The Superb lets you stretch your legs and your rupee

Seven years ago, when Skoda had re-invented the Superb, it proved to be a runaway success. The combination of the features and value it offered along with space and refinement made it a car that was difficult to compete with. In fact, it was so good that it pretty much cleared up the field over its lifetime. Today all that is left of that segment is the Toyota Camry, desperately trying to hang on to a small portion of that market share. The new Superb then has to be truly special, not for anything else, but to fill in the big boots that the previous one was wearing.

Design Speaking of filling in bigger boots, the new Superb is longer and wider than the previous one, which was already pretty big. Moreover, the designers have gone with strong muscular lines on the hood and a pronounced shoulder line along with clean cut surfaces at the front and back to keep to the new Skoda design language. Although this does look good, the new Superb loses out on the distinctiveness that the older design offered. However, its sheer size and crisp lines, especially with the new headlamps and the grille, gives it a lot of presence on the road.

Engine, ride, handling Skoda has chosen to hang on to the two most proven engines in the stable, the petrol one continues to be powered by the 1.8-litre, turbo-charged petrol engine, along with the option of a 2.0-litre diesel, that we test drove. The four-cylinder diesel is rated at 177bhp of peak power and 350Nm of torque and is mated to a six-speed DSG automatic gearbox. It manages a low rumble even at lower revs with a nice ‘snarly’ note developing toward the top of its rev range around 4,500rpm. Power is delivered seamlessly though, with little lag from the engine or the gearbox.

Performance from this motor is adequately matched by the handling of the new Superb. Despite its near five-meter length it manages to stay pretty neutral through corners despite a bit of body roll in ‘Normal’ driving mode. Hit the ‘Sport’ mode and things become a little stiffer and responses become sharper along with the steering, which becomes heavier. As entertaining as this may sound, the Superb works best in ‘Normal’ and pushing it too hard results in a lot of tyre squeal with tighter corners resulting in understeer. Ride quality at lower speeds is quite firm and the suspension seems to thud along over sharp potholes. This improves a fair bit as you travel faster and the suspension irons out smaller undulations well.

Features Inside the cabin, space is more than generous (as was the case with the previous generations), especially if you move to the rear seat of the car. The front seats are ventilated to cool down or warm you up and get all sorts of electrical adjustments too, although the steering does not. And although the instrument cluster looks rather plain, the infotainment system manages to pack it all in. You can plug in your phone and the embedded SmartLink system will automatically recognise your Apple or Android device and pair it to the car accordingly to have your essential apps and menus on the touch screen display. There are plenty of storage spaces around the cabin as well, and there are 12-speakers in the L&K (Laurin and Klement) variant, which makes for an immersive sound experience. Apart from the usual, Skoda has also incorporated a smart boot release gesture mechanism that requires you to simply swipe your foot under the tail for the boot to open.

Bottomline

It is difficult to fault the Superb for anything really. It looks good, drives well and is hugely spacious, and if you are to be bothered by it, the diesel is fairly fuel efficient too. However, we would like Skoda to keep the Superb where it belongs with all its grace and composure by improving low speed insulation in the cabin and get the ride to be plusher instead of mucking about with things like driving modes, although it may not be a bad idea to include traction control.

The stack of cards theme with the displays looks cool and the changing ambient light colours must appeal to some. Even the fact that the park sensors come on as a helping hand when you are stuck in a tight spot in traffic can be appreciated, especially given the size of the Superb.

Buyers have always appreciated how much more quality equipment and space the Superb offers compared to the competition in its price segment. That should remain unchanged with this new 2016 model. Prices range between ₹23.83 lakh to ₹30.85 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi) with the model we tested retailing at the top of the price band.

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