Top Sedans to Buy in India: Skoda Superb

The Skoda Superb is one of the best selling and most loved premium sedans on sale in the Indian car market today, and the reason for that is simple. The Superb offers the space and comfort of a luxury car at a third of the price, and that is a recipe that just cannot fail. In this article, we take a closer look into what the Superb is all about.

The Superb name originally belonged to a car made by Skoda between 1934 and 1949. The modern Superb that we all know has been in production from the turn of the millennium, 2001, onwards. Interestingly, the flagship vehicle of Skoda Auto has been the choice of official car of the President of the Czech Republic (and earlier when the country was called Czechoslovakia) for over 90 years.

In India, the first generation Superb did not perform too well in terms of sales. Too few buyers at that point of time were willing to shell out the asking price of a car from a maker that they had barely heard about. However, in time, people could just not ignore the unbeatable price to size ratio that the Superb offered its owners. You could get as much space, especially at the rear, as a mid-level Mercedes for a fraction of the cost. More importantly, with successive face-lifts and updates, the Superb became vastly more comfortable and fantastically well kitted out. In short, it became one of the biggest bargains in the Indian automotive space.

The current generation Skoda Superb is built on the MQB platform that many modern Volkswagen group vehicles are underpinned with. The bodyshell on top looks immaculate and dignified with its straight lines and no-nonsense angles. Even the adaptive projector headlights and tail lamps (which Skoda refers to as crystalline) give the car an appearance that seems way above its price bracket.

The car is excellent to drive as well, and although it is quite fun and a nimble-handling vehicle, the primary focus is firmly kept on comfort. Buyers can select between a 1.8 litre, 4 cylinder, turbocharged TSI petrol engine that puts out 177 bhp and a 2.0 litre, 4 cylinder, turbocharged diesel motor that produces 174 bhp and 350 Nm of torque. While the petrol has further options of manual and double clutch automatic transmissions (6 speed), the diesel version can be bought with a twin clutch automatic gearbox (7 speed) only.

Since the Superb gives the highest amount of emphasis on its interiors, Skoda has equipped it with a SmartLink touchscreen infotainment system, a panoramic sunroof, 12-way power adjustable leather seats, voice recognition, 3 zone automatic climate control, ambient interior illumination with programmable colours, multiple drive modes, puddle lamps, ABS with EBD and hydraulic brake assist, hill hold control, brake pre-fill, traction control with ASR, stability control, multiple airbags, front and rear parking sensors with a rear view camera and much more.

You also get a host of very innovatively thought out clever features that hugely increase convenience while driving, including a boss button that enables the rear seat occupant to move the front passenger seat, a boot lid that pops open when you wave your foot underneath the rear bumper, a cooled and illuminated glove box, a ticket holder on the A-pillar and even two umbrellas fitted inside the door panel.

Combine such extravagantly brilliant build quality, superlative comfort, long features list and a price tag that offers incredible value for money, and you have a package that simply cannot fail to deliver. Moreover, Skoda is currently expending a lot of time, money and energy into beefing up their service network, to provide customers a hassle-free ownership experience. It is not simply that the Skoda Superb has withstood the test of time in the Indian market, where many of its rivals bowed out one after the other, and flourished.