Superb 206TSI Review

[2009fsi]

Great review thanks!

I missed out on an R wagon...(and to be honest, I prefer Skoda cars!)
So this is the perfect car for me in a wagon!
Can wait for a dealer to have a car to test drive.

Trivett Parramatta's demonstrator is a white 206 wagon, Tigger.
Just walk in & go for a drive. My mate was there yesterday. He's very interested, but the 8 month wait is too much for him.

They also have a new black 206 sedan, beige trim, on the showroom floor. I don't know why, but not listed in their advertising. They probably lost a sale to Alto in the hills because we thought they didn't have any in stock. Peter Warren didn't order any 206s.

I'm told the Skoda plan is to reduce the number of dealerships & concentrate on fewer, larger, dedicated dealerships. I suppose Matt's Peninsula Skoda in Frankston fits the mould. If that's their plan, they need to open an e-shop for spares & accessories. NZ has one, why not us?

[Ozsko]

Superb 206Tsi acceleration & top speed demonstrated on a German autobahn.

Note the low number of Kms on the car. Some poor bugger will likely buy this as a demonstrator, not knowing it is a track thrashed journo fodder.

Cars do not need to be run in today as we used to have to do or believed we had to. I have never run a modern car in, the latest was a Golf PP we took delivery of about six months ago and I was warned it would need to have the oil topped up from the bottle supplied for that purpose that was with the tool kit. I drove it out of the dealers let it warm up and redlined it straight away and it has never used a drop of oil but I am only relating what I do. My Diesel Superb was treated the same with the same results, no oil use at all from new and now at 130,000 km. Some years ago I had a job that involved ferrying press vehicles for a manufacturer interstate to put some K's on them and see what fell off on the trip and those vehicles were certainly never run in as I didn't own them.

[2009fsi]

There has long been a school of thought that 'running in' is for the company's benefit. Indeed I once visited a Chrysler assembly plant, where the engines were checked by clipping on a device which misted fuel into the air intake with the foot planted to the floor, while the engine screamed at maximum revs until the half gallon of juice was gone. The donks welcome to life ceremony, I was told.
One of the problems of cruise control on express ways & driving in an environmentally friendly way at all times is, cylinder wear which 'lips' the cylinder. It threatens broken rings if such a car is revved hard later.
Of course, today's engine management systems map your driving style, ozsko. A trail for future warranty denial, methinks

[2009fsi]

2150kms on the clock including some longer distance driving on the express ways & country roads.

The car remains fantastic. I have changed my Individual Mode setting to Sports Handling & Sports steering with the other settings remain 'normal'. I find this gives me much better 'road feel' & sharpness to handling.

Some of the car's Driver Assist software is frustrating. Each will need to fiddle with setting to find what suits them. My pet hate is the way Adaptive Cruise Control automatically engages, whether you like it or not, as you come up behind a car on an express way. The factory setting see it engage & start slowing the car, m 50-400 metres before you get near. I have had to set vehicle distance to the absolute minimum, titled 'very close', for such driving. It really is infuriating, because once engaged, it resets the set speed to the lower figure. ACC might be good on autobahns, but not on our roads where drivers spread across the road like Brown's cows, regardless of speed & intent to overtake. When fiddling with Driver Assist settings, learn Skoda's terminology to avoid turning off what is desirable.

The one 'feature' I'd like to get rid of is, Lane Assist functions which keep trying to steer the car into the middle of the marked lane, for you. There is absolutely nothing more frightening than feeling the steering wheel being tugged in your hands, as you are trying to take a precise line into a fast corner, on a typical uneven, potted NSW country road! It is a feature for inattentive drivers & another of those features which have invaded modern cars, like ABS. It is not aimed at improving the car, but substituting for those lacking basic driving skills..

With some balance between city & touring I can confirm fuel consumption is on the manufacturers claimed figures of 'City-9.1/open road-6.3 & combined-7.3. That is, as long as you don't spend extended periods giving it heaps in full Sports mode; 11.8 might be more likely, if you do.

I must again compare this 206Tsi with the previous 191Fsi V6. This engine is far livelier & responsive when you demand it, than the R36 V6 motor. You put the foot down in this 206 & I guarantee you will be 20kms faster than you wished, before you realise. Where the motor & DSG do get caught short is on a steepening road, when on cruise control at 100kph, in D6, with the engine around 2k-2.5k revs. The 2.0l doesn't have the torque to respond in that situation. It tries to hang onto the higher gear too long & will lose 10-20k/hr of momentum before changing. The answer to avoid this is for 'road aware' drivers, to give the DSG a flick into Sports mode on approach to such sneaky rises. Wake it from its slumber.

