…says Adhish Alawani as he experiences the shattering V6 performance of the luxurious new Superb
Photography Sanjay Raikar
It is tough for anyone to dislike the new Superb that was launched by Skoda in the Indian market a few months ago. The car has everything that you would expect from a vehicle in this segment. The new aggressive exterior styling makes sure that you get a second look. The interiors render a classy feel and the car has loads of electronics on offer. Safety features and driver/passenger comfort are at the pinnacle. There was absolutely nothing missing in the Superb, until Skoda themselves decided to make us believe that there was indeed something that they had missed out on for the hardcore enthusiast – extreme performance. Undoubtedly, we loved the performance of the 2.0-litre TDI variant from the Czech stable but it wasn’t enough to pump in the adrenaline.
So what is the deal with this new Superb? Skoda offers a huge 3.6-litre V6 petrol engine under the hood and mates it with their brilliant six-speed DSG ‘box. To add to that, the Czech automaker provides an all-wheel drive system to ensure that there is hardly anything else that a performance seeker would crave for from a car in this segment. The 3.6-litre FSI engine produces a peak power of 260PS and a max torque of 350Nm. The company claims that with the variable valve timing incorporated in this FSI engine, the inlet valve timing is continuously altered to match the instantaneous driving style which helps in delivering top notch performance and better fuel efficiency at the same time. Theoretically, all this sounds great, but I did not want to come to any conclusion just by reading the brochures. So I got into the Superb and decided to head to the kind of roads that most owners will subject this car to.
We have already tested the other engine options available in the Skoda Superb and were quite impressed with the car. This had created some presumptions in my mind and I knew, being an auto fanatic, that I would love this car more than the previous Superbs. However, as I drove out of the city, I realized that my presumptions were just partially correct. The Superb offers an amazing throttle response making you fall in love with the car every time you nudge the accelerator pedal and rocket ahead of everyone else on the street. The V6 snarls to make sure that people around you in traffic do not fail to identify that there is something big cooking under the bonnet of the Superb. The immense amount of power from the V6 mill starts building up right from a thousand revs making the car quite drivable and fun in the city. However, to maintain higher fuel efficiency, the DSG quickly shifts a gear up at any given opportunity and eventually increases the number of gear shifts in a slow moving traffic scenario which can be irritating at times. Apart from that, there is nothing to complain about the Superb in the city.
Take the car to the highway and it comes alive in the truest sense. Floor the pedal and you easily feel the huge amount of torque acting up, pushing you slightly back into the seat as the car surges ahead greedily. Get into the S mode and it manages to do a 0-100km/h run in just over eight and a half seconds. The point to be noted here is that the Superb is an extremely heavy car with the twin style opening boot lid and the 4×4 hardware adding up to a lot of kilos, yet it manages such quick accelerations. The 4×4 system did not inspire any significant experience in the dry highway drive. However, while driving the Superb around some wet slippery corners, there was noteworthy feedback from the four-wheel drive system giving as much traction as possible. While I tried my best to get the tail out with the help of some loose gravel on the road in a corner, the ESP and 4×4 made sure that my efforts did not supersede their abilities and kept the car very much in control. Not to forget, the Superb has a very well sorted chassis with an amazing suspension doing its job quite precisely over most road conditions. Although Skoda has installed low profile, 225mm section, 17-inch tyres, the ride quality of the Superb has not been compromised. The engine, transmission, chassis and suspension – everything is just perfect and will make every auto buff fall in love with the car.
The equipment level on the Superb is high with loads of features on offer including a touch screen multimedia centre console, steering mounted controls, automatic vipers, parktronic, a multi-function display giving you vital stats – the list just goes on. With as many as eight airbags, adaptive front headlamps, ABS with EBD, anti-slip regulation, traction control system, electronic differential lock and electronic stability programme – the Superb has no match in its class when it comes to safety features. Does it miss out on anything at all? I reckon not. But then there is one downside of this extremely powerful V6 petrol – it guzzles fuel at a rapid pace, bringing the overall figure to 8.2kmpl (7.5kmpl in the city and 12kmpl on the highway). However, I believe that the people opting for the petrol V6 car are going to be least concerned about this factor. The Superb comes at a price tag of Rs 28.77 lakh (OTR, Pune) which is slightly more than the competition. However, it matches the performance of its rivals and provides a lot more on the equipment and safety front making it a better value for money option. Overall, the Skoda Superb V6 is an enthusiast’s car that knows exactly what it is supposed to do and does it in pretty good style.
