Fourth-generation load-carrying stalwart sticks with tradition and retains its very conventional estate car form
MATT PRIOR @automattictransmission
TESTED 14.3.24, PORTUGAL ON SALE JUNE PRICE £39,520
n a decidedly old-school format, Skoda’s latest Superb Estate follows the theme set by its predecessors. This large estate (and hatchback, to follow shortly) has plenty of equipment and is cavernous inside, and it comes with a range of pure-combustion, or mild or plug-in hybrid, engines. Even a diesel, of all things. Crikey.
The Superb has typically been well received in the UK – we’re among its biggest markets – from which other similarly conceived cars (Ford Mondeo, Vauxhall Insignia) have been departing.
“That gives us the opportunity to fill the gap for customers looking for a traditional offering,” says Tatiana Cizmar, from Skoda’s product marketing division. She says those customers want “roominess, practicality, usability, a good range of equipment…” I mean, that lot does sound quite straightforwardly compelling.
Prices start at £36,165 for a 1.5 petrol, rising to £43,680 for a top-spec all-wheel-drive diesel. Plugin hybrid prices are to follow.
The fourth-gen Superb (if you don’t count the one they made in 1934, which I’m inclined not to include here) is built, like the latest Volkswagen Passat, around the group’s MQB Evo platform, and it has grown a little over its predecessor.
Not so much as to be a worry: it’s 40mm longer, at 4902mm, but pleasingly 15mm narrower, at 1849mm across the body. Hallelujah. Height is up only 5mm, so it will have a slightly smaller frontal area than before, and, with the drag coefficient down from 0.30 to 0.25, Skoda reckons it’s up to 15% more efficient than it was.
Skoda has a range of electric crossovers elsewhere, and that leaves the Superb able to be the car it has typically always been: in the UK there’s a 1.5-litre petrol (mild hybrid) with 148bhp, a 2.0 diesel with 148bhp, a 2.0 diesel with 190bhp and four-wheel drive, and a 1.5 plug-in hybrid with 204bhp and a claimed all-electric range of 62 miles.
A voluminous boot has been front and centre, metaphorically speaking, of the Superb’s appeal, and that hasn’t changed. Luggage capacity with seats in place is now 690 litres, up 30 litres. There’s a storage cubby to the left, latches by the tailgate to drop the rear seats, luggage hooks, load-securing Velcro barriers and now an electric load-bay cover. If you want the best estate boo
