at 70 and obviously if you cruise at even 85 (maybe illegal but not exactly unrealistic with most traffic) you’ll be doing 3k plus and it definitely makes a difference to the fuel economy. Obviously nobody really buys a 280 for economy but it has to factor in somewhere when you are lucky to average 30mpg with 99ron fuel and that requires behaving 90% of the time and not booting it. 

Previously I averaged 27.5mpg on Sainsbury’s 97ron but decided to give the shell v-power a try for a while, does seem to make a difference but 10p a litre more soon cancels that out.

Boot it though and the smiles per gallon trumps all else! And obviously the original 280 has quad valves exhausts so obviously that’s better…. 

45 minutes ago, AndreasZ said:

That's a good point, it's hard to balance all the options you want and yet get under the higher tax band. For me the audio system is one of the top criteria and to get a Volvo with a Bowers&Wilkins AND petrol engine at a reasonable price is quite impossible. While the B&W on the Volvo can't be directly compared to the Canton, the rest of the package isn't far off the Superb. 

 

I found some pretty good PCP deals for 190s with Canton and sunroof, which are two of my main preferences. Does yours have DCC and if not, do you feel the car is too floaty?

No DCC - I have the sportline and it feels fairly planted for the most part. Although slightly under damped seems to be skoda's preferred chassis set up though, but as I mentioned above its a cruiser (for me) so that's OK. I guess a test drive is in order! 

53 minutes ago, AndreasZ said:

This is what I've been thinking, I'm probably doing about the same miles as you, so I would definitely trade 10 mpg for a much punchier and exciting, yet practical Superb. Have you had any issues with tyres wearing faster or unevenly?

A 280 + Stage1 Revo = 360bhp. Tyre wear is minimal although I did did get some abnormal tyre wear on the rears at 40k.  Rear camber adjustment needed. 

I've had a 190 for a month now and the performance and surprisingly the economy are a lot better than my old 2.0d  Karoq 

My dealer has just put a 1.4 tsi hybrid sport line estate DSG on demo  so im curious to see how that performs 

16 hours ago, AndreasZ said:

How's the road noise with the all season tyres?

I got so fed up with the P7's that when I managed to slice one of the sidewalls on holiday, I used that as an excuse to buy 4 Vredestein Quatrac 5's after only 17K miles. I don't notice that they are any louder than the Pirelli's, but they are much grippier. (Mind, I came from being a daily motorcycle rider, so road noise in the Škoda is a luxury.) I can still break them loose if I want to, but they have not slipped under normal quick acceleration from a stop. Nor have they slipped in the wet, like the Pirelli's used to do.