QUITE how ‘superb’ is the Skoda Superb Estate? Jason King, the head of market intelligence at Glass’s Guide, delivers his verdict.A BRAND defining product, this, the Skoda Superb Estate. The car offers exceptional value. But the Skoda Superb Estate is more than that – it’s an excellent product that achieves eveything that it was designed to perform.

The Superb Estate is also a car that should finally dispel any nagging concerns that business car buyers may have experienced with buying into the Skoda brand. Time, now, to have a look at the Skoda Superb Estate in greater detail.

So what’s good about the Skoda Superb Estate?

• A vast amount of interior room. It’s a real load lugger which was a market niche that was once dominated by Volvo.
• The Superb Estate can be considered as a decent alternative to the SUV 4x4s and MPV people carriers that buyers have migrated to in recent years.
• A modern exterior design that improves on the saloon/hatch, which has failed to fire the imagination of buyers so far. However, it is not as large as the amount of interior room would suggest. A Vauxhall Insignia estate is longer.
• The interior displays levels of fit and finish that would not be out of place in models from Skoda’s sister brand, Audi.
• Efficient engines with low levels of CO2 should tempt more company car drivers to the Skoda brand, a move most of whom would never have considered before now. Strong residual values should ensure temptingly low contract hire and leasing rates, too.
• Offering a car of this size with a 1.4 petrol engine seems a brave move: it is a competent performer with 125PS, but it’s no road-rocket. The 2.0 TDi 170PS is the pick of the bunch.

Verdict on the Skoda Superb Estate

Some commentators thought that using the name ‘Superb’ was an odd move. Now Skoda has a model that deserves to wear it. There’s a decent range of engines, good levels of specification in clearly defined models and a price position that makes it hard to ignore. The Superb Estate is likely to exceed the brand’s modest sales objectives that it has planned for the UK.

Typical Skoda Superb Estate models and prices

Skoda Superb Estate 1.4 TSI S 125PS, L17,715

157g/km CO2, 20% company car tax BiK (2010/10), 41.4mpg

Skoda Superb Estate 1.8 TSI Elegance 160PS, L23,425

171gkm CO2, 22% company car tax BiK (2010/10), 38.7mpg

Skoda Superb Estate 1.9 TDI SE 105PS, L20,325

150gkm CO2, 21% company car tax BiK (2010/10), 48.7mpg

Skoda Superb Estate 2.0 TDI CR SE 170PS 4×4, L23,770

169gkm CO2, 25% company car tax BiK (2010/10), 43.5mpg

Skoda Superb Estate 2.0 TDI CR Elegance 170PS DPF, L24,790

155gkm CO2, 23% company car tax BiK (2010/10), 47.9mpg

If you want to read more of Jason King’s verdicts, click on www.glassguide.co.uk/Jason.