[Hayek]

Skoda is clearly not the most popular brand on Team-BHP. The woes of people like Harish V and Gagan Anand have been well flagged - hell there is even a thread (Team-BHP stands for the TRUTH. But Skoda wants to “instigate” Team-BHP and its users!) detailing the woes of various Skoda users. My experience in the 15 months I have owned my Superb has been different. Yes, there have been a few niggles here and there, and yes, service and maintenance costs are high, but frankly, I have had (or seen people have) problems with even the most trouble free makes like Corollas and Citys. But despite that, I was a little reluctant to start this review - would I end up jinxing myself by posting this thread? At any rate, after spending a lot of time debating whether to post this or not, here goes.

Cut back to January 2010. My beloved New Honda City had just turned 6, and I was debating whether to replace her or not. The replacement seemed to be obvious - I was extremely happy with my car, reasonably happy with the service, been a long standing Honda fan, and it was only a matter of choosing between a Civic and an Accord. The pros and cons of the two were also obvious - the Civic had been my dream car ever since it launched, still looked fresh, was reputedly great to drive, a replacement was likely to be at least 12 months away, and was more roomy than my City, but I did wonder whether I would be happy with one over the next 5-6 years (while until a year or so before that, everyone I knew was buying Civics and Corollas, a number of friends had now moved over to Accords, Superbs or CR-Vs). The Accord was newer, larger, roomier, probably tougher to park in Bombay (I am among the few people who drives myself even on weekdays), but was less good looking, and the thought of spending USD 50 k OTR on a car still seemed a bit much. The third option was of course to continue with my City for another year and take a call after that.

Around this time, I received a call from a friend (lets call him AB), who happened to believe that I know a bit about cars. He wanted to know what he should buy between a Skoda Superb and a Honda Accord. I had traveled a bit in Accords but had not yet test driven the latest version. I had never been in a Superb. But lack of personal knowledge has never stopped me from forming or voicing my opinions, and hence I said, "Are you out of your minding, considering a Skoda? The Accord is a no brainer, more power, more reliability, lower price." However, I did admit that I had not test driven either car yet. AB said, "Well you should go and look at the Superb. Its got S Class features at an Accord's price." And he went on and on about the Optical Parking Sensors, Aircon vents in the B pillars, the Superb interiors, the blinds in the rear seat windows, and the Umbrella in the rear door handle. I was intrigued and decided to think about it.

A few weeks later, something happened that forced me to take a call on a new car. One of the many cement mixers that keep roaring about in central Bombay took a dislike to my NHC, and I ended up with a substantial gash on the left rear door. While insurance would cover the Rs. 40 k estimated cost, I would lose my 50% no claim bonus, there were also some niggles in the rear suspension, and hence I decided to replace the car without getting the damage repaired.

Now, it was time to decide which car to buy. Budget 2010 had come and gone - car prices had risen due to the increase in excise duties and three more friends had picked up Accords and / or Superbs at pre-budget prices. Any reticence I had about picking up a D segment car had faded away. I also liked the looks of the Toyota Fortuner, and decided to try that out as well. A friend had registered his name for the Fortuner the last time bookings were open, and was in a position to take delivery and transfer the ute to me if needed. The battle lines were thus drawn:

1) The Honda Accord : Reliability, revealed preference from 5 out of 9 friends who had bought D Segment or higher cars.
2) The Toyota Fortuner: Wouldn't it be great to have a 7 seater for those long drives with wife, kid, in laws et al in tow?
3) The Skoda Superb: Low probability of buying it, but lets look at it before plonking down Rs. 22 l. Plus 3 friends had bought it, had no problems so far, I had been in the rear seat, and the interiors did look a notch or two above the Accord.

Another friend had bought the 3 series CE around this time, but I decided that I would not even visit a BMW show-room, for fear of getting tempted into "wasting" a lot of money.

[Hayek]

Toyota Fortuner
The first car among the three that I test drove was the Toyota Fortuner. My friend needed to decide whether to keep his booking and transfer it to me, or to drop the booking. So I landed up at the Toyota showroom at CR 2, Nariman Point, one April afternoon for a test drive (possibly the best located auto showroom in India, in my view). My first impressions of the car were not very positive... it was not available in an AT variant, the gear lever had an enormous throw (reminded me of an old jeep), and the leg room in the third row of seats was probably inadequate even for my two year old son (once strapped into his car seat). But there was no gainsaying the benefits of the high driving position, and the fact that all the "little cars" on the streets of Nariman Point and on Marine Drive seemed to scatter as I approached them in this hulk. However, there was massive body roll, and the deal breaker was the complete lack of braking power. Within 500 metres of driving, I realized that I need to start braking a good 25-30% earlier than I would on my car. I know that driving an SUV is different from driving a car, but this was a bit much for me, and I decided to drop the idea of owning a T-Fort.

