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There’s something about the exterior of the Skoda Superb estate, the curve of its nose and the shape of its grill, that makes it look like a cartoon character with a friendly moustache – maybe the Lorax. This made me immediately like it, and I didn’t stop, all the way from the parking space I could never fit into to the motorway I was pleasantly tooled up for. Even though it makes the most sense on a long journey, the fact of its comfort made up for the fact that it’s too big, really, for nipping about. The cabin is spacious and actively pleasing to sit in, more like a train. Passengers feel as though they’re miles away.
Cars this size divide into “family-ish” and “executive-ey”, and even though in real life almost all families are preferable to all executives, in car world the opposite is true. This feels like business; it is soundless, even at high speeds, and really smooth. All road surfaces are the same in this car: the A303 could be an autobahn built in 2013, for all the challenge it poses. It’s not particularly exciting. You’re neither high on the road, nor low to it. It corners like a 62-year-old man at a tea dance, unhurried and deliberate. I was in the two-litre turbo-diesel, and I mused for about a seventh of every day on how much turbo technology has improved since my early driving years, when to have a diesel meant that nobody would ever believe you were in a hurry. This moved readily through the gears, it had no trouble overtaking anything, and I do believe I even saw a “Huh, I didn’t know Skodas were that powerful” look in the eyes of the people I left eating my dust, although I can’t vouch for that.
As you’d expect, or you’d never have bought a diesel in the first place, it’s economical, too: nearly 69mpg, says the literature. I can’t vouch for that either, but even if we assume car makers all overclaim, I still had to drive for half a day before the fuel gauge so much as budged.
Of course there are quibbles: it’s not great for stop-start driving. It prefers the upper gears, and is a bit ponderous in first and second. It’s not a cool car, and I wonder what it would take to believe it were truly yours, not your dad’s. The boot is gigantic, which is great until you realise you don’t have a dog or any luggage, and you’re basically hefting around a big cupboard just so you can look like a grownup. However, it is meaty, it is reassuring, it is comfortable. If those aren’t the top three things you look for in transport, that is a problem with your personality (you young hooligan) and not the Skoda’s.
Skoda Superb SE Business estate 2.0 TDI 150PS: in numbers
Price £22,555
Top speed 137mph
Acceleration 0-62mph in 8.8 seconds
Combined fuel consumption 68.9mpg
CO2 emissions 108g/km
Eco rating 7/10
Cool rating 6/10
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Skoda Superb Estate car review – ‘It looks like a cartoon character with a friendly moustache’
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