Time to move on from the wife's 2016 Superb, 1.4Tsi ACT DSG. The car has been faultless and has been a perfect fit for the family, but nearly 10 years old it's time for a change.

No longer need the space of a Superb but would like some of the attributes, space, reliability and comfort, hence the Octavia. She will probably hold onto the car for 10 years.

Looking at new 1.5Tsi DSG models. Is this proving to be a reliable engine? Is it belt driven, and not a wet belt? Is the performance adequate?

From what I hear Skoda quality and reliability has dipped in the intervening years and people have endured issues with infotainment issues and other reliability niggles. Would this be accurate.

Would love to hear from any other Superb owners who have moved to an Octavia, does the car compare well?

Many thanks.

Edited 27 May, 20251 yr by Steviedakota

Just over four years ago I moved from a 2014 1.4TSI Mk2 Superb hatch/twindoor to a 2020 Octavia Estate Mk4 1.5TSI. Both manual 'box cars.

For space & size, the rear legroom is notably less in the Octavia whereas the rear headroom is better. Having said that, there is still room for a 6 footer behind me and I'm 6' 4" tall. The boot is a similar size, perhaps a tad smaller in the Octavia but the difference is not significant (to me, and I usually end up with a full boot on long trips!).

Comfort is a very subjective thing. The ride in the Superb I reckon was a tad better, the longer wheelbase reducing the impact of bumps and undulations in the road. The recommeded tyre pressures are notably higher for the Octavia (presumably for fuel efficiency and WLTP reasons) so it is a little harsh at times but never feels an issue. Are there better ride and handling cars out there? Yes! Is the Octavia good enough? Yes! As always, larger wheels, lower profile tyres equals a more harsh ride; mine is on 17" wheels with 205/55 tyres; it is fine.

Reliability. Mechanically, faultless. The car is now a tad shy of 60k miles (bought it at 2.5k) and it's been absolutely fine. Infotainment System is a different story. Mine being a 2020 build suffered pretty much all of the early faults. The good news is that mine is working very well now, just the very occasional niggle but the last was so long ago I can't remember what or when it was - and I'm not even on the latest s/w version for the pre-facelift models. Current, FaceLift, models have a different Infotainment System to that fitted in pre-FL cars; alas, I can't comment on its reliability.

Sorry, but I have no idea what type of timing belt the 1.5TSI has; and I understand there has been a revision to it since mine was built anyway.

Performance. Again, a subjective topic, but for me it is more than adequate. Take it beyond about 2800RPM and it comes alive, but to be honest I rarely need to take it above 3500RPM anyway. At lower revs. (1500-2000) its doesn't pull as well as my old 1.4 Superb (non ACT, 125PS version - NOT the 150PS ACT version) but again, most of the time it is adequate. I just don't bother with 5th or 6th at 30mph.

Fuel Economy. I'm one of those folk who records fuel and mileage in a spreadsheet 🙄 but it does come in handy from time to time 👌. The Octavia is about 14% more fuel efficient. Over 55k miles the Superb averaged 48.9mpg compared to similar distance in the Octavia at 55.2mpg. On long motorway journeys at the legal limit and a full load I often get 63+mpg out of the Octavia. I understand that the 1.5 e-Tec (MHEV) DSG versions are slightly better than my version.

Fantastic response Steve, many thanks. The Superb is such a complete package it is hard to find its equal that is not crazy money. Would get another but the prices of them are bonkers now.

Glad to hear the car has been trouble free mostly. The Octavia ticks a lot of the boxes, my wife is also considering an Elroq EV, but I feel the ICE Octy would be a better long term proposition.