New Skoda Superb review, road test

For all its virtues, the last-gen Superb was not a car you’d call traditionally beautiful; the proportions were a touch odd. This third-gen Superb though is quite the looker. The basic silhouette is more conventional sedan and the new car’s 61mm shorter front overhang and 80mm longer wheelbase have translated into a more balanced design.

Styling is cutting-edge, almost literally so. Sharp and angular is the theme here with tight surfacing and crisp lines that run from end to end. There is more than a passing resemblance to the smaller Skoda Octavia, but the larger Superb does have its own identity. The sharply cut headlamps with their LED DRLs look attractive, and along with the chiselled bonnet and wide grille, give the Superb a handsome front end. A well-defined belt line adds a good deal of athleticism to the sides while the standard fit 17-inch wheels fill out the wheel arches well. And unlike the last Superb, this one’s elegant rear end is in sync with the rest of the design. The large tail-lights with their C-shaped LED elements and complex detailing look particularly sophisticated. However, the new Superb doesn’t feature the old car’s Twindoor arrangement for the boot opening – it’s a conventional hatch here. Speaking of the boot opening, top-spec Superb L&Ks get what Skoda calls Virtual Boot Lid Release. Slide your foot under the rear bumper and the system will open the boot for you; useful when you have your hands full. The hatch opening height can also be adjusted. The 625-litre boot itself is massive and the luggage bay can be expanded to an incredible 1,760 litres by folding the rear seats down.

Underpinning the new Superb is the Volkswagen Group’s flexible MQB platform. The chassis rests on MacPherson struts with a torsion stabiliser at the front and a multi-element setup with longitudinal transverse links at the rear. Skoda claims torsional rigidity is up 12 percent while at the same time, the Superb is as much as 75kg lighter than the last-gen car. Thing is, in places, you can feel it. The sound of door shut, though reassuringly good, doesn’t have the same solid thunk as the old car. 

What’s good to know is that the Superb is an NCAP-rated 5-star car. Eight airbags are standard across all variants and there’s a whole gamut of electronic driver aids as well, including fatigue detection on the top-spec L&K trim.