The Skoda Superb joined our test car fleet with a used car feel about it, having more than 18,000 miles on the clock.

This offered us an unusual opportunity to test the quality of a car some considerable distance away from the sterile, ‘un-realworld’ environment of the showroom.

Like a customer, we are beginning to see the reality of car ownership.

The Superb is beginning to show signs of fatigue. In swift succession, the offside rear brake light has gone, the tyre pressure warning light is showing on the dash, despite the fact the psi levels have been checked, and the automatic boot operating system is beginning to misbehave, refusing to open when the button on the lip of the boot or the one on the key fob is pressed.

Our local dealer is Wings Peterborough.

We used its online chat facility on February 15 to outline our problems.

We were asked to put them in an email to the service department.

Just under two days later we got a reply – with an apology for the delay – and the Superb is booked in on March 3 with a loan car at our disposal. We’ll report back on the inspection soon.