• Diesels offer impressive running costs
• But some petrols not far behind
• Plug-in hybrid best on paper

What are the running costs?

The best performer for real-life fuel economy is the 1.6 TDI DSG – being easily able to achieve over 40mpg unless very heavily loaded or driven very hard. The 2.0 TDI models won’t be far behind this, though if you opt for 4×4 you can expect a less efficient performance.

The 1.5 TSI petrol should be capable of mid-30s mpg in the real world – more if you spend most of your time cruising on the motorway. The lower-powered 2.0-litre TSI should be able to crack 30mpg, too, but the 272hp 4×4 variants will struggle to exceed 25mpg.

On paper, the Superb iV plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) is by far and away the best performer for fuel economy, with a claimed 149-217mpg WLTP. To achieve anywhere near this, you’ll need to be utilising the car’s electric-only driving capability to the full, and mostly doing shorter journeys.

In our own testing, we’ve found that the Superb iV will cover just under 30 gently-driven miles on a full battery. it’s particularly efficient round town, but even on a longer motorway journey it can get you up to 50mpg depending on how you manage the car’s many driving modes.

It’s a good result for the Superb PHEV; just don’t let those WLTP figures raise your expectations too far.

View detailed mpg and CO2 figures on our Skoda Superb Estate specs page

Servicing and warranty

Skoda service intervals are every year 12 months or 10,000 miles – whichever comes soon. The firm also offers fixed-price servicing for visibility on costs. Alternatively, you can opt for a Skoda service plan with monthly payments.

All Skodas are covered by a three year warranty. This offers unlimited mileage cover in the first two years, but only covers you for a third year for up to 60,000 miles. Compared with what rival carmakers offer, this is average-to-poor. Extended Skoda warranties are available at extra cost.

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Reliability

• Everything feels solidly built 
• But there have been several recalls
• Three-year warranty from new 

The Skoda Superb has established itself as a reliable performer during its production run, a fact that’s helped by the dealer network’s above average reputation for customer service and backup if things do go wrong. Materials used throughout feel of high quality, even plastics found in the boot area have durable feel which suggest they’ll easily last the lifetime of the car.

The car’s underpinnings are essentially identical to those found on the Volkswagen Passat, which in turn are a stretched version of the MQB platform found under a plethora of models from the smaller Skoda Octavia to the Volkswagen Golf and even the Audi TT.

Aside from a few DSG transmission glitches and problems with cold running on the 1.5 TSI Evo engine, mechanically there are no serious gripes. Engines and transmissions have seen hundreds of thousands of miles of service throughout the VW Group’s line-up.

That said, there have been several official recalls to fix issues with the Superb, varying from issues to do with the sunroof to electrical niggles. These should have been fixed free of charge if you’re buying a used model, but it’s worth checking. The Parkers owners’ review score is a very healthy 4.5 out of five stars.