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What's the difference?
Tim Robson road tests and reviews the new Skoda Superb SportLine wagon with specs, fuel consumption and verdict at its Australian launch in Sydney.
It must be tough being an automotive product planner whose brief includes sedans and wagon, and not SUVs.
Anything with large wheels and a taller stature is simply muscling other, equally capable cars out of way on the showroom floor, and there seems to be no end in sight.
The large sedan and wagon segments have paid the highest price in terms of sales, while the SUV boom is also impacting the medium sized sector as well.
It's a bit heartbreaking, then, that cars as capable – and as relatively affordable, spec wise – as the Skoda Superb SportLine are in danger of being overlooked because it's not an SUV.
Ah, the Toyota Camry. A beloved sedan that has been the benchmark for reliability and family-hauling ever since the nameplate arrived on our shores in the early 1980s.
Adored by grandparents and commercial drivers everywhere, the newest iteration upholds the traditions while carefully positioning itself for a modern market.
I'm very happy that the champagne paintwork of my dad's 2001 Camry is no longer in fashion but that the practicality remains.
In an SUV-heavy market, sedans seem few and far between but it still has some strong competition from the Honda Accord, Skoda Octavia and Volkswagen Passat.
I've been driving the Camry SL Hybrid with my family of three to see how it stacks up. Keep reading to find out!
It's genuinely difficult to fault the Superb in this spec, although the front-wheel drive 162TSI version is on par in practical terms and can be had for almost $12,000 less, albeit with fewer toys.
However, the Superb SportLine wants for almost nothing in terms of specs and appointments, and it differs from the regular 206TSI thanks to its subtle, sporting demeanor.
It's flexible, strong and elegant, and it's as practical as any sports utility vehicle on sale today.
Skoda does well with the Superb in relation to the rest of its line up, but even within its own ranks, a coming challenger in the form of the Kodiaq SUV will make life unnecessarily difficult for this well-priced, well-specced wagon.
If you don't need a high-riding 4x4-esque SUV, and you're not concerned about the badge your car wears – or even if you are – you really need to short-list the Superb for a test drive.
The Toyota Camry SL Hybrid offers good practicality for families and has a handsome road-side presence. It's well-specified but some of the tech is being outshone by its rivals now. I love the price tag and the ongoing costs because in this day and age, every penny matters! But it's the driving experience that's the highlight for me and this earns an easy 9.0/10 from me.
My son loved the blue colour but was a little annoyed that our morning school run conversations were constantly interrupted by those school zone alerts. He still enjoyed this one though and gives it a 7.0/10.
There's a feeling that the Skoda brand has supplemented the now defunct Saab as the thinking driver's car of choice. In fact, Skoda defies its origins as a discount sub-brand of Volkswagen, with almost every vehicle sold locally optioned up like, as Skoda's product manager Kieran Merrigan told us, "a Christmas tree."
The Superb has a bold, masculine, yet friendly shape that manages to avoid being slab-sided and dull. The blacked out presentation of the SportLine variant is nicely underplayed, while the distinctive alloys give the Superb a real presence.
The Superb wagon is an amazingly versatile car that's easy to live with.
Its front end is not a million miles away from the one that adorns its smaller Octavia sibling, but in its wagon guise, the Superb SportLine is a genuine head-turner.
Inside, the Superb is clearly a high-end VW Group car, but the unique seats and sports trim and interesting Skoda touches - door bins, for example - set it apart.
The Camry is easily recognisable on the road. It has that 'Toyota-ness' with panelling and lights managing to look sharp and curvy all at the same time.
The full LED exterior lights and cool faux intake vents at the rear makes it look steadfastly handsome.
It has a lot of road-side presence due to its sheer size. It's 4885mm long, 1840mm wide and 1445mm high. That translates to roomy cabin space, where practicality rather than sexiness has taken the design reins.
