Combines huge space inside with Skoda's typical practical little - 2023 ŠKODA SUPERB Estate Review
0The Skoda Superb Estate offers masses of boot space and a high-quality feel for a keen price. A Passat has a nicer interior, though, and the Superb doesn’t exactly get your pulse racing on the road
Estates are primarily about boot space, and on that front, the Skoda Superb has its alternatives well and truly beaten – cars like the estate versions of the Volkswagen Passat, Mazda 6 and Vauxhall Insignia Grand Sport as well as newer, less direct rivals such as the Citroen C5 X.
So, while Skoda daring to name its car ‘Superb’ may seem a bit like Starbucks declaring it makes the best coffee (a bold claim, and up for serious debate), the big Skoda really lives up to the billing.
In fact, to further cement just how roomy it is, it won the carwow Best Estate Car in our 2021 Car of the Year Awards.
The Superb Estate is strong on the quality front, too; inside it’s extremely close to a Passat when it comes to look and feel. Close enough, in fact, that most people wouldn’t really notice the difference. Being picky, the lower half of the Superb’s cabin does have more scratchy plastics, but everything inside is impressively well screwed together and there are enough gloss black and chrome accents to lift the mood.
The Superb Estate gets at least an 8.0-inch infotainment system with DAB radio, Bluetooth and built-in sat-nav, although you can upgrade to a 9.2-inch version. Both look great with their glass front when switched off, but also display pin-sharp graphics once on and are nicely responsive to prods, pinch and zoom. All models also come with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
Cars don’t come much bigger inside than this. There’s a huge amount of room around the front seats and the driver gets generous seat and wheel adjustment, whether it be of the standard manual kind or electrically operated higher up the range. In the back it’s the same story – tall adults will have an almost comical amount of knee room in the outside seats and their heads will be well south of the ceiling.
Buy the 1.5 petrol if you're often in town, or a 2.0 diesel if you're not. SE-L trim is the best bet in either case. Head to our deals page to see what you could save on one!
Furthermore, at 660 litres, the Skoda Superb Estate’s boot is the biggest amongst its alternatives. The closest challenger is the VW Passat Estate with 650 litres, but a Mazda 6 is further off the mark. It’s not just bigger – the Superb’s boot is cleverer too, with lots of handy hooks, nets and cubbies.
Although there are more powerful petrol options, the entry-level 1.5 with 150hp never leaves you wanting when accelerating and is pretty smooth and quiet. If you do most of your driving in town on shorter journeys, it’s a great choice. Given the Superb is a popular company car, diesel is likely to remain a significant option. You’re best off with the 2.0 150hp, with its great get-up-and-go yet still-impressive fuel economy making it the best all-rounder. That said, there’s also a company-car-friendly plug-in hybrid.
The Superb Estate is a big car but it’s easy to drive in town. It has light, precise steering and good visibility for breezing tight town manoeuvres. The only black mark is that it struggles a little over sharp bumps compared to the Volkswagen Passat.
Head to the motorway and the Superb comes into its own, though. Its soft, wafty gait makes it great for covering long distances and its cabin stays really quiet whichever engine you go for. It does a decent job of going around corners, too. OK, it’s no sports car, nor as outright agile as a Mazda 6, but you always have confidence when driving it hard.
You’ll notice, then, that there are few negatives when it comes to the Superb Estate. If you want lots of space, none do it better for such a keen price. However, see how keen you can get it over on our Skoda Superb Estate deal pages. To check out our used Skoda Superb Estate deals head over to our used page.
The Superb Estate is a big smoothy, but it leans a lot in corners and its natural home is cruising quietly on the motorway. A standard reversing camera would really help in town
In town
The Superb Estate is really easy and pleasant to drive around town, and the suspension — for the most part — just easily soaks up the sorts of bumps, lumps, and speed humps that populate UK streets. While you don’t feel the bumps very much, you can hear them quite a bit as the suspension tends to react with a very audible ‘whump’ which you wouldn’t get in, say, the VW Passat. Visibility is good though, especially when you remember that the Superb Estate is a very big car. Skoda’s decision not to use pointlessly sporty rising window lines pays big dividends, and you very easily get a sense of where all the corners of the car are. You do get standard front and rear parking sensors too, which is a big help in something this long. The steering is nice and light, but the turning circle — 11.7-metres — is a bit canal-barge-spec. A reversing camera