Skoda Superb Sleeper review: a luxury, hand-built, road-legal 470bhp touring car

That’s not a new car.

Correct. This is an old car, though not that old – it represents the last gasp of the third-generation Skoda Superb Estate, which ended production in 2023. Hence why it wears a ‘23’ plate.

So why are you reviewing an old car?

Because this is no ordinary old car. It was built as a celebration of this third generation of Skoda Superb which – as the name very rightly suggests – is actually quite superb.

Photography: Jonny Fleetwood

So superb in fact, Skoda humbly points out it sold 860,000 of the things between 2015 and 2023. Eight hundred and sixty thousand. That’s an insane amount of sensibleness prowling the world’s streets.

So you’re reminiscing about a successful old car then?

Like we said, this is no ordinary old car. It’s the ‘Laurin&Klement’ edition, which means under that entirely practical, dark green body lies a 276bhp 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol engine, a seven-speed dual clutch gearbox, a four-wheel-drive system and swathes of rather glorious tan leather.

Well, it would if it was a standard L&K Superb. It is really, very not a standard L&K Superb.

Lemme guess: old car so rusty sills, blown turbo, oil leaks, worn leather etc etc?

Oh the turbo’s very blown alright, enough to pump this practical family estate into a road-going touring car. How does 470bhp and 0-62mph in 4.9s seconds and a limited top speed of 155mph catch you?

Very unawares. Tell me more.

Like we said, Skoda commissioned this hand-built, one-off slice of extreme sensibleness to celebrate the third-gen Superb’s success, entrusting a very, very good standard spec – green and tan FTW – over to the folks at RE Performance. They’re the ones who built an Octavia that managed 227mph at Bonneville. So they know a thing or nine about speed.

What have they done?

Binned the Superb’s standard, puny and non-touring-car spec blower and bolted on a proper Garrett PowerMax Turbo unit. This unit is bigger and blowier, and hence requires the fitment of a sportier intake and a performance intercooler. RE Performance has done both of these things.

So how does that-

Sorry, but there’s more. RE’s also binned the Superb’s standard, puny and non-touring car but admittedly very comfortable suspension setup in favour of a full K&W coilover kit that drops the ride height by 50mm.

Binned the brakes too, replaced with monster six-pot AP Racing calipers clamped onto 390mm front discs, and 330m rears. There are Goodridge braided brake lines.

But it looks so standard!

That’s the point. And the brilliance of it. The only real giveaways that this is no ordinary old Skoda lie in the wheelarch clearance (there is none) and the engine’s blare when you fire it up (there is some).

And what about when you light it up?

Insane. Just… insane. Moreso because its relentless – and that’s no hyperbole but fact – pace is cocooned in a properly plush cabin. Floor it in comfort or normal mode and there’s a bit of a delay as the DSG figures out you want some power and apportions it accordingly. Then you kinda catapult towards the horizon.

But in sport mode, with blood in its eyes and thunder in its heart and red in its dials, it pulls with startling drama. There’s no hesitation, it just flies and outright refuses to tail off. Upshifts are swift, downshifts could be swifter, but the performance is off the scale quick. Wanna take it on? Good luck.

Because it’s got properly sorted race-bred suspension it corners fully flat, which gives you supreme confidence. And because it’s got proper scary race-bred brakes it stops hard enough to dislodge your preconceptions about what an estate should be able to do. Tonnes of bite at the top and a progressive, meaty feel affording you – that’s right – yet more confidence. Remember, fast cars are fast because they’ve got brilliant brakes.

How’s the engine?

Great. There’s an argument that for a one-off, Skoda could have really gone wild and slotted in a six- or eight-pot for proper laughs, but the bandwidth of the EA888 on display is impressive.

There’s a pleasing buzz – it’s punchy rather than deep throated, but barks through the range like a posh touring car. Plenty ferocious enough for a car that merges into the backdrop… and then punches a giant green hole right through it. Thank the custom downpipe for that.

While the steering doesn’t really feel as alive as the rest of the car, you’ll be too busy hanging on for dear life rather than probing the outer limits of ‘feel’. One suspects this thing would be brilliant fun on a circuit like Brands.

So you like it, then?

For something so sensible, practical and green, to have proper touring car pace while saddling you in assistance and annoying side-alert bongs and just brilliant leather and legroom for days and a banging sound system is a bit of a masterstroke.

Take note, Every Manufacturer: this is the kind of car Britain needs. Not shouty SUVs with eleventy-million horsepower and tyres that’d shame a truck, but a nice, practical estate that’d give pretty much any car out there bar a fully-blown supercar a run for its money.