Honda Accord
Next I landed up at the Honda showroom in Prabhadevi for a test drive of the Accord. On getting into the front seat of the test drive car, I had a bit of a shock. The Accord 2.4 AT seemed woefully under-equipped for a D segment car, it lacked steering mounted audio controls, a multi-information display, cruise control (not that I was ever going to use it, but if you are spending Rs. 22 l on a car, it had bloody well have all possible features) and a sun roof (ditto). The car also had an electrically adjustable seat only for the driver and not for the front passenger (fortunately, they had not chosen the opposite config). The rear seat was of course incredibly roomy and comfortable, and there were audio controls in the rear arm-rest. As the sales person happily explained to me, this was a "luxury" car and built around the rear passenger, why on earth should you waste features on the driver? Of course, I was going to drive the car myself, and the absence of a MID and steering mounted audio controls in particular galled me. As I drove the car from Prabhadevi towards Worli sea face, I found the car to be somewhat unresponsive, and also found it quite bulky and difficult to maneuver in the traffic. I then moved to the rear seat (which was very comfortable) while my wife drove the car, and her view too was the same. While we had entered Arya Honda having more or less decided on the Accord, we left rather disappointed - this was clearly a car to be driven in. Nevertheless, we got a quote, both for the car (Arya Honda was throwing in free insurance) and for a buyback on my 6 year, 55,000 km NHC (with a dent, and classed as a second owner car since I had bought it from my company in whose name it was originally registered). The net OTR price of the Accord was about Rs. 18.75 l (including some accessories, interior wood trims if I remember correctly.)


VW Passat

After finishing at Arya Honda, we went round the corner to the Volkwagen showroom, since I had just read about the new Passat (the 1.8 TSi MT had just been launched). The interior quality was leagues ahead of the Accord, the feature list was astounding, and the only dampener was the somewhat cramped rear seat. But this was only an MT, the price was above the Accord, and they did not have a test drive car for some reason about registration / homologation that was unclear to me. Since I had more or less decided that an AT was a must have feature, I told them to let me know when a test drive would be available, and abandoned the thought of a Passat (BTW, they did get back to me, about 3 months later)


Skoda Superb

After that, we went down the road to the Skoda Autobahn showroom at Prabhadevi. I was received by an enthusiastic sales person, who showed me the Superb. The interiors were as good as the Passat, with the added benefit of massive rear leg room. He took us through the mile long feature list - the MID, steering mounted controls for audio and the MID, electrically adjustable driver's and front passenger's seat with three memories for the driver's seat (perfect for us, since my wife, her driver and I would all on occasion drive the car), the touch screen audio system with SD Card and Aux inputs, the optical parking sensors (which shows an image of the car, and red and green lines representing any nearby obstacles - clearly a great boon while parking such a big car on narrow Bombay roads / parking slots), the pillar mounted rear AC vents, the screens on the rear windows, the sun-roof which can be set into three different positions, the umbrella et al. There were also a number of features we had not heard of - the headlamp washing system, the automatic and auto-cornering headlights (which come on if the light level drops below a threshold), the fact that the windows shut automatically if left open for more than a certain amount of time, or if it starts raining, and that the boot can be opened both like a normal car and like a hatchback to get large items in. (This feature in particular seemed useful, as we had on occasion been unable to get certain items in through the boot lid of our City even though the space within the boot was large enough to hold them.)

"This is great", I said, realizing what AB must have felt when he went through this display (not that he bought the Superb, the guy skimped and bought a Laura instead). "So how about a test drive?" "Well, sir, we don't have a 1.8 TSi test drive car", said the salesman. "But we will send it to your residence at a time of your choosing." I must admit I was a bit disappointed, I had come cheque book in hand intending to close on a car (actually on the Accord) that day. But I realized that this was probably a blessing in disguise, it gave me some time to research the Skoda, and try for a better bargain on the Accord as well. So I fixed up an appointment for a test drive on the following weekend.