The dashboard's centre curves towards the right, making it feel very driver-centric but not necessarily passenger friendly when it comes to accessing the charging ports or utility tray.
There are a multitude of soft touchpoints which combine with the panoramic sunroof to add a sense of refinement to the cabin.
The Superb wagon is an amazingly versatile car that's easy to live with. Its electric tailgate opens to reveal a cavernous luggage space; there is 660 litres behind the seats, which expands to 1960 litres when the seats are flipped down.
We love the handy seat releases near the rear door, along with shopping bag hooks, cargo cover, load restraint points, nets and a 12-volt socket. The load cover can interfere when larger bags or boxes are stowed, though, and the Skoda also sports an odd pseudo storage hammock that could easily be deleted.
Storage is plentiful, and there are two cupholders up front and another pair in the flip-down rear centre armrest – though the cupholders are frustratingly tiny in their diameter, defying even a regular can of drink.
Another four bottles can be stashed in the front and rear door pockets.
Rear seaters can also control the climate via temperature adjusters if they so desire. The SportLine even has heated rear outside seats, which also have ISOFIX child seat mounts added to them.
Up front is an inductive phone charging slot; simply place a suitable phone flat on the pad, and the car will charge the phone without a cable. Not only that, but the pad can enhance the signal of the phone. It didn't work with every phone we tried, though, and the slot is too small for huge devices like Apple's iPhone 6S.
If you're worried about ride height, don't be; the Superb cleared our steep drive test front and rear with ease.
The multimedia system has an 8.0-inch touchscreen and easy to use satellite navigation as well as Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Phones are easy to connect and stay connected, too.
Seating is generous and supportive in all positions, with loads of room throughout the car for five people. Rear legroom is a particular standout, with our lanky teen enjoying limo-like space in the back seat.
The Alcantara fabric isn't perhaps as soft and as luxurious as the leather you'd find in the 206TSI 4x4, but it's grippy and comfortable, and cleans up just as easily as the leather, despite having perforations. Don't ask how we tested that...
And as usual, Skoda adds its cool little touches, with small umbrella ports in both front doors and garbage bins in the door pockets, as well as sun shades on the rear side windows.
Oh, and if you're worried about ride height, don't be; the Superb cleared our steep drive test front and rear with ease.
The interior is quite practical and boasts a roomy cabin. I have plenty of head- and legroom in both rows, so taller passengers will feel comfortable.
Up front, the leather-accented seats are well-padded and are electric with heating and cooling functions, but the trim can feel a bit too synthetic for my liking.
It's easy to clean, though, which is always handy when you have kids or pets around.
Individual storage options are quite good with a 7.3-litre middle console, a glove box, plus two cupholders and a skinny drink bottle holder in each door.
The phone utility tray is great as it hides a second storage area underneath that's large enough for a wallet and keys.
The 9.0-inch touchscreen multimedia system is simple to use but is starting to look a bit old compared to its rivals.
There is wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, as well as, built-in satellite navigation which is always a bonus.
The 7.0-inch digital instrument panel is very easy to read and the coloured head-up display is clear, too.
Charging options are okay but not awesome for a top-model. You get a single USB-A port and 12-volt port up front and two USB-C ports in the back.
But there's no wireless charging pad or USB-C port in the front, which would provide faster charging speeds.
In the back seat, individual storage is average with two map pockets, two cupholders in the fold-down armrest and skinny drink bottle holders in the doors.
The amenities are a bit bare for a top-model and there are no additional luxe factors to add some comfort for older kids or adults, like heated seats or climate control. I do like the directional air vents and reading lights, though.
There are ISOFIX child-seat mounts on the outboard seats and three top-tether anchor points but two seats will fit best.
There is plenty of room for front passengers when a 0-4 rearward facing child seat is installed, too, but with the lower height of the car, you may get a sore back bending down all the time to buckle in an infant.
The boot is large at 524L but typical for a sedan, meaning the aperture is narrow. You might struggle to fit bulkier items.
