Anything you can do…
…I can do eventually. Skoda’s hybrid makes sense, obviously
A staggering 82 per cent of Skoda Superb drivers are company car drivers, such is the car’s impressive breadth of abilities to just get the job done in comfort and quiet without costing the earth to fill it up or maintain. Until now, diesel versions of the Superb have taken the lion’s share of sales and registrations – the long-legged and economical nature of the VW Group’s stable of engines lend themselves to the Superb perfectly, but even Skoda can’t avoid the demands to electrify its car range in some form.
So, here’s the Superb iV. No one really knows what iV stands for (intra-Voltage?) but all you need to know is that it denotes electrification of some sort. In the case of the Superb, it’s essentially a Passat GTE in a Skoda suit, with a just-as-nice interior, a lower price and more room inside (but a slightly smaller boot than regular models – thank the batteries).
Unlike the GTE, the Superb iV comes in the majority of Skoda trims, boosting its appeal to those wanting a bit more choice. There’s a bum-basic one, a sporty-looking one and a brown-with-cream leather L&K retirement special for those with time on their hands. The Superb iV uses the VW Group’s older 1.4-litre TSI petrol engine in combination with an electric motor. Total output is an ample 215bhp, with the car defaulting to e-mode when you start the car up. It does so in silence, and is capable of running around like this for up to 34 miles if fully charged.
Demand a little more from the car in Hybrid mode and the engine will kick in smoothly (in fact, it’s quieter than the regular 1.5-litre TSI) and avoids ever becoming a nuisance. It’s helped along by a slick DSG transmission that does its best to avoid sending the revs skyward.
A normal range of Superb driving modes are available, but the iV also throws into the mix a second button to toggle between electric and hybrid modes. Most of the time, this being a Superb, Comfort is perfect. As for the powertrain, leave it in E-mode in town, for zero-emission driving. Hybrid’s fine the rest of
Charge goes in here (top), monitored here (above)
the time. And if you want to top up the battery using the engine, you can do so via the car’s touchscreen to a predetermined level.
Charging takes about five hours on a normal home socket, or about three and a half hours on a wallbox. You can keep tabs on it via a choice of apps that will also let you pre-warm the car if it’s plugged in, and decide when to start charging (overnight on lower electricity rates).
All in, the Superb iV is nothing more or less than a nicely executed plug-in hybrid Superb. It all just works; familiar, easy, accomplished. And, refreshingly, the iV doesn’t suffer the usual plug-in hybrid compromise of being noticeably less fun to drive. Job done, then.