Hi all, long time reader and have been considering upgrades to my Skoda Superb 280 TSI 4.4 wagon for quite a while.

 

I inadvertently stumbled into buying this car.

 

In 2019 was looking a brand new Octavia RS wagon as a replacemnt for my Peugot 306 2L diesel wagon. What made me think of the skoda. My wife had a 2017 Octavia wagon which i liked, but i wanted a bit more sportiness, hence looking at the RS. In the car dealers they had this 2019 supurb demo with 3,000km for the same price as the brand new Octavia RS. I took it for a test ride and thought......this is plusher, this has 4x4 and is bigger than the Octavia....i might have this.

 

It was initially concerned with the big lumbering nature of the car...noting that Tasmania has lots of corners and not much autobarn like freeway. But i did like the plushness of the interior, the amazing boot space and the rear passenger side shades. With 2 under 6yo this was good. 

 

I also have a 2018 Triumph Street Triple 765 RS motorbike so i am no stranger to accelleration and giving it a squirt round the twisties.

 

After having this car for a while i realised the suspension is just, quite frankly sh!t. Its like a pogo stick over speed bumps and has so much body roll on the corners. On Tasmanian roads it is quite frankly dangerous.

 

Mod #1: Bilstein B14 shocks

This totally revolutionised the handling of the car and provided so much more confidence in the drive. I am still amazed at how much this has improved the handling. It has even improved the drive as the suspension hardly ever bottoms out any more under bumps on the road. I am willing to push the cruising speed higher plus it has added around 20kph to my natural cornering speed. Note that i was a bit of a hoon when i was younger on motorcycles and lived in Northern Territory when there was no speed limits, so i am quite happy to cruse on a motorbike at speed....there are some lovely parts of Tasmania with sweeping 160kph corners and squirts upto 260kph in between. This means i am happy to cruise my cars at 150kph on Tasmanian roads (police risk permitting). I now feel confident doing this in the Superb with this suspension.

 

Mod #2: H&N rear sway bar

I purchased this at the same time as the shocks above but cant install it myself easily as i cant get the car high enough to juggle the bar through the gap it has to go. I will get this installed professionally along with Mode #3.

 

Mod #3: Tune

So after driving with more confidence, i now find other cars on the road are annoying me more. In Tasmania we have most major roads as two lane roads (one travelling in each direction) with lots of bends. Where there is a little straight overtaking will be permitted but most overtaking manouvers occur on the infrequent overtaking lanes (where there is 3 lanes...2 in one direction and 1 in the other). Now most speed cameras and police laser setup points in Tasmania are on these overtaking lane areas so you cant really speed on them, you can maybe go 108kph in a 100kph zone but not more. We have heaps of tourists and old people driving these bendy roads who travel at 60-70kph round the bends because they are unfamiliar with the road, not used to driving out of the city and quite frankly are scared. But.....when they get to the overtaking lane they speed up to 110kph because it feels safer and reminds them of their hometown freeways with 110kph speed limits. Essentially you can't over take them on the overtaking lanes unless you want a speeding ticket....and that is why the police setup on these overtaking lanes. SO..... I want to overtake them on the short straits between corners. Now i am used to riding a high powered motorcycle where i can blip past cars almost anywhere. So despite the 280hp 4x4 superb having quite a bit of power....it is not enough to be confidently over taking on the short straits. My logic is the faster i complete an overtaking manouver the shorter period of time i risk an oncomming car rounding the next corner when i am in the "overtake committed" phase of the overtake. I dont see the speed i get up to during overtake relevant as i am happy to drive at high speeds if i dont get caught by police, and if i was to hit an oncomming car with a 200 or 300kph differential in speed the outcome will be the same. So....i want more power. I have pulled the pin on the following upgrades:

• Racing Line R600 air intake
• Racing Line Silicone Inlet Hoses
• Racing Line Muffler Delete
• Racing Line High Flow Turbo Inlet Bend
• IE Downpipe
• IE Intercooper
• Galano Custom Stage 2 tune and DSG tune (https://www.galano.com.au/)
• E85 flex fuel conversion

 

I found it really hard to find a tuning shop that would take on the Skoda. Most didnt want to know, some strung me along for a while before giving up. Mostly it was because for S2 they insisted on turbo back exhaust and couldnt find any premade for the 4x4 superb. Exclusive Revo dealer couldnt do it, exclusive racingline dealer couldnt do it. I was left with Rhenhaus Tuning in Hobart who were responsive and explained his preference for the Galano mapping.

 

With tuner fully booked until mid November, i guess i will have to wait until the work is done. Then i will give you an update and some pictures.

Edited 11 October, 20231 yr by Street_Triple

Wish we had the freedom in the UK that you have!

 

Is the tuner installing all the upgrades?

Yeah the timer only wants $700 Labor costs so not worth doing myself.

Fellow Tasmanian here (Launceston) who just got their hands on a 2021 Sportline Superb. Can I ask what the Bilsteins ran you $$$ wise? The Superb is great for the Launnie to Hobart run on the Midland but outside of sport mode it's pretty wallowy on our mountain roads. I can attest to tourists on the road haha. Did a Launnie to Bicheno drive weekend just gone via Lake Leake and I reckon I snuck past 30 cars on the drive. Bit of a shame you found it hard to find a tuner as I'm considering it myself as well but our options seem a lot less abundant up this way. 

 

Keep us updated and looking forward to see how the car gets on. 

I paid $1700 but I think they are around $2300 no on Sydney shock absorbers website. Inflation hey...bought mine in 2020 but only just got round to installing.