Good stuff
Bigger than you dared dream of, common sense interior tech, gets a PHEV option (unlike the saloon)
Bad stuff
Might not fit in the supermarket car park, elderly relatives will likely subject you to old Skoda jokes
Overview
What is it?
It’s the new Skoda Superb Estate, a car we’ve long recommended as a wildcard against far more premium estates on this website, for its excellent blend of build quality, practicality and acres of space. All for seriously good money.
And in fourth generation guise the Superb has a real elegance to its design, too, with a statesmanlike quality that does no harm to its premium pretensions. Sure, it doesn’t look that different to its predecessor, but there really wasn’t a whole lot wrong with the third generation and as the saying goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
It’s grown in size (again) mind, and therefore might not be everyone’s cup of tea when it comes to finding a parking space. But if you want limousine-like interior comfort and a horsebox-like load space behind you, you can’t really go wrong.
Yes, yes, forget all that. How big exactly is the boot?
Cor, you don’t mess around. But it’s a biggie: it now measures an immense 690 litres, up 30 litres on its predecessor, or a colossal 1,920 litres with the seats down. That’s on par with its VW Group sibling, the Passat Estate, with which it shares the same underpinnings, but otherwise trumps every one of its rivals by some margin.
That’s in part thanks to expanded dimensions both lengthways (+40mm) and upwards (+5mm), allowing for more passenger room. Take it from us, any backseat drivers will be calling the shots in just as much comfort as you are.
As ever the interior has been tidied up too, with a cleaner design, sustainable materials and upgraded tech taking centre stage. You guessed it, there’s more screenage, but Skoda has also taken an innovative approach to physical switchgear in the shape of customisable Smart Dials. Full details over on the Interior tab.
What powertrains are available?
Plenty. Up first is a 1.5-litre mild hybrid petrol with 148bhp. We’ve tried it in both the saloon and the estate, and found it to be just fine – if you tread gently – with the electrical assistance supporting the engine under acceleration and when creeping about town. Click through to the Driving tab for the full lowdown.
But we reckon you want one of the conventional 2.0-litres here, particularly if you’re regularly going to be load lugging on the regular. In petrol guise you can have it with 204 or 265bhp, and in diesel form with 150 or 193bhp. The more powerful variants of both get four-wheel drive. All are mated to a seven-speed DSG as standard, with the exception of the 1.5-litre plug-in hybrid, which runs a six-speed.
That one outputs a combined 201bhp from the engine and 114bhp electric motor, but more pertinently delivers an all-electric range of 84 miles - more than double that of its predecessor - from its 25.7kWh battery. One for the company car buyers…
Speaking of, how much is it going to cost me?
Starting price is £34,875 (that gets you into the mild hybrid in base spec trim), which is only £1,300 more than the saloon will cost you like-for-like. The plug-in hybrid starts from £41,465, and the heartland petrols and diesels somewhere in the middle. Head over to the Buying tab for the full details.
Its biggest rival arguably comes from within, the aforementioned Volkswagen Passat Estate, while additional competition takes the shape of the Peugeot 508 SW and Volvo V60. Then you’re onto the more premium fare including the Audi A6 Avant, BMW 5 Series Touring and Merc E-Class Estate.
Our choice from the range
What's the verdict?
It’s hard to fault the Superb Estate. It’s now bigger than ever, more refined than ever, and as luxurious as you could ever need a big old barge like this to be.
Skoda has been listening, too. While pretty much all of its rivals are ramming everything into touchscreens, the Czech firm has quietly gone about the business of upgrading the Superb’s cabin and technology with a few innovative touches that make this feel more premium but crucially just as functional as its predecessors.
And did we mention how big it is yet? It’s simply gigantic inside – spend a week with this, and then tell us you need a crossover. It’ll probably be cheaper too.
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