Skoda Superb

The Skoda Superb is an old-school cheap barge. A previous Passat with a wheelbase stretch gives gigantic rear space, impressive durability and predictably stodgy dynamics. Avoid, unless your business is VIP airport cabbing.

• Comfort

  Here's the payback for the dull drive. The ride is level, the seats supportive and the space positively palatial. The Skoda proceeds generally fairly quietly down the road too.

  

• Performance

  There's a V6 in the price lists but it's utterly irrelevant. The basic four-cylinder models suffer from being old-gen powerplants. New ones come along when the new Superb launches in September. So performance is mediocre.

  

• Cool

  This car isn't even a sleeper. It's a deep, deep, hundred-year, slumberer. It is catatonic. That is not cool.

  

• Quality

  Has a reassuring, bomb-proof nature. Abuse it and it just won't care. Nor will you of course, because it doesn't have the Audi-esque quality that makes you treasure a car.

  

• Handling

  Not really. The Superb's soggy steering, unfortunate nose-heavy weight distribution and long wheelbase combine to give it the alacrity of a goods train. Or maybe a little less.

  

• Practicality

  Immense, obviously. What saloon gives more space and comfort and boot volume for the money? If only it came as a more versatile estate or hatch. But no, you have to wait for those in the next generation.

  

• Running costs

  Low in terms of fuel and service costs. Beware though, it's a big car and the engines aren't the newest, so the performance/consumption compromise leaves room for improvement. And the top-spec versions are going to depreciate like a stone.