Skoda Superb Estate - long-term review

The average yearly mileage for a UK car is - very roughly - 7,000 to 7,400 miles a year. It used to be more, but the proliferation of home working has dented our road warrior status a bit, with traffic and the dead time of commuting losing any shine it didn’t have. Interestingly, it also varies by fuel type; if you drive a diesel or a hybrid, you’re more likely to do about 8,300 miles a year. Which makes sense, seeing as those two are likely the most parsimonious with their fractions of oil.

The Superb, in its time with us, has done 11,000 miles in six months - an easy 20k a year. And that’s in and around a household that has a few other cars knocking about. Sounds like a small detail, but it means that it's a vehicle that appeals on many levels when it comes to the day to day. That’s a car that’s hitting the brief, answering the mission statement and getting the job done.

That’s what a Skoda Superb offers, in my opinion; a wide-band competence that’s genuinely hard to beat. Ok, so the things the Superb has done well aren’t particularly headline-grabbing. It’s ferried people and animals to Uni, theatre rehearsals, myriad running tracks and many, many airports. It’s helped move houses, been on untold shoots and been chock full of stuff on most occasions. And ‘chock full’ for a Superb Wagon means a literal tonne of people and things.

It’s been across fields and at least one dale, AWD traction regular and useful, even if not quite the north face of the Eiger and more like wet grass and a fair bit of mud. And snow. In fact, it’s coped with everything I’d reasonably throw at a normal SUV with four-wheel drive and not blinked. There were some scraping noises at one point, but nothing worrying. The addition of smaller 18in wheels and winter tyres has undoubtedly helped calm the ride and added a bit of extra traction, but it still looks quietly handsome, in an undercover police kind of way.

So what does it not do brilliantly? Well, as mentioned, it’s subdued when it comes to looks. But I see that as an advantage, to be honest. The ride on the bigger wheels is choppier (hence my ‘downgrade’ on the wheel size), and the software has glitched a couple of times. A quick re-start has sorted the issues, but notable. It’s got some very paranoid warning systems which can actually put you off the process of driving, which feels very counter-intuitive, and the merest speck of condensation or muck on the lens of the all-seeing-eye on the front bumper renders lots of systems inoperable.

But it’s rapid enough, composed enough, endlessly competent. The attention to detail is … Superb. I’m a big fan of EVs, but the 800-miles to a tank of diesel and general generator-like hum of that engine ticking away on a motorway is frankly, very comforting. There’s not much I don’t like.

At the start of this loan, I asked whether a plain-old, old-school 2.0-litre, four-pot diesel estate - probably the least zeitgeisty car in the conversation - still has a place at the table. I’m here to tell you that it very much does. Having refined the idea over about 30 years, the diesel estate has really hit a solid stride, just as we all look to electric SUVs. That’s a shame. The Superb covers bases from convenience to capacity, hits the proverbial nail with economy and even scratches the gilding of luxury in this L&K version. It is the best kind of cliché; a multi-tool of a thing that just gets on and deals with every situation.

Even as a lottery-win garage, I’d consider putting this car in the corner, just because it would always find a use. It might not be particularly sexy, but my goodness, the Skoda Superb Estate is one of the most effective cars in the entire world. I’ve just given it a last good clean, and I’m actually depressed about it leaving.