Category: Large Family 
Price Range: £14,090 to £22,815
Passat-beating space, fine quality and finish, imposing looks, some clever design features, very good value
Some people may have a problem with the name, some parts are too obviously Passat-derived, comfort and refinement mildly disappointing
This is the Skoda to lay all the old prejudices to rest. Why buy a Passat or an Audi A4 now?
Skodas are truly not what they used to be. The boldest proof yet of this is the new Skoda Superb, a car whose name would be a major embarrassment if the car itself proved mediocre. The name was used on a big pre-war Skoda saloon, and reappears with no apparent hint of irony.
The Superb is designed to take on family-size cars such as the Mondeo, Citroen C5 and Peugeot 406, plus its Passat cousin from within the VW family, but it could also steal sales from more upmarket cars or those from the next size-class upwards (Vauxhall's Omega, for example). It's based on a Passat platform stretched by 10cm, all in the rear seat area, and its mechanical parts are Passat-derived, as are the front doors and the structure - if not the detailing - of the dashboard.
Styled like a bigger, better-proportioned Octavia, the hefty Superb has superb rear legroom, a high standard of finish and lots of equipment. Innovations include a built-in umbrella holder, a CargoFlex boot organiser and a front passenger seat in which the centre part of the backrest folds forward to make a legrest for a stretched-out rear passenger. It's already the Czech governmental transport of choice, filling the void left by Tatra, and on a different note, the UK's police forces are already taking an interest.
