The transition between petrol and electric is pretty good - but better that the Seat Leon.

That I cannot believe. The Leon PHEV is mechanically identical to the Superb PHEV and most of the time the only way to spot the ICE joining in the fun is to see the rev counter move.

The reviews I have seen of any Kia/Hyundai PHEV have been none too complimentary about the smoothness of the DSG gearbox, perhaps that is what you are feeling?

You must have had very large suitcases as I found the boot to be fine, similar to other size hatchbacks

Was yours the PHEV, the boot on those is quite a bit smaller than the ICE version, 291 litres against 426 litres, (just like every PHEV).

The transition between petrol and electric is pretty good - but better that the Seat Leon.

That I cannot believe ...

Might it be a false assumption that all examples of a particular model will behave identically ? It's a false assumption with bottles of wine, tho admittedly those aren't made by robots (yet).

Well I have driven 2 Superb PHEV's, the demonstrator and the one we bought. Both drove exactly the same. No reason to believe its anything but normal especially when the reviews also say the transition is very smooth.

The transition between petrol and electric is pretty good - but better that the Seat Leon.

That I cannot believe ...

Might it be a false assumption that all examples of a particular model will behave identically ? It's a false assumption with bottles of wine, tho admittedly those aren't made by robots (yet).

Well I have driven 2 Superb PHEV's, the demonstrator and the one we bought. Both drove exactly the same. No reason to believe its anything but normal especially when the reviews also say the transition is very smooth.

I can't tell you why it was so bad in the one drove, just that it was. Perhaps it's set up differently in FR trim, perhaps I had it in the wrong mode. Whatever it was, it would fire up at the slightest provocation, immediately kick down, rev its nuts off then switch back to electric as soon as it had settled down.

In a VAG PHEV if there is power in the battery they will set off in "EV" mode by default until either you tell them not to or the battery reaches the point where there is insufficient power.

On longer trips where we know the battery will not last the round trip we put the car into "auto" mode, going to Scotland the battery lasts about 350 miles before getting to zero range.

If we need extra power we press the boost button which not only gives all the ICE and battery can manage when you floor it (never needed to do that yet) delays the upshifts (and also downshifts earlier) plus it also tightens up the dampers (not used it long enough to notice - in "normal" mode the damping adjusts with speed and manner of driving). Never use it for long, just when pulling onto dual carriageways with short slip roads and some overtakes, as soon as we are back to "normal" press the boost button again and its back to "auto" mode.

There is also "ECO" mode never tried it - just makes the car slower and no more economical (according to the dealer) and "custom" mode which allows you to pick and mix the options available e.g. you could have the ECO engine and sport suspension if you really wanted, see no need to use it.

But the issue I had with the Leon FR was the simple fact that the sport seats, sports suspension and 17" wheels with 45 profile tyres made the car pretty unbearable on road's of 10 years ago, hat would it be like now. The SE trim with comfort seats, normal suspension and 55 profile tyres was excellent, never made me want more. When we swapped the Leon the simple fact that the 140/150 PS engine was no longer available in SE trim made us look elsewhere, its why we originally looked at the Octavia but eventually bought the first of 2 Superb's.