Skoda Superb Combi 2009 Review - International

What we liked
>> Massive and useful interior space
>> Terrific ride quality
>> Smooth engines and gearboxes

Not so much
>> Base petrol engine isn't the strongest
>> Styling makes Superb sedans looks bad
>> Umm, threatens other wagon-makers too much?

Overall rating: 4.0/5.0
Engine/Drivetrain/Chassis: 4.5/5.0
Price, Packaging and Practicality: 4.0/5.0
Safety: 4.5/5.0
Behind the wheel: 4.5/5.0
X-factor: 4.0/5.0

About our ratings

OVERVIEW

Fortunately, the A Game is exactly what Skoda has brought with the Superb Combi, which will arrive in Australia before the middle of next year at about the same price as the sedan versions.

And it is, even amongst the ranks of the VW family's distinguished players, astonishingly impressive in almost everything it does.

It rides with far more suppleness than any wagon Audi builds, it handles with a calm assurance and its interior is practical and well crafted. As for carrying a load, the cargo area gobbles up the established competition so easily that it's enough to seriously worry everybody from Audi to Volvo. It's that impressive.

This unashamedly practical, slightly quirky Czech car maker has hit on a winner here. Okay, so that's an unusual proclamation this early in a road test review, but you can't sum up the Superb Combi any other way.

The petrol engine develops 118kW of power between 4500 and 6200rpm. Peak torque of 250Nm occurs between 1500 and 4500rpm. Fuel consumption is rated at 7.3L/100km and CO2 emissions are as low as 170g/km. Driving through the front wheels via a six-speed manual or an optional seven-speed DSG transmission, the powerplant can propel the Superb Combi to a top speed of 218km/h, taking 8.6 seconds to reach 100km/h from a standing start.

Developing more power (125kW @ 4200rpm) and substantially more torque (350Nm between 1750 and 2500rpm), the turbodiesel also drives to the front wheels, through the same two transmission options. Powered by this engine, the Superb Combi will also reach 218km/h, but requires a little longer to reach 100km/h -- 8.9 seconds. Fuel consumption falls as low as 6.2L/100km and the CO2 emissions are down to 162g/km.

The diesel is 44kg heavier than the petrol engine (1550kg petrol, 1594kg diesel -- both with DSG). Dimensions are: 4838mm in length, 1817mm in width, 1510mm height and a wheelbase length of 2761mm.

For starters, it looks far, far better and more organised as a wagon than it ever did as a sedan. That multi-curved bonnet seems somehow more elegant with the extra length down the side, the glasshouse is smooth and simple and even the standard roof rails lend an air of practicality.

While it isn't exactly dripping with technical breakthroughs, it does refine the known superbly and offers it at a competitive price. For example, it doesn't just offer a keyless locking and start-stop system, but it unlocks the doors for you when you touch the handles -- no button pushing required.

Exhibit B, your worship, is the combination of the optional electrically-operated tailgate with a luggage cover that automatically retracts to make it easier to put stuff inside it or take it out. And, if you have something heavy in your hands, there's a false floor that slides out over the bumper. You just put your bag or box on the floor and slide the whole floor back in. And, not only does Skoda put a removable torch in the side, but it's magnetized, so you can stick it to the side of the car to help change tyres at night. They've clearly thought about this, then.

At 4838mm long, the Superb Combi (short for "Combined Cars", which Skoda has built since the 1920s) has about the same footprint as a Ford Mondeo wagon or a Volvo V70. And yet, the thing is just cavernous inside.

To get more rear legroom inside anything from the VW Group, Skoda claims, you have to spend all the way up to the long-wheelbase Audi A8. It's bigger inside, then, than an Audi A6, a VW Passat or a Porsche Panamera. In case you still feel claustrophobic in here, there's a two-piece sunroof as well.

But it's not just big. It's usefully big. The luggage area is enormous, with a low loading lip (0.6m off the ground) and a flat floor, plus rails so you can use the locking bars or straps to hold everything still. If that's not big enough, you can drop the seats (split-fold, with a push-through portal as well) to give you an astonishing 1865 litres. And the tailgate opens high and wide.