[Hayek]

The next week was spent talking to various people and Googling to try and get a sense for whether or not buying a Superb was a safe bet. Incidentally, it was at this time that I really started following Team-BHP. The top responses on my Google searches included Harish V and Gagan Anand's horror stories about Skoda's service. But fortunately or unfortunately, I also had a number of friends who had actually bought Skoda cars, and their feedback was uniformly positive. There were people who had started off with an Octavia even before I bought my City, upgraded to a Laura, and were willing to buy a Superb as their next car. And barring a few egregious cases, the problems with Skoda seemed to be at least partly driven by insufficiently trained dealers irritating customers while trying to solve minor problems.

I also thought about my experience with Honda - my own City had its Aircon conk out about 28 months after I bought it, and I was saddled with a large repair bill, with no Goodwill discounts of any kind. A number of people had their Citys conk out due to flood damage on 26/7/2005, and it took months for the cars to be back on the road. A friend's Corolla had given him substantial suspension problems almost as soon as the warranty period ended. And the Toyota unexplained acceleration saga was still playing out in the United States, with the number of complaints shooting up as the media coverage increased. At least some of the complaints I saw online about Skoda were similar to problems I and others had with Honda or Toyota - but most of us just grinned and bore it thinking we had been unlucky with our cars, while Skoda owners seemed to react very strongly due to the entire negative buzz about the brand.

I also thought about a case study I had once read, on how perception can make or break a brand. GM and Toyota had a JV in California called Nummi, which made identical cars sold under both the Toyota and one of the GM brands. However, defect rates in JD Power surveys were much higher for the GM version than for the Toyota version. The explanation that the authors gave was that people buying GM cars were more likely to react to a problem and report it as a defect (due to GM's historical poor record), while some of those buying Toyotas would probably be unwilling to admit that they were among the unlucky few who ended up with a Toyota Lemon. The sharp rise in reported defect rates for Toyota as soon as the acceleration saga broke seemed to bear this out.

Whether this was me rationalizing since I liked the Superb or logical reasoning, I still cannot say. But I decided to give the Superb a fair shot during the test drive, and go for it assuming it was better to drive than the Honda.

The next Saturday, the Superb landed up at our apartment block, and we took it for a test drive. The car hesitated a bit as it started, but in my view was far more responsive, and clearly superior to drive than the Accord. Being a little shorter, it also seemed to be easier to maneuver through Bombay traffic. The optical parking sensors were actually useful in real life, it was easier to park this car than my City. And the interior quality made both me and my wife very happy to be in the car. By the time my wife drove the car briefly, our mind was almost made up, and we were ready to book the Superb, provided that deal terms worked out.

[Hayek]

Having decided on the Superb, I was still keen on getting the best possible deal. Autobahn very quickly agreed to match the price that Arya Honda had offered for my City. They also threw in a Rs. 30,000 corporate discount, and told me that while I would have to pay for the insurance at purchase, I would get my no claim bonus refunded once my City was sold. On a net basis, my Superb would cost me about Rs. 10,000 less than the Accord - which seemed like a good deal given that it was a much better equipped car.

For those who want feedback on the dealership experience, I must admit that the Arya Honda salesperson was much more aggressive in following up and trying to convince me to buy the Accord, while the Skoda salesperson was much more laid back. However, I cannot crib about lack of disclosure - for example, I would have assumed that the Superb would have Bluetooth connectivity due to the phone control on the steering wheel, but the sales-person volunteered the information that this feature was not enabled on the Superb being sold in the Indian market.

The next question was with regard to delivery times - while the Accord was available off the shelf, the Superb had fairly long waiting periods at least for some colors. I was initially told that White was the only color available immediately. However, two days later, I was told that Autobahn had received a cancellation for a Silver car, and I could get delivery in 2 or 3 days if I wanted it. I promptly bit the bullet, and booked my Silver Superb.

[Hayek]

And so the day dawned when we were to get delivery of our Silver Superb. Since it was a working day, we agreed to pick the car up at about 530 pm in the evening. I went to the showroom from my office, and was joined by my entire family. The car was already there, looking shiny and polished. We did a brief Puja, went through the PDI checklist, were explained the features once again (more for the benefit of my dad and in laws than me), and were ready to leave.

Some pictures of the car as we took delivery are below:

A front profile


Doesn't she look good?


Nice leather interiors and superb wood trim


The 1.8 TSi engine


Yet another profile


Like our Honda City and Getz before it, the Superb was supplied with an almost empty tank, with the MID warning us to tank up right away. We promptly set out for the petrol pump near Siddhivinayak temple to tank her up.

So onto the meat of the review.

