Review of the new Skoda Superb 2.0 Classic

First things first. Anybody who doesn't know that Skoda make excellent cars should either be directed towards a copy of the latest JD Power survey or disdainfully ignored. The problem is, a Skoda badge is all well and good on a small car, but can it cut the mustard in the executive car park? Skoda hope that the Superb 2.0-litre Classic will do the business in this rarefied company.

As the entry-level model to the Skoda range, the 2.0-litre Classic has perhaps the best chance of convincing the hardened cynic. With the top spec Elegance models costing £20,000, the lure of a BMW 3 Series would be very hard to resist. Priced at just £13,955 the Superb 2.0-litre Classic manages to fend off the lure of a Toyota Auris or a Citroen C4 quite successfully.

The engine is the same 115bhp four-cylinder unit that pops up everywhere throughout the Volkswagen empire. You've seen it in the mkIV Golf and the Beetle as well as in previous versions of the SEAT Toledo and the Skoda Octavia, so it must be doing something right. It's willing enough, especially when linked to a manual gearbox as in the Superb Classic. Whilst lacking a little in terms of outright power, the engine is usefully torquey, generating 172Nm of twist action, and this obviates the requirement to wring it to the nth degree when you need to make smart progress. The sprint to 60mph is dispatched in a respectable 11.6 seconds. As with the Passat, you shouldn't expect a particularly involving driving experience. Still, most buyers will find the ride to be truly excellent thanks to Skoda's careful tweaking of the four-link strut and torsion beam suspension.

"The Superb's passenger cell is of similar dimensions to that of a Mercedes E-Class."

Skoda have made huge strides of late in terms of refinement and even with this relatively small engine, the Superb is a pleasantly hushed motorway cruiser. You feel the weight of the car ironing out bumps that would niggle at the wheel of a smaller car and the aerodynamicists have also done an excellent job in quelling wind noise. Based on a stretched fifth generation Passat platform, the Superb takes a shape that's familiar to most of us and adds just enough Skoda design cues to give it a modicum of identity.

The latest models feature a redesigned radiator grille, updated to give it a more 3-dimensional look. The turn indicators have been integrated into the wing mirrors and the front indicators have been combined with the headlamps. Similar to those of the Škoda Roomster and the Octavia, the tail lights are C-shaped, giving the Superb rear view a more distinct character. Inside, there's a redesigned dashboard configuration on all trim levels and the instruments clusters are backlit with very gentle white light.

The key beneficiaries of the extra wheelbase are the rear seat passengers with rear seat accommodation matched for the money only by the Mercedes A-Class. Travel to the airport in the back of a Superb and return in the back of a Mondeo, a 407 or even a BMW 5 Series and you'll notice the difference. Not that the driver goes without as the standard equipment list even at Classic level is representative of what buyers in this class have come to take for granted. As such, you can expect to find climate control with separate vents for rear seat passengers, remote central locking, front and rear electric windows, electrically adjustable and heated door mirrors, front and side airbags for both the driver and front passenger plus a decent CD-based stereo system. Skoda have seen the light. executives and children don't do cassettes.

Classic buyers will have to do without the full length umbrella that slots into the left rear door on other Superb models, but what's an umbrella in the face of a big cash saving? The boot is bigger than some inner city studio flats, some clever hinges lifting the bootlid clear and liberating the full 462 litres of bootspace. A 12-volt outlet in the luggage compartment lets you hoover up anything that may have become lost in the darkest recesses of the boot such as coins, keys or bicycles.

The great thing about buying a car like the Superb Classic is that while it may be cost effective for Skoda to de-specify trim items like the umbrella, leather seats and wood décor, disengaging the sophisticated electronic functions that are part and parcel of any modern executive car just isn't cost effective. Therefore for £13,955 you get neat functions like CatVision diffused nighttime interior lighting, Coming Home lighting that keeps the headlamps on dipped beam for 30 seconds after you've got out of the car plus a multifunction computer. This includes modes for time, outdoor temperature, instant and average fuel consumption, distance traveled, time driven, average speed and range until the fuel tank runs dry.

Whichever way you look at it, the Skoda Octavia 2.0 Classic is an outrageous bargain. Well built, decently specified, spacious and with enough gravitas to render excuses unnecessary, it will cause some severe ripples not just in the executive car market, but also in the medium range saloon sector and possibly the family hatch market too. Spanning as many categories as it does it can't possibly fail. Peugeot 307 1.6 or Skoda Superb Classic? Good car though the Peugeot is, I'd be investing in a pretty handsome pile of Czech metal. After all, there's nothing that will blow your credibility quicker than missing out on a superb deal.

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