It was raining the other day. No, not that day, the other day. No, not that one either. The one… Never mind, anyway, well, it was hosing it down as it had been for months, and as I was calculating the level of sogginess with which my son would enter school, I thought “Ooh, I’ve got an umbrella”. It’s in the driver’s door, see, a la Rolls-Royce, and once his little mind had been put back together after being blown by its sudden, seemingly miraculous appearance, we got to drop-off quite dry.
But this isn’t a VW trait, it’s a Skoda thing, and its presence re-emphasises that the latter engineered the Passat for the former. The Czech manufacturer labels such solutions to everyday problems as ‘Simply Clever’, and while all sorts of features, err, feature, across all their models, the most well-known are said umbrella (because a posh Rolls USP in a Skoda was genius marketing) and the ice scraper stowed in the fuel filler cap.
Which, actually, the VW doesn’t have, as I discovered one icy morning in January when I thought “Ooh, I’ve got an ice scraper” and then found I didn’t. It even doubles as a measure to check tyre-tread depth. At least it would if the VW had it… But, regardless, that gave me an itch to scratch, so given the shared DNA, this month a Skoda Superb Estate has been visiting, to compare and contrast with the VW Passat Estate.
Now, we’re not going to compare how many ‘Simply Clever’ solutions are shared, because Skoda’s marketing department has gotten a bit carried away of late, and everything from electric tailgates to B-pillar hooks have been claimed as ‘ingenious solutions to everyday problems’ and I feel some may originate elsewhere. Next they’ll be purporting the merits of the wheel…
Anyway, the Superb arrived in Cobalt Blue, which looks little different from the Passat’s Reef Blue, but does show that bar lights, bumpers and bonnet, there’s an awful lot of shared design. The Passat’s black trim, black wheels and R-Line styling packing is much more striking than the Superb’s rather-reserved mix of shiny chrome and silver alloys though, which reminded me of when Ford tried to gussy up the Mondeo with a bit of shine and sparkle.
If the VW is the winner on the outside, the Skoda takes the victory inside, with an interior that feels a step up. The VW, at least in R-Line spec, is a bit try-hard, with Alcantara and blue pin stripe and disco door and dash lighting. By contrast, the Skoda’s dash architecture reminds me of a Mercedes S-Class, and it’s all the better for having a smaller, demurer touchscreen and actual, physical, reach-out-and-twist-them air-con dials. The seats are a little flat and wide, mind, after the (upgraded) option in VW. There’s £10k difference between the as-tested price of the VW and Skoda, and the former doesn’t feel five figures better.
Finally, how they drive, which is completely and utterly different. That’s because the VW has a 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol engine, and the Skoda has a 1.5 paired with an electric motor and chunky battery to offer around 70 miles of e-range. Result: the plug-in feels posher and plusher. The VW is all noise and vibrations and revs, but the Skoda is hushed (and remains quieter when the smaller engine fires up too). The Skoda rides better on inch-smaller wheels as well, whereas the VW always feels like its damping isn’t expensive enough, while an extra 200kg of weight seems to settle the rear better too.
Of course, you can have each with the other’s engine – because VW Group – but my main takeaway from driving both was how damn good a good estate car remains. Long may they live!