The current wave of electromobility has already caught up with cars from the Mladá Boleslav car company's portfolio. Specifically, it concerns its Citigo and Superb models. The latter, i.e. Superb with iV designation, became my editorial car of the week before last.
Skoda Superb iV is a plug-in hybrid car that combines a classic gasoline engine and an electric motor. The car of this specification is also equipped with a battery with a maximum capacity of 13 kWh and a six-speed DSG automatic transmission. The tested piece also had Style equipment and a handsome combination of white (moon white) paintwork and light (leather beige) interior.
Modernized exterior appearance
With the evaluation of the external appearance and the interior itself, this time it will be quite simple, because I tested the modernized Superb in the Sportline version quite recently.
The announced modernization brought very subtle optical corrections to the Superb, mainly in the front and rear sections. The front part received newly shaped fullLED headlights with Matrix technology. The front bumper and the mask, which is extended to the front headlights, are also newly shaped. In the iV version, the front mask is full, additionally equipped with a hinged part that hides the Mennekes charging connector.
The rear part received lights that, like the front ones, feature fullLED technology. The rear lights are also newly connected to each other by an elegant chrome line. Furthermore, we have the inscription "Skoda" instead of the previously used classic logo. The tested piece also has a plaque marked iV.
The plug-in hybrid design itself is available in several equipment variants, so it does not significantly affect the external appearance of the car, as is the case with individual equipment levels.
I have to evaluate the modernization of the Superb only positively, it affected the car quite decently, but successfully, it gave it a certain rejuvenation and also more dynamism in the front part.
Interior with iV elements
Tremendous spaciousness dominates the interior of the Superb, of course, even after modernization. The currently tested plug-in hybrid design brings, similarly to the exterior, only minimal changes.
The dashboard is still rather conservative with a simple and clear layout. Its processing and ergonomic control are traditionally at a very high level. In the currently tested car, the dashboard was dominated by the 9.2" wide Columbus infotainment display, whose environment we already know very well.
The first change to the Superb iV comes in the virtual cockpit solution in the instrument cluster in front of the driver. This was fully digital in the tested car, but it now combines a tachometer with a "power meter", which informs you whether you are currently recuperating or how much power you are using the electric motor. This display, or rather the "hand", which here moves very effectively and practically transitions from a "force meter" to a tachometer. Thanks to this, you will know exactly when the combustion engine is switched on.
Another subtle change to the plug-in hybrid version takes place next to the selector for the automatic six-speed DSG gearbox. Two new controllers have been added to the already familiar controller activating the choice of driving modes, one activating the car's purely electric mode and the other directly activating the sports mode. The selector of the automatic transmission in the iV version does not offer switching to sports gearing mode, here you switch the transmission to mode B, in which the car noticeably recovers and thus brakes. You then very often do not have to step on the brake pedal and the need to brake is solved only by recuperation, i.e. by moving the selector backwards.
The third and probably the most significant change that this version brings is the size of the luggage compartment. Due to the presence of the fuel tank, it has been reduced from the original 625 liters to 485 liters. However, the trunk still offers the same floor plan dimensions, it's just not as deep, but still huge. The fuel tank itself also had to be reduced, from the original 66 to 50 liters.
The space for the crew remained in the plug-in hybrid version. There is still more than enough space, both in the front and rear positions.
Hybrid powertrain
Skoda Superb iV is a plug-in hybrid powered by a combination of an internal combustion engine and a three-phase electric motor. The internal combustion engine is represented here by a turbocharged 1.4 TSI petrol engine that produces 156 hp (115 kW), while the electric motor itself has an output of 115 hp (85 kW). The sports mode is definitely not just about numbers here, because the total system power of the Superb iV offers 160 kW and the torque reaches 400 Nm. And these are definitely very interesting values.
There is also a third part of the system, which is a battery with a capacity of 13 kWh, which is located in the floor in front of the rear axle. However, "only" 10.4 kWh is available, the rest of the capacity serves to protect the battery from its complete discharge. With a fully charged battery, the manufacturer promises a range of up to 60 "electric" kilometers, thanks to which CO2 emissions drop to 35 g/km. My real range with a fully charged battery, in the current winter season and with full driving comfort, was just under 40 kilometers during the weekly test.
The car's battery can be recharged from a household socket, with a power of 2.3 kW, it takes approx. 5-6 hours to recharge. A much better option is the home Wallbox (mandatory equipment for every "pluginist"), which with its 3.6 kW will charge the car in 3.5 hours. The presence of a charging manager, including the option to set the departure time, is a matter of course, so the car is ready to be charged and at the same time heated to the required temperature from the mains.