Every time I start the car, the first thing I do is, disable 'Engine Stop-Start'. It is too tardy restarting & waking up the DSG. It strikes me, this is a big contributor to slow traffic movement at light changes. I have to think about this, but I suspect Start-Stop is not really a genuine 'green' feature. Sure it will cut tested emissions from an idling engine, while no kilometres are being clocked. But in an electronics intensive vehicle, demanding many engine restarts in traffic, there must surely be a broader environmental cost to tardy traffic flows, increased load on generators for battery charging. Sure it will reduce the figures for one vehicle tested in isolation; but I question its environmental value in the broader scheme of things.

I previously made comment on the Pirreli P7 tyres being surprisingly quiet on the road. That is true on smooth surfaces, but on coarser gravelled asphalt roads over the weekend, they were as disturbingly noisy at the back end; as bad as Dunlop Sports Maxxx proved to be on my 3T V6 4x4. Mind numbingly resonant! At this stage, I'll keep them, after all they're new & 235/40/19tyres ain't cheap. If the diabolical & rhythmic howl in the back continues when we're cruising in the country, the Pirellis will likely bite the dust & be replaced by ContiSport3s or Michelin PS3s. Noise abatement is one area Europe cars tend to fall well short on our variable surfaces.

This follow up is intended to give some pointers in finding personal preferences in setting up & driving a 206. Make no mistake, this is a fantastic car. The tyres are the one thing I think fall short, undoubtedly magnified by the 4x4s active rear end.

[Ozsko]

Your dislike of all the driver assist, active cruise control etc is exactly why I want one. I drive 95% of the time on multi lane roads for long distances and I have found the ACC on the Golf very good. On my Superb I am constantly on and off the cruise control trying to allow for cars that vary in speed etc and the ACC on the Golf takes all that away. I can also drive the Golf in stop start traffic with no input from me except to press the resume button or manually start it off if necessary and it makes stop start traffic a doddle to drive in. The engine stop start is what it is and after a while is not even noticed or at least I don't notice it. I don't think I would worry too much about the suspension stuff as I have never regarded the Superb as that type of car, if I want to go for a quick drive I choose the PP because it is that type of car but then not everyone has a choice.

[2009fsi]

On my Superb I am constantly on and off the cruise control trying to allow for cars that vary in speed etc and the ACC on the Golf takes all that away

So, are you saying the system in the Golf is different & superior?

[woofy]

I thought the stop start in my car was broken, but was planning to disable it for good anyway. And then realised in a manual car it will hardly ever kick in so not fussed.

[Ozsko]

So, are you saying the system in the Golf is different & superior?

In my view yes. The system on the Golf is the same as the new Superb less traffic jam assist whatever that is, my Superb is old school manual as you would have had in your previous car. For my purposes the ACC in the Golf is a thousand percent better everywhere and in the end much safer because it automatically holds the set distance for the speed being driven at. Yes, it takes some getting used to and the driver in fact has to be on the ball because if a slow car is encountered the speed drops off and is not noticed and for this reason the driver cannot just set and forget. How I use it is to set the speed higher than the limit on the road and start off following a car and if that car is too slow I pull out and the car accelerates and passes, pull back in and when I encounter a car doing the speed I want I stay there otherwise it is just moving through the traffic without touching the accelerator or brake and just steering the car as needed.

In traffic basically the same and when the car stops automatically controlled by the car in front the resume button gets it going again or a push on the accelerator if the stop time has been extended. I am fascinated by what Skoda call "traffic jam assist" and what it does over and above what the Golf does, maybe it is the same thing but VW do not give it a name in the Golf. I liked the Superb lane assist on the shortish drive I had as the car will track on a multi lane road with no input from the steering wheel but it is disabled below a certain speed.

Horses for courses I guess and that is why there are different cars to suit different drivers needs. As far as new technology goes we ain't seen nothing yet and I can't wait to see what they come up with next. I hope the next Golf has the new TFT dash, that will be fantastic. I think VW have held it back on the Passat for a mid model facelift which is understandable but disappointing and the same might happen with the Superb if we are lucky.

[agentthumb]

I am fascinated by what Skoda call "traffic jam assist" and what it does over and above what the Golf does, maybe it is the same thing but VW do not give it a name in the Golf.

If it's anything like the Audi's Traffic Jam Assist, which I'm betting it's the same thing, it takes over braking, accelerating and steering up to a certain speed. So basically, it's hands off. You don't even need to hit resume for the car to move off from dead stop. It just follows the car ahead and keeps it in the lane.

[Ozsko]

If it's anything like the Audi's Traffic Jam Assist, which I'm betting it's the same thing, it takes over braking, accelerating and steering up to a certain speed. So basically, it's hands off. You don't even need to hit resume for the car to move off from dead stop. It just follows the car ahead and keeps it in the lane.

That sounds like my kind of gadget, I know lane assist and ACC work only from a certain speed.