Skoda Superb 1.8 TFSI 2009 review

Or it could be just plain hubris. Whatever, you are really asking for it labelling your product ‘Superb.’

This is the moniker of Skoda's flagship passenger car, which arrives here early next year. Fortunately, the Superb happens to be rather good in any language.

The Czech marque's `more metal for your money motif' is embodied by a car that surpasses Ford's Mondeo for the title of Europe's best-value big family device.

To put the Superb in terms of its prestige-priced corporate sibling Audi, it packs the most sophisticated Volkswagen Group powertrains in a package that surpasses Audi's A6 for size, yet will come in perhaps five figures cheaper than the smaller A4.

The Superb renders big Australian six-cylinder family cars obsolete. It really is that accomplished.

The entry-level TSI is powered by the VW Group's sparkling 1.8-litre direct-injection turbo petrol engine. Ignore that small capacity and its modest 118kW/250Nm output – all that torque is grabbed from a diesel-like low of 1500rpm, getting the 1.454 tonne front-wheel-driver from standing to 100km/h in 8.6 seconds.

Driven with restraint, it will use as little as 7.6 litres of premium unleaded per 100km and emit 180g of CO2 per kilometre.

An entry-level Commodore — with fewer cogs and 2000cc greater engine capacity to haul its massively greater weight — is not much faster and nowhere near as efficient or clean.

If the case for big Aussie sixes is already fading, consider further that the newest Skoda uses the newest form of the manual-matic Direct Shift Gearbox, one that every marque from Porsche down to Mitsubishi and back up to BMW is emulating.

This edition of DSG has a seventh forward gear, to assist pace off the mark and provide a leaner-running top ratio.

The 1.8 TSI will be launched with a counterpart using VW's latest four-cylinder common-rail turbo diesel. With 125kW, this edition of the 2.0 TDI has mountainous torque of 350Nm, making for mighty mid-range acceleration. This car we expect to be priced in the low- to mid-40s.

These front-wheel-driven Superbs will be joined later in '09 by an all-wheel-drive V6 with the 191kW/350Nm 3.6-litre direct injection petrol engine usually found in two-tonne-plus SUVs, including Porsche's Cayenne. We'd say about $52K for this one.

If you're beginning to think the Superb is little more than another Czech derivative of VW Group product, Skoda asserts its individuality with execution and innovation all its own.

First of all, it's long – almost 4.9m – with pendulous overhangs at either end, built on a platform that combines the Passat and what will be next year's Mk VI Golf.

Though it's narrower than an Australian sedan, the interior space is cavernous. With a beanpole colleague comfortably ensconced in the driver's seat (“I could drive from Sydney to Brisbane like this,” he said), 185cm me still has a suitcase of space between knees and front seat. With back doors almost as big as the front, you have limo-like egress.

Three passengers are seated in sublime comfort, a fourth tolerably.

Then there's a Falcon-beating 565 litres of storage – 1670 with the back seats folded flat. This is accessed by the Twindoor – a rear gate that opens either in the manner of a sedan, or as a roof-hinged liftback.

As to the exterior design, ‘conservative' is one word; ‘derivative’ is another. But the interior is outstanding, as pleasant as it is capacious. Even on cars without leather, it's close to Audi standards.

We'll see two trim levels – Ambition and Elegance – both of which have literally superb standard kit, including ESP, at least seven airbags, and adaptive headlights. The European model has just been given a five star ENCAP crash test rating.

An introductory drive through the Austrian Alps revealed a quiet, composed and dynamically competent performer with any of these transversely mounted engines.

While the diesel's torque equals that of the V6 petrol, the DSG's propensity to leap into top gear for economy's sake means you need to constantly change down manually or engage sport for the sake of pressing on.

Left alone, it can realise six litres per 100km and delivers with poise and predictability, leaving the growling and snarling to the top model.

Up-gunned from the 3.2-litre job found elsewhere in the VW group, the newer version has a top end to match its low-down urge — and the sound to match. Though 100 per cent of the torque goes through the front wheels in straight-ahead driving, in extremis it shifts all 350Nm to the back via a Haldex coupling.

Response is sharp, though you're always aware that you're trying to turn 1665kg. It helps that the electrically assisted power steering is weighted just about perfectly.

The brakes on all versions, though, are grabby to the extent that smooth progress in slow going is a challenge.

The pick has to be the entry-level model with that 1.8-litre turbo. This car proves capacity remains a measure of performance only in America and Australia: that it's not how much you've got but what you do with it, and that less really can be more.

Next to the more hesitant six-speed DSGs standard in the diesel and V6, the TSI's enhanced transmission noticeably improves response off the mark and rewards with a raspy and characterful engine note.

As both a brand-building exercise and as the family car for the times, the Superb loses nothing in the translation.

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