New car

[duncs500]

+1 to not being sure about the wheels, from a distance they just look badly kerbed.

Looks great on the whole though, seats do indeed look cracking.

[Swervin_Mervin]

It was hobson's choice on the wheels. The std Vega alloys are a little dull imo and far too "of the moment" in terms of current wheel trends. I think they'll age quite badly. Whereas the Supernovas are a turbine, and turbines never date badly

It would have been nice to select from the wider range that they have in accessories, especially from non diamond cut options - they even do 2 shades of Supernova, but hey ho. I like them but I can see gow they'd split opinion.

[IanF]

Very nice. Love the umbrella-in-door thing!

Obviously there’s only one thing we now need to know - will it drift!?

[NotoriousREV]

I really like that. It looks great and the wheels were the right choice vs the standard ones. I’d be interested to hear how the ceramic coating works out.

[Matty]

Looks great. And door brollies? Sold.

[Coaster1]

It was hobson's choice on the wheels. The std Vega alloys are a little dull imo and far too "of the moment" in terms of current wheel trends. I think they'll age quite badly. Whereas the Supernovas are a turbine, and turbines never date badly

It would have been nice to select from the wider range that they have in accessories, especially from non diamond cut options - they even do 2 shades of Supernova, but hey ho. I like them but I can see gow they'd split opinion.

I think I have come around to it now having had another look. Turbines are cool.

Agreed the standard alloys are a bit dull (and common).

[jamcg]

http://www.superskoda.com/

Do all sorts of accessories and a lot of the wheel designs if you’re changing in the future- I got window deflectors for the Fabia when I had that before anywhere Uk based we’re selling them so they have some foreign market bits aswell

[Swervin_Mervin]

3 Observations so far:

1: It sits too high - but I doubt the wife will care. If it was me I'd be tempted to drop it a little, and I'm rarely bothered about doing stuff like that.

2: Internally the seating is quite high for my liking, compared to the BM. But then I think BMW seats seem to go a lot lower than most. I've got too used to it obviously, despite growing up with French cars and their high seating positions.

3: That engine is very torquey. It feels like a bigger capacity engine. Might sound like and odd thing to say as it's a turbotted 2l so should have some guts, but the 125i was and that felt a little wheezy. The 125i was deceptively quick, certainly much quicker than my 330, but never really felt it. This is barely any quicker than the 125i but absolutely feels it.

[Swervin_Mervin]

Ok, so I got a chance to drive it (mostly) properly this weekend just gone.

We drove cross-country to the west coast of Wales and, thanks to the A55 being screwed (as ever) we went the scenic route via Ruthin and Ffestiniog. So we took in all road types from m-way/dual carriageway, to flowing A-roads, twisty B-roads, and some really tight and undulating sections.

For a large car it's actually surprisingly nimble even on the twistiest of B-roads. I expected to find it more difficult to place than the 330i as it's that bit wider, but also (as it's more modern) you sit a bit further from the edges as well. Performance is effortless, even with only 700mi on the clocks, and at the end of the day it had returned 37mpg, having done a fair amount of sitting in traffic as well. All in all I'm impressed, and looking forward to seeing how it loosens up.

Good points:

Seats - being used to the BMW Sports seats, and having historically suffered with back ache prior to having the BMW, I was relieved that the seats gave me no bother at all. Could have done with more lumbar but the other half was moaning about me having changed the settings as it was so I didn't play anymore! Plus I love alcantara.

Visibility - great for such a big and modern car. Too many I've tried recently have been like looking out of a letterbox.

Body control - not only does it handle fairly well, the bump absorption is also pretty good. It did occasionally feel a little bouncy over some crests and compressions, but it's not going to see that sort of driving that often at all.

Performance - it's alright actually. Goes like a bigger capacity engine and returns decent economy. The 125i was a 4pot turbo but always felt a little wheezy, despite being as quick.

