Skoda Superb Estate - long-term review

Warning: this update may in fact contain criticism of the mighty Skoda Superb. I know, shocking. 

First, it’s had what can only be described as a couple of electronic hissy fits on watery mornings, throwing up a veritable fireworks display of warning lights and error messages, bleating about the failure of everything from the adaptive cruise control (ACC) to emergency brake assist. None of which can actually be that serious, because after approximately a mile of normal driving, they all fall asleep again. But they do put the wind up you something rotten for a moment and remind me of various Volkswagen-adjacent products that suffered the same or similar maladies. Self-healing maybe, but a chink in the Superb’s armour.

The second thing we’ve had to cope with is something I’ve not had to deal with thanks to many years of running EVs as my more usual dailies - an oil top-up. This particular VAG 2.0-litre diesel often uses a little bit of oil in its first months of life, and ours is no exception, though it uses considerably less than the PD150 in my venerable diesel MkV Golf GTi. And yes, they did make them in oil-burning format, though not for long.

But back to the Superb, and it’s not surprising that it’s used a bit of ‘running in’ oil after nearly 10k in five months, although I did have to look up what a ‘quart’ was in UK-speak (it’s basically a pint in proper measurements). So to make sure via an actual mechanical dipstick, we completed a little warming-up run, some time to re-sump and a quick dip and yes, it needed a bit of attention.

A litre of the correct oil sourced and all was well, and weirdly satisfying to boot. I swear that every time you successfully complete even the most mundane of mechanical tasks on a car yourself, it feels smoother, quieter and better. Even clean cars feel faster. All the other fluids are tickety-boo - including the AdBlue - so we’re good for a few more miles.

I have started to be affected though; rental cars are now preferred as Skoda Estates - because they just work - so the chase car for the Eccentrica Lamborghini you can read about here was an Octavia wagon. Not quite as useful size-wise as the Superb, not quite as parsimonious (petrol rather than diesel), but an excellent companion for several days doing various jobs in the Italian countryside. I wouldn’t swap it for my diesel Superb, but the Octavia is similarly solid if you can make do with smaller.

So, next job is to get the Superb over 10k miles in six months, see if anything falls off and then weep when it goes back.