Since I took delivery of the car in May 2010, I have driven about 12,500 kms. The vast majority of my driving is North-South on the mid-town Bombay to Nariman Point run, usually in peak hours. About 1-2 days a week, I do cross town runs (either Worli to Parel or vice versa). Apart from this, I have done two runs to Lonavala and a run to Pune and Lavasa. Overall, my experience with the Superb has been very positive.

Driving Comfort

The Superb has clearly borne out and surpassed all the expectations I had on driving comfort. The engine is responsive, and is easy to drive, whether in horrendous peak hour traffic conditions, or on high speed highway runs. The car eats up any gaps in traffic in no time at all. My old Getz feels completely underpowered in comparison. I got used to the indicator switches on the "wrong" side fairly quickly. Maneuvering in traffic is very easy, and parking is a breeze with the help of the optical parking sensors.

The rear seat is fabulous as well, plenty of leg room. The width is a little constrained, the middle seat passenger has a tough time, especially as we have a child seat fitted at one of the window seats. The blinds for the rear passenger windows are really useful, especially during hot Bombay summers and Octobers.

Air Conditioning

The aircon is great in the front seat, but the fancy vents on the B pillars don't work very well - so you have to keep the temperature down at 21 or 22 degrees (which freezes the front seats) to get adequate cooling at the rear. At times, the automatic control which is supposed to switch to recirculate mode when air quality falls does not work as well as it should, and you have to manually switch to recirculate mode to avoid smoke from BEST buses getting in.

Fuel Consumption

The first thing you notice while driving the Superb with the MID on is how variable fuel consumption is based on traffic conditions. Early on, idling fuel consumption with the AC on was about 1.5 to 1.6 litres per hour. On my typical 9 am Nariman Point runs, I average a speed of about 20 kmph, and get an MID indicated mileage of about 13 litres / 100 kms (or 7.7 kmpl). (Aside: I figured out how to change the MID to display kmpl, but prefer litres per 100 km since that gives a truer measure of how fuel consumption varies based on driving style). On peak hour return runs with an average speed of about 12 kmph, the mileage drops to about 17 litres / 100 kms (almost 30% more fuel consumption). Cross town runs are the real killer - a 5 km Worli to Parel run in peak hours takes about 30 minutes, and the fuel consumption is about 23 litres / 100 km (viz. 75% more fuel consumption). Runs to the suburbs on Sunday mornings at an average speed of about 45 kmph (with peaks of about 120 kmph) consume about 10 litres per 100 kms. Highway fuel consumption depends on driving style. Driving out to Poona at 140 kmph + speeds on the expressway cost me about 10 litres per 100 kms, driving back at night at a more sedate 80-100 kmph cost just 6.5 litres per 100 kms.

All the above numbers are indicated numbers on the MID, which seems to be slightly optimistic. Numbers measured on a tank to tank basis yield about 7-10% greater fuel consumption than the indicated averages. (Unclear if that represents the error on the MID or the extent to which Bombay petrol pumps cheat you.) Overall, I have averaged a speed of under 15 kmph over these 12,500 kms, and consumed over 2,100 litres of petrol for the same.

The ICE system

The touch-screen ICE system is truly superlative. It takes 6 CDs and SD Cards, which I find very useful. Sound quality is fantastic, much better than any other car stereo system I have heard. The steering mounted controls have become a second nature - I really miss it while driving other cars.

Hiccups

These 15 months with the Superb have not all been smooth sailing. There have been a few hiccups that any potential buyer should be cognizant of.

Bonnet Release Lever
The first arose on the day after I brought the car home. I had to park at the Four Seasons, and they wanted to check the engine compartment. I looked around for the bonnet release lever, and did not find it. Fortunately, one of the security guards was aware that the lever is on the left side of the car. Rather shocking that they did not bother to shift it to the right while modifying the car for RHD markets.

Oil Consumption
As mentioned on a number of threads, oil consumption is very high initially. There seems to be some variability in this between different cars, and my car did a bit worse than most. Further, the orange oil warning light comes on relatively briefly and is then repeated after a random interval (not clear if that is time or distance based). So it may be possible to miss the light, which could lead to engine damage. I had to top up almost 3 litres of oil in the interval between the time I got the car, and the first service (which was at about 10,000 kms), which required 3 vists to the service centre. Admittedly, my duty cycle is worse than most, and consumption was less than the level Skoda warns about, but it is still irritating.