Bad points:

Seats - I'd like them to go a little lower. Being used to the BMW I'm used to being able to have the seat practically on the tarmac. I reckon it's about an inch higher than I'd like really. I suspect it's less a Skoda thing and more a not-BMW thing.

The UI - The main central touchscreen display is actually fairly intuitive - I'd say the best of any modern car I've been in actually. It works phenomenally well. But the steering wheel controls are far from so, and I think it's a VAG-wide thing. Could I figure out how the hell to switch the display from trip to fuel range? Nope. It's not View, and it's not the trip button. And when I went to turn the volume up I changed channel, as apparently the volume +/- symbols being on the buttons clearly means to use the dial between them! I remember this sort of nonsense annoying me last year when we had a Q3 hire car abroad - it's the sort of stuff that might drive me mental on a day to day basis.

Accelerator! - I'd read about this beforehand on the Skoda forums so was interested to see what the fuss was about. There's a totally dead top section of travel basically. And it is really, really bloody irritating. Especially so on the twistier roads with limited visibility, as you're constantly on and off the gas. Hence you'd be trying to get it to pick up again and it would do nothing. Then BAM, it would pick up with too much throttle. Immensely difficult to moderate light throttle inputs which is stupid on a car with so much torque. Some have gone for pedal boxes to sort it out and, if it was mine, I'd be doing the same without hesitation - it's really that irritating. I wonder if it's actually a Euro eco bollocks thing, as it reminds me a lot of the ecopro setting on the BMWs - like you're tensioning an elastic band up before anything happens.

[NotoriousREV]

That's a pretty good route to get to know a car. I always take my new vehicles out that way to bond with them, taking in Horseshoe Pass for the traditional photo, the Triangle and an ice cream at Bala.

[Jobbo]

at the end of the day it had returned 37mpg

That's impressive My Volvo is feeling a bit fitter at 7000 miles, now it's run in. Economy has improved a bit too, but even cruising down the M5 to Aust at 70mph on Saturday only just got the display over 30mpg and it was down at 28.6mpg by the time I'd parked. Interesting the whole tank average is still 28.6mpg now, after a few more non-motorway journeys being sensible.

28.6mpg is a cause for celebration when the overall average to date has been 23.9 though! It's no more economical than my old 545i was, and quite a bit less economical than the F11 535i was (similar power from a straight-6, so a nicer engine noise and directly comparable). I think the Superb is pretty comparable too. Volvo economy is shit.

[Broccers]

Looks nice

[Swervin_Mervin]

That's a pretty good route to get to know a car. I always take my new vehicles out that way to bond with them, taking in Horseshoe Pass for the traditional photo, the Triangle and an ice cream at Bala.

We dropped down to Mold from Northop as we were seeing just how bad the A55 was. Then A494 to A5 vis Ruthin, A5 to Cerrygydrudion for a lunch stop. Then up to Pentrefoelas before turning off on the B4407 and B4391 to Ffestiniog. Then just cruised up to Criccieth. Came home via Caernarfon and the A55.

A bit unplanned but great drive. The wife got to see some of her Homeland and we got to give the car its fullest test!

[Swervin_Mervin]

at the end of the day it had returned 37mpg

That's impressive My Volvo is feeling a bit fitter at 7000 miles, now it's run in. Economy has improved a bit too, but even cruising down the M5 to Aust at 70mph on Saturday only just got the display over 30mpg and it was down at 28.6mpg by the time I'd parked. Interesting the whole tank average is still 28.6mpg now, after a few more non-motorway journeys being sensible.

28.6mpg is a cause for celebration when the overall average to date has been 23.9 though! It's no more economical than my old 545i was, and quite a bit less economical than the F11 535i was (similar power from a straight-6, so a nicer engine noise and directly comparable). I think the Superb is pretty comparable too. Volvo economy is shit.

I reckon on a less congested run we might we easily see over 40mpg from it.