I went to the Skoda showroom at Mathura Road, Delhi to decode the dilemma between New Octavia or the Superb couple of weeks back.
First thing first, Superb Sportsline greets you as soon you enter the showroom. (Pics attached). Astonishingly, the New Octavia is nowhere to be seen!
I asked him TD for both in order to distinguish between the two. Having read my darting eyes he said we do have Octavia for TD. The showroom had plenty of Kushaqs and Superbs on display but Octavia was standing outside next to Superb for TD. This does tell what Skodas are probably pushing for.
Coming to the element....
First took TD of Superb L&K. It is a very statesmanlike car with it's sheer palatial elegance. While sitting in the driver's seat and looking back, my eyes had to travel some distance before they reached the back seat! Thank God for the 3 spoke steering wheel and proper gear knob(all of which is missing in the new Octavia, leave aside the sunroof).
On the drive, one does feel the weight of the car a bit which to me is confidence-inspiring, coupled with 2.0 TSI puts a wide grin on your face. Put in on Sports mode, and the tacho refuses to bulge below 2000 rpm. You will be surprised how fast this car can go given its weight and wide dimensions. She carries them really well. The throwback I experienced was out of the world, I felt like the car was receding from me and that engine note was a pure adrenaline rush. Moreover, it never felt like driving such a long car. The road I took didn't have many curves so couldn't push around corners but I did maneuver in smaller sub lanes and parked the car myself at the dealer in a tight spot to see if it is too much of a task, pleasingly not.
Octavia on the other hand greets you with modern-day tech but it didn't feel special the way Superb does. The co-passenger or the seats at the back isn't much far if I compared to the 4th gen Honda City I currently drive. The missing gear knob isn't very satisfying to operate. Driving-wise, it is surely more agile, feels very tight, and has more steering feedback as compared to Superb but failed to impress me as an overall package.
For a difference of 5 Lakhs, one could get Superb over Octavia that has a better road presence, is powerful enough to my liking, and can easily switch from statesman to the beast when you want her to be. The next generation Superb will surely get a drive-by-wire and maybe the two-spoke steering wheel as well
![Frustration](https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/images/smilies/Frustration.gif)
. The present one looks very elegant, going by the new design language of Skoda it might not be as understated but this is obviously very subjective.
P.S I have no plans to upgrade from the City which is just 2 years old. However Octavia/Superb has been aspirational cars and so if I were to upgrade, it did be Superb Sportsline with enough discounts to get it closer to Octavia pricing.Lol