SKODA SUPERB ESTATE

How the Czechs solved car interior designers' big modern conundrum

- JAMES ATTWOOD

I'm running a Skoda on the Autocar fleet, and that apparently means I'm contractually obliged to discuss its Simply Clever features. You know what I’m on about: those not-so-secret features designed to make life easier. Umbrellas in doors, ice scraper in the fuel cap, parking ticket clip on the windscreen etc.

The ice scraper has helped me on a cold morning, I’ve clipped things to the windscreen and the umbrellas have saved me from getting wet. Although my most notable discovery is that the new Volkswagen Passat is so closely related to the Superb (development of the two was led by Skoda) that it also gets them. Is that a first for a Volkswagen? I think it might be.

In summary, then: Simply Clever features are present and correct here and as simple and clever as ever. But most Skoda fans probably know that already. So that’s mostly all I have to say about them.

Besides, it’s other elements of the Superb that I’ve come to marvel at for simplicity and cleverness. So let’s talk Skoda’s Smart Dials. Yes, strap yourself in for a thriller.