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  It is THE bug car buy for punters with eyes to know a good thing when they see it. Photo Gallery

A British car commentator recently suggested...

...not especially kindly, not altogether unfairly, but presumably humorously – that the Volkswagen Group employs an operative whose job it is to jog the arm of Skoda’s designers while they’re hard at their easels.

This, he reckons, would explain a series of models that are hardly possessed of the most alluring lines in the world. They are, in truth, a bit on the stolid side, a touch utilitarian.

Looking at the pendulous overhangs and nose assembly of the Superb limo/liftback, it’s hard to argue. This partly due to the current predilection to treat every car in your line-up with near identical rhinoplasty. That sort of works if your tradition of careful grille management runs to nothing more obtrusive than twin kidneys (BMW). Otherwise, one size by no means fits all.

As to why Volkswagen would do this, Mr Brit Blogger says that while it’s clearly in the VG’s interests for their Czech subsidiary to thrive, equally it’s to their disadvantage should the cars from the Mlada Boleslaw plant near Prague do so to the detriment of those from Wolfsburg (VW) or, for that matter, Ingolstadt (Audi).

You and I know that they give their Czech mates platform, drivetrains and generally free access to the corporate parts bin. But when the cheeky buggers go ahead and start building cars that are cheaper and better (according to any reliability survey of note), then the German cousins would want to ensure they’ve got dibs on aesthetics to back up the wavering allure of their badges, wouldn’t they?

Still, when the range-topping Superb 4X4 V6 in gleaming silver was parked hard by our Holt St bunker, it looked not at all out of place in a row that included a Lexus LS and an E-Class Merc. While even 18s can look a bit shrunken in Superb’s bulky body, there’s no arguing that it’s a distinctive and classy-looking package.

From $57K, it’s also, as we noted earlier, a preposterously cheap package. Metal for money isn’t in doubt. Nor is there a question that the Superb is a paradigm breaker, especially the 1.8 TSI Ambition model, which combines a wonderfully efficient, frugal and more than adequate turbo-charged direct injection four potter with big car facility.

It is THE bug car buy for punters with eyes to know a good thing when they see it.