Armored Skoda Superb Wagon Costs Way More Than An AMG E63 S Wagon

Armored cars come in nearly all shapes and sizes, including a 1980s French hot hatch and an all-electric sedan, but usually these are limousines like a Pullman. Wagons are few and far between, but Skoda is now ready to sell a Superb Estate extensively modified to meet PAS 300 requirements for ballistic and blast protection. The Czech automaker part of the Volkswagen Group teamed up with a U.K.-based convertor for the unusual project, which turned out to be time-consuming as the armored midsize wagon was developed in three years.

While it may look virtually the same as the regular model, the armored Superb now features bullet-resistant glass, high-strength steel, and makes use of composite materials. The engineers also had to work on the suspension and brakes to cope with the increased weight of the vehicle (not mentioned, sadly). It takes about four weeks to build an armored Superb Estate and the specialty vehicle comes bundled with an emergency lighting and siren system in case something goes terribly wrong. Run-flat tires along with a control panel to turn on the extra lights and siren round off the changes.

Underneath the hood sits the standard 2.0-liter turbodiesel engine with 187 horsepower on tap, enough for a top speed of 120+ mph or about 20 mph less than the regular version. Still, not too bad. Skoda isn't saying anything about how much time the car needs to hit 62 mph (100 kph), but obviously a lot more than the 8.4 seconds needed by the standard and much lighter Superb Estate.

However, there's a problem – it costs £118,688 ($157,391 at current exchange rates). That makes it a lot more expensive than an E63 S Wagon ($106,950), for example, but the Mercedes-AMG  hauler will be significantly more vulnerable to a terrorist attack. As with all its regular models, Skoda will be selling the armored Superb Estate in the U.K. with a three-year warranty.