Its equipment levels on our test were also spot on, including a touch screen satnav system, a quality feel to the materials and fit-and-finish that would make Audi start to worry.

The seats are comfortable, too, long and soft and brilliant for cross-country touring. And that's just in the back, where you get Statesman-like legroom for a lot less money and in a much smaller body.

Up front, everything is easy to reach, easy to use and just ultimately very, very comfortable.

We tested this engine with both six-speed manual and seven-speed DSG gearboxes and, while the manual is cheaper, the DSG is more versatile and, probably, more in keeping with the car's nature.

It will accelerate the Superb Combi to 100km/h in 8.7 seconds (8.6 with the DSG), which is almost two seconds faster than the 1.4-litre engine will get the job done, yet it barely suffers in economy alongside the smaller engine. Its combined fuel consumption is 7.3L/100km (with 171g/km of CO2 discharged), while the less-powerful motor pushes out 6.9L/100km.

In Europe, the 1.8 comes with an all-wheel-drive option, but that's largely because it snows there. In Australia, expect the only AWD petrol variant to be powered by the range-topping 3.6-litre V6. Skoda only offers the big V6 as an AWD, because its 191kW is too much for the front-drive setup to cope with. So, instead, it funnels most of the 350Nm of torque (from 2500 to 5000rpm) through the front wheels most of the time, with a Haldex IV AWD system funneling the drive instantly to the rear wheels when it thinks it will help. And it thinks about it very quickly.

Though it's not quite as smooth as the four-cylinder petrol engines, the V6 is easily the strongest -- everywhere in its rev range -- and sprints to 100km/h in 6.6 seconds. That's not the end of its advantages, though, because it gets 17-inch wheels and tyres instead of the standard 16s.

Yet, for all that, unless you're carrying a lot of weight all the time, the 1.8-litre four-cylinder is the pick of the petrols, not least because the V6 is a full 213kg heavier and chews through 10.2L/100km on the combined cycle. It's also a bit too strong for the car's character.

But none of these engines shine brightly enough to sway you, because the Superb's diesels are really the business end of the car.

The lesser of the two engines is the 103kW turbo-diesel four-cylinder and, though it isn't bad, the 125kW version of the same 2.0-litre engine is the one that suits the Superb Combi's character the most.

With 350Nm of torque in a relatively narrow band from 1750 to 2500 revs, the engine works best when you leave the six-speed DSG (one gear less than the petrol engines use) to move it from one gear's power band to the next.

It's relaxed, it's barely louder than the petrol engines unless you're at full throttle and there are so few tremors that the uninitiated would be hard pressed to tell you whether it had a petrol or a diesel engine. They'd pick it up soon enough at the pump, though, because it uses just 6.2 litres per 100km -- pretty ridiculous for a car this size and, at 1594kg, this weight.

What's more, the diesel cars ride better than the petrol variants -- at least on the Italian roads we tested them on.

This is the sort of ride quality you just can't find in most German cars anymore. Audis and BMWs have long since moved to a firmer-is-better policy and, to be honest, the way the Superb rides is nearly reason enough to sign up. Think of its ride as an almost Jaguar-esque "waftability" combined with a confident stability and you'll be close to the mark.

It doesn't punish the handling to get there, either. Instead, the car is secure, stable and accurate, without ever attempting to feel sporty or crisp. The steering is a little slow off centre, but the heft is just right and it even changes direction well, all the while settling the driver comfortably into a relaxed frame of mind.

The Carsales Network has a policy of demanding three things we like and three things we don't like about each car. The odd thing about the Superb Combi is that it's so well integrated and so superbly put together that cutting out three individual things to like is difficult. The other odd thing is that cutting out three individual things to dislike is, frankly impossible.

If this is the future of Skoda, and they price the cars well when they land in Australia, then this is a brand going places. Fast.

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