There's a temporary spare wheel under the floor and while there's no powered tailgate, you probably won't mind because it's so light to open.
The Superb is based on the same Volkswagen Group MQB platform that underpins the Volkswagen Passat. This particular model is known as the SportLine, and supplements the previous range-topper, the 206TSI 4x4, by dint of a handful of extra bits and pieces and an extra thousand dollars on its price ticket.
The sedan costs $51,990, while it's $53,690 for the wagon tested here (plus on-road costs).
On top of the already well specced 206TSI the SportLine picks up a black finish on the mirror caps, rear diffuser, roof rails and front grille, as well as black door trim pieces, unique 19-inch alloys and SportLine badging on the front guards.
The Superb has a bold, masculine, yet friendly shape that manages to avoid being slab-sided and dull.
A new dashboard instrument cluster is finished in white trim, there are Alcantara-trimmed front and rear seats and door card inserts, a flat-bottomed sports wheel, alloy pedals, black roof lining and a sports monitor that adds boost, power, and engine oil temperature gauges as well as a lap timer.
The SportLine also gains all the standard inclusions of the 206TSI, including auto lights and wipers, LED headlights and tail-lights, heated front and rear seats and an inductive phone charging bay.
It also has radar cruise control, auto emergency braking, lane departure control and rear cross traffic alert as standard.
The only options on the SportLine are metallic/pearlescent paint ($700) and a sunroof ($1900).
There are four models in the Camry line-up and the SL sits at the top, with a price tag of $50,320, before on-road costs.
That makes it more affordable than equivalent versions of its rivals, with the Skoda Octavia 180TSI being the closest at $53,090, the Volkswagen Passat 162TSI Elegance coming next at $57,790 and the Honda Accord Ti-LX Hybrid blowing them all away with a $61,900 price tag (all before on-road costs).
As you'd expect for a top-model, the SL is well-specified. Both front seats feature eight-way power adjustments, plus heating and cooling functions, as well as adjustable lumbar support.
A panoramic sunroof and JBL sound system with nine speakers rounds out the luxe factors while comfort gets a good look in with amenities like dual-zone climate control, electric tilt/telescopic steering wheel, keyless entry and leather-accented trims throughout.
You do have to fork out a bit extra ($590) for all but one paint colour but otherwise, you get a lot for your cash here.
The same (EA888) 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder motor that powers the VW Golf R is the engine of choice for the SportLine, and it makes the same 206kW as its corporate cousin.
Torque is rated at a hefty 350Nm from a low of 1700rpm, and it hurls the SportLine wagon to 100km/h from rest in a claimed 5.8sec.
It's backed by a six-speed dual clutch transmission and runs a Haldex all-wheel drive (AWD) layout that biases traction to the front wheels. The Superb also has a drive mode select switch that modifies the behaviour of the throttle, gearbox and steering. It also runs adaptive dampers.
This model has a 2.5-litre, four-cylinder hybrid engine with a maximum power output of 160kW but Toyota doesn't quote a combined torque figure.
I was very surprised by the power – it's got some serious grunt when you need it.
The SL is a front-wheel drive and has a continuously variable auto transmission, which is so smooth as to be almost undetectable for gear changing!
Skoda rates the Superb SportLine at 7.3L/100km on the combined fuel economy cycle, and it needs 95RON fuel as a minimum. Its 70-litre tank should yield 958km of range.
Over 380km of testing, the Superb returned 12.2L/100km according to the dash, which is a surprisingly high figure when compared to the claimed average. The majority of the test was conducted with the car in Sport mode, but this has only a marginal effect on consumption.
So, how's that hybrid efficiency? The official combined fuel cycle figure is 4.7L/100km and my real-world usage came to 5.5L/100km.
That's great for this size sedan! I covered a combination of open-road and urban driving this week, so I'm very happy with my result.
