A Superb dirty weekend...

[Enobar]

At the request of Bluesup (who even supplied me the perfect thread name...) I can report back on a few observations of the Superb weekend I just had away to the thriving outback metropolis of Broken Hill, NSW.

I picked up the car from Tanunda on the outskirts of Adelaide. The sensible among us may have stayed there and sampled the local wineries. Not I though... No we headed up to Broken Hill where one of the top 3 suggestions of things to do on Trip Advisor is the visitors centre built atop a pile of rubble from the mine..... Which has actually been closed for 18 months. Nevertheless, I had my own attraction - the shiney new Superb in the car park.

Things the Superb does well.... Superbly:

1). Looking good. In just 2 days I was asked about the car twice and caught an extra 2 people making comments about it - I find that remakable - it is a great looking car, but is it really that unusual? I suspect the completely foreign badge living on the bonnet, boot and wheel caps are starting the conversation off. "Thats a funny badge on that Audi... Is it a Vauxhaull?"or other such confusing utterances.
2). Overtaking - 1 car, 2 cars, a truck convoy... Whatever it is in your way the Skoda doesn't need asking twice. Just flex your right foot and try to duck out of the way of the horizon which will come thundering towards you at a rate that a boeing would be jealous of. You find yourself hunting down new victims to whiz past and display the sexy tail lights too.
3). Fitting 5 adult males and luggage into. There was quite a rush to get to the front seat for the 6 hour drive home yet by half way the rush had died off. Turns out that even though its still a little squeezy width wise, there is ample space in the back even for my 6'4 friend. Whether perhaps I should have taken more time in the shower before leaving or whether it was the level of conversation coming from the back seat (hint... It was suitable to be in the gutter), everyone was happy enough to leave the front seat to my other half and spend the 6 hours in the economy section down back.
4). Entertaining - the Canton system is excellent, the user interface is excelent and very responsive. I was pleased to discover that the system actually has a 15GB HDD built into it as well, which was promptly filled by one of my passengers questionable taste in music and I now have 15GB of Abba, Kylie, Brittany and all sorts of sugary pop music which melted my eardrums and made me wonder if the guys coming home in the Mondeo tomorrow actually made the sensible choice after all... Safe to say now I'm at home with my own computer, the HDD will be reset and filled with my own music choices.
5). Staying quiet - no squeeks rattles or buzzing noises to offend me - except when the sunshade for the sunroof is pulled right to its stop closed. Then there was a slight vibrating noise from it but when i moved it back by 5mm it stopped.
6). Keeping you relaxed - the driving position is perfect for me, the seats are comfort plus (particuarly with the ventilation) but the reall relaxor is the adaptive cruise. I have only done 1153km with it but I never want to go back to a car without it now!

Things it does not so well:
1). So far its averaged 9l/100km which i think on the open road is on the hight side, but I can forgive it on account of a) being 25km old when the journey started - i believe the efficiency improves as it gets more run in and b) the frequent blats up to license loosing territory when overtaking and c) cruising at a speed a bit more than what you might normally expect
2)........
3).......
4).......

you get the idea.... Its pretty damn excellent.

If you missed them from the other thread, the bonus little suprises which I did not expect but was thrilled to receive include
1). The removable torch light in the boot
2). 3 keys instead of just 2 (only one sexy chrome edged model though)
3). 15GB Hdd as part of Columbus system - I didn't think that was included on Australian spec and didnt see it mentioned on the website or brochure anywhere
4). Improved menu system for personalisation - where you store seat preferences, ambient lighting colours, etc etc. The profiles are also re nameable so my car welcomes me by name now
5). Ability to close the boot from the key and from the virtual pedal (but not from the button on the console).


The other suprise for me which I never noticed on the test drive model I had back in April but I'm sure was actually there is that you can close the interior sun blind when the sun roof is open! I have never seen that on a car before and I can imagine it being quite useful when you want to have the roof open but when the sun is right overhead and very glary.

so to summarise... I could not be happier with the decision to buy this car.

[ope126]

Great review there mate!!!

Skoda is certainly kicking some goals at the moment!!!

[woofy]

Hmm I never thought about pulling the screen across when the roof is open. The kids are forever being blinded in the morning heading North so will try it.

[Enobar]

Here are a couple of photos of the silver bullet for your viewing pleasure.

[bego9]

Here are a couple of photos of the silver bullet for your viewing pleasure.

[Jondalar]

Thanks for the very interesting read. It's a great looking car for sure. I'm very jealous of course! Hopefully the fuel economy will improve with running in. I had a Ford G6E Turbo that used to do better than that, even with some "instant overtakes".

Cheers,
Karl