The Service Centre Location

The service centre is located on a narrow lane in Sewri, and is extremely cramped. They managed to scrape a fender during one of the visits to top up oil

Tyres

The Goodyear NCT 5 tyres supplied with the car are clearly third rate and are not fit for being used on even bullock carts. I had a total of 3 or 4 punctures in my first year with the car - which had never happened with any new set of tyres before this. Shortly after the first service, I found that there was a bubble in the side wall of one of my tyres. I complained to Skoda, who summoned a Goodyear engineer. The engineer claimed that this happened because a steel belt had broken, due to the car having been driven into a pothole, and that they would not replace it since it was not a manufacturing defect. I was pissed, I drive the car myself, in South Bombay (yes roads are not great, but are probably among the better ones you get in the country), and had certainly not been in any potholes at more than 30 kmph. A tyre that gives way in such conditions is clearly defective. I wrote to both Skoda and Goodyear asking for a replacement. Goodyear did not deign to reply, but surprisingly, I got a swift response (on a Saturday) from Skoda. After some follow up over a few days, Skoda told me that Goodyear was not willing to pay up, but they would bear 50% of the cost of replacing the tyre. Unfortunately, I had to stick to another Goodyear since I did not want to replace all tyres.

Overall Maintenance Costs

Overall, maintenance and service costs so far amount to about Rs. 21,000 - Rs. 3000 odd for oil, Rs. 8000 for the first service (including an oil change, wheel balancing etc), Rs. 4000 for the tyres, Rs. 5,500 for car detailing by Kamyo, and Rs. 400 to repair the rear parking sensors which were damaged when an idiot in a Zen rear ended me while I was waiting at a traffic signal.

Conclusions

The positives are:

1) Great to drive
2) Fabulous interiors that never fail to put a smile on your face
3) Surprisingly responsive service, so far
4) Never fails to impress friends with its feature list

The hiccups

1) Lousy Goodyear tyres
2) Oil consumption - waiting to see how it goes this year
3) Overall mileage of under 6 kmpl - with petrol prices having risen over 20% in the last year, a diesel may have been more economical.

But at least till this point in time, my overall experience has been Superb.

[ajmat]

Nice review - over to the review section

[Santoshbhat]

Wonderful review! Was happy to read about a satisfied Skoda (and TSI powered car) owner having bought a Laura TSI in May this year . I can really relate to your decision making process, having gone over some similar dilemmas myself having owned a Toyota Corolla for many years.

The fuel consumption varies quite a lot depending on the driving style. I find the figure goes up very fast when one idles for long at traffic lights. I found switching off at traffic lights (when not using the AC of course) brings down the fuel consumption quite a bit. The MID is optimistic by about 8 to 10% on my car as well. I only fill Shell Unleaded. I average about 11.50l/100 kms in Bangalore traffic.

On the oil consumption front, I am quite concerned that you had to top it up three times before first service. I have so far topped up about 750 ml after about 2500 kms of driving. The low oil light never come on. The oil was topped up when I found the oil level to be less than half on the dipstick.

I knew the Goodyears are real crap. I switched to Michelin Primacy LC immediately after purchase. They have made a world of difference to the ride and general refinement levels.

[dkaile]

Nice honest review. Few points in your review have made me to re-think my decision to upgrade to this car which was on my hit-list for my next sedan upgrade, especially the high service cost and very low FE, although I loved the interior luxury of the Superb on my last test drive of the vehicle as I have mentioned in my ownership thread below.

Do read my Toyota Fortuner review here - http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...uilt-last.html I find the brakes fantastic on my Fortuner and have had no issues so far even on a 200km highway run. The space on 3rd row is also quite good and even I managed to sit in it comfortably after sliding up the head rest fully which is essential (on a short ride) even though I am 6'+, after adjusting the 2nd row of seats which are slide-able.

[Hayek]

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

Wonderful review! Was happy to read about a satisfied Skoda (and TSI powered car) owner having bought a Laura TSI in May this year ....

The fuel consumption varies quite a lot depending on the driving style. I find the figure goes up very fast when one idles for long at traffic lights. I found switching off at traffic lights (when not using the AC of course) brings down the fuel consumption quite a bit. The MID is optimistic by about 8 to 10% on my car as well. I only fill Shell Unleaded. I average about 11.50l/100 kms in Bangalore traffic.

On the oil consumption front, I am quite concerned that you had to top it up three times before first service. I have so far topped up about 750 ml after about 2500 kms of driving.

