1.6 TDI Greenline Elegance, manual

Comfortable, very economical and suprisingly fun to drive

This is my first Skoda, my previous 2 cars were Mercedes 220CDI estates. Until now, I thought the Mercedes were the best cars I have ever owned, quick, ultra reliable and comfortable. My one complaint was poor fuel economy. When buying the Skoda I was looking for a particular colour and for leather seats, courtesy of my wife's minimum requirements. The car I found was the Greenline, I was dubious about the power output, for such a large car. I need'nt have worried, it is perfectly adequate, though you have to be careful about accelerating in the right gear and overtasking is not as quick as the Mercedes, but you just have to adapt.

The interior is sumptuous with wood trim and black leather seats. There are so many clever, well thought out touches, such as the low level LED lights on the central controls, in the dark. The layout and colour of the dashboard are clear and have all the details you might need. The Sat Nav, radio and CD player are easy and intuitive to use, without bothering to read the manual in detail. The car looks more expensive and luxurious than the Mercedes and it immediately felt bettter engineered. No rattles, all the switches feel solid and unbreakable. The brakes, clutch and steering are all precise and feel secure, gears are easy to find. That was important to me, having had 2 automatics in the recent past. The icing on the cake is fuel consumption, abot 55 to 57 on average, just astonishibng for such a large car. That is helped by the average fuel consumption figure, available on the dashboard. It really helps teach you economical driving.

Complaints, well the much talked about umbrella in the rear door was missing. Not really a dealbreaker.

This is without doubt, my best ever car, in pretty much all parameters, build quality, economy, cabin quality and clever features such as the dual opening boot. A hearty pretty much unqualified recommendation.

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