Skoda Superb | Shed of the Week
It lacks the tech and chintz of Skoda's PHEV iV, but this old TDI 140 still has all the Superb hallmarks
Pillowy leather upholstery, check. Huge amounts of cabin and boot space, check. Low mileage, check. Low running costs, check. There’s no doubt that this week’s shed – a gen-one Skoda Superb diesel in top-spec (before the Laurin & Klement came along, anyway) Elegance format – ticks a whole heap of boxes even before you get to the £990 price.
Feeling suspicious about the mileage? Diesel Superbs are understandably much loved by suburban minicab drivers. As such, you might expect an 88,000-miler like this one to have lost a couple of hundred thousand miles somewhere, but the MOT records, unsquished seat bolsters and absence of vomit stains say different. If it is clocked, then someone’s gone to an awful lot of trouble. Let’s assume it’s all pukka and move on to what you’d be getting here.
These first Superbs were basically stretched B5 Passats. Shed would live to regret going metric when he was talking about 10.4 centimetres to Mrs Shed in his courting days, but in imperial terms, that 4.1-inch advantage the Skoda had over the VW made a hell of a difference to passenger comfort.
The only thing that would make this car better from Shed’s point of view would be an old-time 1.9 TDI diesel under the bonnet rather than the 2.0 EA188 PD which in pre-2010 form suffered from its fair share of turbo, injector and cracking cylinder head issues (the letter you definitely don’t want to see on the right of the head underneath the fuel lines is ‘A’, and ideally not ‘B’). The chain from the balancer shaft to the oil pump might well fail, too, with disastrous consequences. Pre-2008 motors like this one weren’t common rail either, but as Shed’s then-new father in law shouted as he roared gleefully away from the wedding, you can’t have everything. On the plus side, the 140 didn’t have a pesky diesel particulate filter requiring expensive and inconvenient dealer regenerations.
When it’s healthy, the standard 2.0 diesel produces 236lb ft at a usefully low 1,900rpm, enough to get the 1,600kg Superb through the 0-62mph sprint in single figures and go on from there to just short of 135mph. Of course, all the usual go-faster options are available. Tuners will tell you that a 140 remapped to a 170 is less laggy than a standard 170, but if you go down that route you will need to look after the turbo. Fit a bigger turbo (from a 170, say) and you’ll be up to 200-220hp. For more than that you’ll need bigger injectors. The block will take up to 350hp but clutch slip will be an issue when the engine goes over 320lb ft. Moving the power band up or down the rev range by adjusting the cam timing is made easier on these engines by vernier pulleys, but again you need to be careful to get it just so. EGR delete is not worth doing on these engines, and replacing the (weakish) dual mass flywheel with a solid one is not a good idea if you want decent drivability.
Running costs for our shed as it stands would be very acceptable to most, with an official combined economy of 45mpg and an annual tax rate of £235. Watch out for blocked battery box drains that will soak your carpets and potentially cause a right old electrical munge-up with all the ECU and wiring tranklement that’s hidden there.
Shed had a Passat B5 with this problem. He’d go to indicate left only to see the nearside window going down. Attempts to beep dozy fellow motorists simply triggered the windscreen wipers, which in terms of putting his message across was hardly the same as a sustained blast of horn. Talking of battery boxes, Shed isn’t familiar with the underbonnet layout of the Superb, but if it’s the same as his old Passat then the (big) battery will be in a central position ahead of the scuttle. If you ever need to replace it, you’ll need the reach of a basketball player combined with the core strength of an Olympic pommel horse specialist. Having neither of these, Shed resorted to the age-old technique of swearing the job into submission.
There we have it, then. A nice looking Superb, if not a superb looking Superb thanks to a nearside rear scrape and what may be a dint on the bootlid, neither of which will be visible to you or your curry-carrying fares on a weekday evening.
Along with the first Fabia I feel these cars were just a bit better than the VW equivalent of the day as VW were building a brand and were getting away from Skoda jokes of the 1980s.
The Superb that followed this model I felt was also excellent, the estate especially being a bit of a masterpiece in my view.
These days I feel I can detect the cost down in a Skoda, cheaper materials and plastics, while the price is really not that much less than a VW, so that late 90s and early 00s period were likely the high water mark for Skoda.
Interesting alternative. That damage looks too expensive to fix properly on a car of this value, just ignore it!
I personally love the silver. Great colour.
With a bit of TLC this could be a really nice car.
This Shed is so much better then the recent Volvo’s and Saab’s, that were just plain awful.
Also bought 2 of these to move on, again in 1.9 guise and they flew out of the door, so to speak.
To be fair they offer a lot for the money and if I wanted something cheap to travel to the south of France and back, then flog, this would be it
Haters hate, etc....
Interesting wet roundabout technique - TCS off, plant foot, steer towards the exit after the one you want, and you will understeer off where you want.
I never got why they were worth less than the Mk4 Golfs on the used market, the Passat was such a nicer car. I can imagine this Superb is too, and of course lasted long after the B5.5 Passat was killed off.
If I was after another shed, this would certainly get some consideration.
Hope it still has the umbrella in the door!
We were invited to the launch of the new Hyundai Sonata in about 2006, at the glamorous environs of Alton Towers - no expense spared, eh?
We got up at 0600 for the long drive from Suffolk and arrived just in time for the bacon butties. Quick briefing, marketing blah blah etc, then off to the ride & drive. First up was the Sonata: utterly dull and forgettable but completely competent in all areas.
Next was something else followed by something else: they were so dull I can't even remember what they were, but as above - completely competent.
Last up was a Superb, 1.9 TDI manual. Looked like this one but was blue (the only car on the day that wasn't silver). Absolute revelation: quick, comfortable, roomy, drove and handled well. It was the car we wanted to take home and made the poor old Sonata look like a horse and cart. My dad has a Passat with the same engine (I think) as this. He's just passed 306,000 miles in it and reports no oil top-ups needed between services.
As someone else has said: buy this if you need "a car".
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