3 hours ago, Mr_Bigglesworth said:

Thanks for this. It was the 190 that I test drove, just seemed sluggish on pulling away. Night and day compared to the Octavia 2.0Tsi (2019) 190 - hence me thinking that maybe it was a duff example of one and I need to find another Superb 190 to test drive!

I can assure you that the 190 engine is anything but sluggish - I rarely use sport mode unless I am playing stick with the BMW on A roads!!

Wonder if the test vehicle was a 1.5?

3 hours ago, Stonechip said:

I can assure you that the 190 engine is anything but sluggish - I rarely use sport mode unless I am playing stick with the BMW on A roads!!

Wonder if the test vehicle was a 1.5?

It was defo a 2.0T.

4 hours ago, Mr_Bigglesworth said:

It was defo a 2.0T.

Maybe it was the 2.0TDi not 2.0TSi......

That would explain the sluggish feeling.

9 hours ago, JR RS said:

Maybe it was the 2.0TDi not 2.0TSi......

That would explain the sluggish feeling.

my 190 TDI is anything but sluggish. It's quicker in every way than my 2.0 TDI remapped Octavia

On 24/04/2025 at 13:58, Mr_Bigglesworth said:

@logiclee all agreed. That was essentially my line of thinking. But L&K all comes at a cost and this won't be our main car (but will be our holidaying car etc). To be honest there isn't much available used, so it may be the case of not being too choosy!

Don't rush ... it is too important of an expense to chance it!

The right car will come ... I spent months looking until mine came, exactly as I wanted it!

On 23/04/2025 at 07:32, logiclee said:

Canton is standard in my L&K but I think I'd be a bit disappointed if I'd paid extra for it.

Best standard ICE I’ve had in any car. As for bass, I don’t really understand how much overwhelming bass is really needed, but then again I’m an old fart. Midrange is great.

1 hour ago, numskull said:

Best standard ICE I’ve had in any car. As for bass, I don’t really understand how much overwhelming bass is really needed, but then again I’m an old fart. Midrange is great.

I suppose I'm rating against the upgraded 1200W 17 Speaker B&W system in my XF (£2200 Option) and my B&W 7.2.4 Home Cinema (£10k+)

But as I also said the our BMW with the mid level upgrade (+£400) had nice punchy bass from subs under the seat with a nice rich sound.

The little plastic sub with it's little port in the Canton gives bloated bottom end bass but there's no punch to it and the timing is slightly off. Mids are clear but not a lot of richness.

Canton is an upgrade over the standard audio but so is a midrange soundbar over TV speakers. Many are perfectly happy with that sort of upgrade. I wouldn't be.

For me though Canton doesn't give the quality I've heard from other manufacturers systems. I'll take it as a standard fit in the L&K but if I'd ticked the £600-700 option box on other models I'd be a bit disappointed with it.

I’m not going down the ICE vs. home HiFi rabbit hole again. I’m not into DSP stuff when listening to music and the vast majority of stuff I listen to in the car is spoken word when driving and DVD’s / MP4 / MKV / TV when parked so for that, it is excellent.

What amp is driving the B&W’s?

I like the way logiclee illustrated above the way it sounds, exactly like a lesser setup. Actually, it sounds like the HK in my P38 sans the subwoofer, which I know well since I had it off while in repair. Mine is a Midline system, no DSP, with only 3-way in the front doors, with separate speakers but no separate enclosures, and 2-way in the rear doors, same. Yet even without the sub is still punchier than the Canton. There was a Highline with more stuff, but I never had the pleasure to hear it.

The Bose in my S6 C4 was absolutely superb, and this was without the plethora of speakers available now, and with a simpler single way front and rear 13/10cm, to that, and a sub, with however separate enclosures for all speakers, like their own boxes, within the door cards. It was clear but powerful at the same time, and speaker were simple paper cones ... obviously somebody spent a lot of time trying to make it sound so good.

Now, besides my particular and personal taste, there are certain types of music for which a missing punch in the bass takes away a great deal of the experience.

And since my musical tastes have not changed much over the years, I have listened to more or less the same stuff in all three cars, and the latter, regrettably, is the poorest in this regard.

I am now upgrading my digital library to FLAC, to see if the sound quality from the source affects the way the speakers play the sound, but I have not yet gotten a significant result to see this as the culprit - Superb is the first car I use digital audio, before I have been always on CDs, originals also.

37 minutes ago, numskull said:

I’m not going down the ICE vs. home HiFi rabbit hole again.

I agree with the statement, I think is horses for courses. Incidentally, the wifemobile Lexus has a Mark&Levinson system again with many speakers and subs, and its sound, while good, is still lesser than the ones I mentioned above, and actually very similar to the Canton.

I have a friend with a top of the line A8 D4 with a Bang&Olufsen and again, there is a "all surround" feel, but nothing to make your stomach tremble type of feel.

I guess it is an actual trend to promote a more balanced, mid-range clarity type of sound, whereas older designs were aiming at a different setup, maybe?

1 hour ago, numskull said:

What amp is driving the B&W’s?

At Home?

Denon X4800 doing surround processing and powering four overhead atmos speakers with Emotiva XPA power amps feeding the 7 bed layer speakers. 2x Subs are active from BK Elec.

Calibration and DSP via Audyssey EQ-X PC software and REW.

Edited 25 April, 20251 yr by logiclee

Hi , I have a 1.5 Tsi 2019 Superb and drove two examples.The first example was a 2020 model that was a nice car but was flat as a pan cake.The sales representative told me I was over fueling the engine !

It was clear to me that COVID had caused supply chain issues and manufacturers were selling cars not to advertised specification.

I fully appreciate that I have only 150 bhp under my right foot but my last car was restricted to 155 mph and the fastest I ever drove the car was 130 kph on a motorway in Southern France.

Do I miss 350 bhp and cannot remember the torque figures , not really but my wallet is much heaver than it was.

Unfortunately I don't particularly like the S4 version ( exterior) of the Superb and many of those cars I think are above £40,000 threshold for VED.

In all honesty I am totally underwhelmed but the Bi Hex headlights with illuminated strips self adjusting this and that but I acknowledge that it could be down to user error !

I am pleased with car although I have had the car 2 years only have driven 3000 miles in it.

I love hatchback cars and I believe that it equal to the Passat

Good luck on your choice of car.

6 hours ago, super717 said:

Unfortunately I don't particularly like the S4 version ( exterior) of the Superb and many of those cars I think are above £40,000 threshold for VED.

You can easily get a S3 above £40k. Mine was.

£625 + increases for the next 5 years.

You can purchase an Audi A5 starting at 44 k !

3 hours ago, super717 said:

You can purchase an Audi A5 starting at 44 k !

But if you want a 2.0TSi with a nice spec you will be closer to £60k for an A5.

My Superb 2.0TSi L&K with some nice options £45k

Agreed

14 hours ago, logiclee said:

You can easily get a S3 above £40k. Mine was.

£625 + increases for the next 5 years.

£625 now? Holy smokes. I'm so glad my L&K somehow avoided the £40k limit but it's still a shock paying £190 pa Vs my Octavia £35

9 hours ago, SkodaKing said:

£625 now? Holy smokes. I'm so glad my L&K somehow avoided the £40k limit but it's still a shock paying £190 pa Vs my Octavia £35

Just checked and it's actually £620.

£195 road tax and £425 Luxury car tax.