The internal combustion engine and the electric motor cooperate very successfully and comfortably with the six-speed DSG automatic, which in the case of the iV version drives only the front wheels. The DQ400e DSG transmission has three clutches and thus enables the combustion engine to be disconnected from the electric motor, thus allowing purely electric driving.
Driving impressions
The numbers game is successfully over, let's see how the plug-in hybrid Superb works in practice. The collection of "Mladoboleslav" cars traditionally takes place in the underground garages of an unnamed shopping center in Prague.
My first "meters" in this case always belong to the transfer to the parking clock, this usually boring process is much more interesting with the Superb iV, because I complete it in purely electric, for the surrounding audience in unusually quiet Superb mode. The new Superb iV doesn't "start", it just activates and always sets off in pure electric mode. With the announced silence, unfortunately, it is not so 100%, because the car emits a very specific sound to the exterior thanks to the E-NOISE sound generator up to a speed of 30 km/h, but you only perceive it minimally in the car cabin.
After leaving the underground garage, the first sharp kilometers follow. I move to my place of residence in city traffic purely on electricity without any intervention of the internal combustion engine. With the knowledge of the Superb's adaptive chassis, I switch it to a comfortable "swinging" mode, which in combination with the silent electric drive has a calming effect. In this purely electric mode, I then moved on average with a consumption of around 18 kWh/100km.
In the case of regular recharging, you will expect very pleasant consumption values, but always dependent on the state of charge of the battery. I recorded values from 1.2 l/100km to 10 l/100km in the Superb iV.
Determining the consumption of a plug-in hybrid car is always quite difficult. You now have many variables entering the fairly simple equation for internal combustion engines, such as battery charge or electric-only mileage.
And to make it even more complicated, the Superb iV offers you, in addition to the purely electric and automatic hybrid mode, a hybrid mode in which you choose how the car should work with the battery capacity while driving. It can therefore maintain the current capacity, or charge the battery at a rate determined by you using the internal combustion engine.
Charging a battery with an internal combustion engine may seem slightly strange and uneconomical. However, I personally took advantage of this situation during a long trip from Prague to Ostrava, when I partly recharged the battery as part of the highway pace and a slight increase in consumption and then drove almost the entire Ostrava back and forth in purely electric mode. Sides of CO2 as if I wasn't in Ostrava :-), not to mention all the traffic jams you go through without activating the internal combustion engine.
I completed the freeway pace to the announced Ostrava and subsequently with a dead battery at an average of 7 l/100 km. Recharging the battery with the internal combustion engine then locally raised consumption to a value of around 9 l/100km. Here, however, it is very important to what extent you want to charge the battery.
The plug-in hybrid Superb, similar to other hybrids, evokes a rather calm and deliberate driving style in you. The "fourteener" under the hood has adequate performance and most drivers will definitely not have the slightest problem with it. With its higher curb weight of 1,730 kg, the Superb iV offers quite decent acceleration from 0-100 km/h in 7.7 seconds and a top speed of 224 km/h.
In conclusion
If a plug-in hybrid powertrain makes sense to you, you have somewhere to comfortably charge the car and you don't have to go to work that far, then the Superb iV can be a very interesting choice for you. The iV version has all the positives that the Superb model offers as such. From the pleasant exterior to the very spacious and well-crafted interior. Other advantages that come with the plug-in hybrid version are, for example, low operating costs (in the case of regular recharging) or the possibility of parking in Prague's blue zones (here in the case of acquiring a special registration plate).
I also like the chosen policy of the car company, which offers the Superb iV, except for the Scout variant and 4×4 drive , in all levels of equipment. So this is not a plug-in hybrid trump that would occupy only the highest places in the car company's price list.
Skoda Superb iV starts with the basic Ambition equipment at 881,900 CZK including VAT, you can buy the Style equipment from 916,900 CZK, Laurin & Klement from 1,055,900 CZK and the sporty Sportline from 971,900 CZK including VAT.
Let's also compare the price version of the iV in the tested Style equipment with the gasoline and diesel variants with similar performance. You can buy a petrol Skoda Superb 2.0 TSI with 140 kW and automatic transmission from CZK 849,900 and a diesel 2.0 TDI with 140 kW and automatic transmission from CZK 899,900. In the context of the 916,900 CZK version of the iV, it is clear how interesting the price of the plug-in hybrid version is set.
As a result, I have to state that the Skoda Superb iV makes sense to me personally. As such, the Superb itself has many clear positives, and the iV version also provides a very economical powertrain with adequate recharging.
