Superb Outdoor v Octavia Scout

[Sword_Dude]

Hiya all,

I have an opportunity to side by side test an Octavia Scout with a Superb 4x4 Outdoor this weekend.

Does anyone have any thoughts about either of these ie one over the other?

Once we've completed the test drive I will post my thoughts for anyone interested.

cheers

[Sword_Dude]

So we test drove the 2 wagons yesterday.

1st off was the Scout, the internal dimensions are pretty well documented in other places and there is no denying that there is quite a lot of passenger space in the car considering the great size of the boot and the external dimensions. We drove a petrol 132TSI and found it to be quiet, smooth, crisp changing piece of engineering with good grip and a steady body. It had just bucketed down so the roads were really wet and we pushed it up a hill and round a corner without losing traction. It drives like a much smaller car and doesn't feel as big as it is.

2nd car we drove was a standard 125TDI Superb elegance wagon. To be honest after the Scout it was a bit of a let down, the motor gearbox combination was not as smooth and we lost traction going up the same very wet hill. The ride just seemed rough. We almost walked away after that and were not going to go any further with the Superb.

Finally we drove the Superb Outdoor (after watching the fun of them getting it off the showroom floor). It was much better than the elegance we had previously driven, it held the road better, felt smoother at gear changes and was generally a better drive. This seems weird because it effectively has the same motor, gearbox, suspension, tyre profile etc. Still in terms of just driving pleasure the Scout was better, everything just felt right, but the benefits of the luxury options in the Superb (and particularly rear passenger leg room) made the total experience hard to differentiate.

In the end the real problem became what is available, pretty much all of the Scouts come with the tech pack as a minimum so the one we drove ended up actually costing more than the Superb Outdoor and they are throwing $1k of fuel and 3 years free servicing along with 5 year warranty in as well on the Superb. So the end decision was we are buying the Superb.

Don't get me wrong the Scout is a great car, it was easily the best to drive and will be more versatile with the slightly higher clearance, but we are really only going to use it for muddy/gravelly/snowy tracks and not going to be testing the limits of it 4wd capability. For us the cost and the discount on the Superb was the decider.

I guess I need to stop lurking around the Octavia Forum and join the Superb Forum.

[twincab]

The main difference between the standard Superb and the Outdoor is the 4x4 system which would be the reason it felt different.