It’s hard to find any really serious fault with the Skoda Superb. It puts a big tick in just about every important box.

As a tow car, it’s strong and stable. There’s very little movement at all, even well beyond the legal limit.

When slowing down from motorway speeds the Al-Ko ATC sensors could only detect the slightest shift from the caravan.

There’s no substitute for torque when towing, and the Skoda has 251lb ft of the stuff. That’s enough to pull the car and a caravan weighing 85% of the Skoda’s kerbweight from 30-60mph in 12.2 seconds, so you’ll be able to confidently overtake any dawdling traffic.

For a front-wheel-drive car with a manual gearbox, the Superb handles the hill-start test well, too. The electronic parking brake held the car still then released smoothly, although the driver did need to balance clutch and throttle to pull to the top of the 1-in-6 slope without fuss.

Arguably the toughest test we put cars through is the emergency lane-change. It’s far more violent than any swerve you would hope to make on the public road unless you had to change direction at the last minute to avoid an accident.

The Superb took this in its stride. The test was performed three times at steadily increasing speeds and only on the third and final run could the caravan be felt pulling at the back of the car.

In everyday driving the Superb is a relaxed and comfortable car to drive, and quiet enough to make a relaxed cruiser. Perhaps it’s not the most exciting or involving of cars but it corners neatly.

In terms of space and practicality, you’d be hard-pressed to find another family hatchback to match the Skoda. The driving position is comfortable, and there’s more than enough space for tall adults to stretch out in the back.

Our practicality testers found space for a full load of holiday luggage, and were pleased to note that the car has trailer stability control.

The Superb is also good value for money, and affordable to run.

The latest specification models now have an AdBlue tank, and now have a kerbweight of 1475kg without the driver (or 1550kg including 75kg for the driver).