Thanks for the comment. Agree you can save quite a bit of fuel switching off at signals. Unfortunately, Bombay weather does not permit one to do that as often as one would like. Also, I think the AC load matters a lot, as consumption in winter months was better than in summer - so presume Bangalore folks benefit from the better weather. Don't understand why MIDs are optimistic - if anything, I thought they would be tuned to be pessimistic to prevent people from running out of range.

The third oil top up was very close to my service (barely a month before it was due) - so consumption clearly was better than 750 ml for 2500 kms.

Originally Posted by dkaile

Nice honest review. Few points in your review have made me to re-think my decision to upgrade to this car which was on my hit-list for my next sedan upgrade, especially the high service cost and very low FE, although I loved the interior luxury of the Superb on my last test drive of the vehicle as I have mentioned in my ownership thread below.

Do read my Toyota Fortuner review here - http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...uilt-last.html I find the brakes fantastic on my Fortuner and have had no issues so far even on a 200km highway run. The space on 3rd row is also quite good and even I managed to sit in it comfortably after sliding up the head rest fully which is essential (on a short ride) even though I am 6'+, after adjusting the 2nd row of seats which are slide-able.

Did not intend to scare anyone off - am very happy with the car. Service costs are high and will rise further once the labor starts getting added, but a one year 15,000 km interval helps makes it competitive vs. honda's three month interval. Fuel efficiency is also better than what friends with Accords or Camrys get on similar runs, though diesel (Esp if they upgrade to 170 HP) may be attractive even at my running levels.

Your T-Fort review was very good, congrats on the acquisition. I was of course comparing the T-Fort brakes with my Honda City, so perhaps that's the reason for the disappointment with them.

[SmartCat]

Good detailed review. Why didn't you consider the Superb diesel? They will hold its value better than the petrol variant, although the initial cost is slightly higher.

I'm not sure if anybody has had luck with free replacement from any of the tyre companies. Those "tyre engineers" probably have a 3 month training routine to help them lie right at the face of the customers.

How is the steering on the Superb? Is it light-ish like the Laura?

[vb-saan]

Nice review Hayek! Thanks for sharing. It will be great if you can post some interior pics, especially of the rear-bench with the childseat on

[anandpadhye]

Great review and congratulations!

And when I read the word "hiccups", I was expecting some real "hiccups"...
Tyre punctures, fuel consumption in Nariman Point are probably, general issues.

Early oil consumption - yes, an issue and bonnet opening lever on the left hand side - definately shocking (but didn't you notice that when you bought or took the TD? - just curious)

How about the central A/C vents fogging the windscreen? It's a real irritation on the Lauras -more so while driving in Mumbai humidity.
How is your feedback on the awesome DSG? I wish they offered it on the Laura Tsi as well.

I drive the 1.8Tsi Laura and it's done 14000KM since I bought it in Feb 2010 - Goodyears (Eagle NCT 5's) have not caused any trouble at all (except that they are not Michelines, which is OK). In fact they do not even loose air at any noticeable pace - I check air pressure (when cold) every month and have to refill only once in 3 months or so.

Cheers!

[mayankjha1806]

Excellent review deserving 5*. I was surprised at the fuel efficiency figures (read "6.5 litres per 100 kms") which gives close to 15 which i believe is awesome considering the size of the car.

I think it would be injustice to the beauty of the car by not posting the pictures of the interiors. Please post some pictures of the interiors especially from the rear seat and other areas.

[GTO]

Superb review of a superb car, thanks for sharing. Honestly, the Skoda luxo-barge can give most 40 lakh rupee cars a run for their money if we talk in terms of specs, features & comfort. The only two downers for me are Skoda's shoddy after-sales and the Superb's suspect reliability. I hope your car treats you well in the longer term.

You mentioned that your wife has a driver. Aren't you chauffeur-driven in your rush-hour commutes? That's really what the Superb is built for.

Congrats, and drive safe.

[noopster]

Neat review of a lovely car. I had gone to check out the Laura DSG and fell in love with the Superb instead, thanks to its awe-inspiring interiors and a very good saelsman! Eventually sanity prevailed and I got my Vento AT instead

Goodyears are such a sucky brand for OE tyres. My Vento got Apollo Aceleres and, though I consider myself luckier than the Goodyear or JK-fitted guys, they have already started getting extremely noisy with less than 10,000 km on the odo.

BY teh way, if you're getting 6 kmpl with AC on on your daily run in the Superb, you should consider yourself VERY lucky. That's exactly the FE I get in my Vento . Considering the Superb has 160 horses to my 105 and is bigger and infintely more gizmo-ed, that's something I'd happily settle for!

Keep posting. Some more pics would be nice.