Based on the combined fuel figure and the 50L fuel tank, you should be able to get a driving range of around 1064km, which is stellar.
Toyota recommends a minimum 95 RON petrol to be used for the Camry.
The Golf-R engined Superb belies its size with mid-range urge that would shame a lot of larger capacity engines. It's not as vocal – it's not an RS model, after all – and it's missing a bit of the oomph that Skoda Australia's hot weather tuning takes out of the European spec engine (about 16kW and 30Nm), but it's still a marvel to think this big car has such a relatively small engine under the bonnet.
Its chassis balance is spot on, too, with the 19-inch wheels and 235/40 R19 tyres still offering a decent ride compliance, as well as sharper handling when the dampers are turned up to Sport.
The Superb shrinks around the driver, behaving for the most part like a smaller, more agile car.
The AWD system, too, is a great addition, providing a more stable, connected feel that ties both ends of the car better than the FWD-only versions. Be warned, though – AWD cars need to have all four tyres replaced at the same time, even if you've only worn the fronts or damaged a single tyre.
Steering feel is good, if a little isolated, but overall, the Superb shrinks around the driver, behaving for the most part like a smaller, more agile car.
I fell in love with this car once I started driving it because it's got to be one of the smoothest cars I've driven! It totally has your back when it comes to ride comfort, too.
The suspension feels well-tuned for Aussie roads but doesn't feel springy. It will still hug the road in a hard corner, making it a pleasure on my winding coastal journeys this week.
As I've mentioned, the power delivery surprised me and I had no trouble keeping up with traffic or overtaking. It's also very responsive accelerating from a full stop, which isn't always the case for CVTs.
The cabin is whisper quiet, even at higher speeds and the engine noise around town is all but mute.
The visibility is good from my driving position and despite its larger size, it's super easy to park. It has a 360-degree view reversing camera but I was disappointed with the image quality. Serves its purpose, though.
The five-star ANCAP Superb is well equipped with safety kit, including nine airbags (front driver and passenger, driver's knee airbag, front and rear side airbags and front and rear curtain airbags), AEB (auto emergency braking) which operates at speeds of up to 65km/h, lane departure assistance, adaptive cruise control, side assist and rear traffic alert.
The safety features are extensive on the Camry and I really like the automatic collision notification. If airbag deployment or a serious collision is detected, Toyota's emergency call centre is notified and if you need assistance or if you don't respond, they will notify emergency services to your situation and location.
Other standard safety features include daytime-running lights, blind-spot monitoring, SOS emergency call button, stolen vehicle tracking, forward collision warning, rear cross-traffic alert, lane keeping aid, lane departure warning, AEB (with car, pedestrian and cyclist detection), adaptive cruise control with stop and go, intelligent seatbelt reminders, traffic sign recognition, 360-degree view camera, as well as, front and rear parking sensors.
The Camry was awarded a maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating but it was done ages ago in 2017. There are seven airbags but it's missing the front centre airbag we're starting to see on newer cars.
This also has a lot of road alerts, for example when you are approaching, in and exiting a school zone (yep, an alert for each scenario) or approaching a speed/red light camera.
The settings are buried deep in the menu and I ended up turning most of them off given of how intrusive they are.
My Dad likes this feature on his Prado but I'm not a fan at all.
Skoda offers a pre-paid 'Service Pack' for the Superb , with a three-year/45,000km plan costing $1299 and a five-year/75,000 plan coming in at $2650.
Service intervals of 15,000km or 12 months are suggested.
The car is covered by a five-year, unlimited kilometre warranty.
The on-going costs are great on the Camry Hybrid. It comes with a five-year/unlimited km warranty, but you can get up to 10 years warranty on the hybrid battery if you service the car at a Toyota dealership.
It has a five-year capped-price servicing plan and services are a flat $255 per service, or $1275 over the five-years – which is cheap compared to its rivals.
Servicing intervals are every 12 months or 15,000km, whichever occurs first.