Hi Guys
I have just got my car back which has been with my dealership since 30th November 2020. They advised me just before Christmas that they had found the leak which was the seal on the windscreen and they had replaced it but there were some parts required which were out of stock and would probably not arrive from Germany until the new year, as apart from low stocks there was the issue at the docks and things just weren't getting through. Both Brexit and Covid had now taken over and the timescale which was originally quoted was now not possible. The parts required were a full set of carpets with underlay, a headlining and various pieces of trim. I received a call mid January to say that the car would be ready by Thursday but as the weather was so appalling I advised I would collect on Friday morning. Next day I received a call to advise that the storm we had over night had brought down branches and damaged three cars in their carpark, one being mine and the new windscreen had a crack in it and would need to be replaced.
The following week I got the call to say that it was ready to collect, but on arrival I found that they had damaged the car during the work and had scratched the drivers door sill and gouged the centre console obviously when they put the seat back in. I also found that the windscreen fitter had not put the clips back holding the scuttle trim which was flapping and there were grubby hand prints on various parts of the trim.
I was not best pleased but I give the customer service manager his due, he did not hesitate to promise that it would all be fixed and booked the car in the following week. I have to say that I collected it on Monday and it was like a new car as they had even polished it. Now not wishing to be pessimistic but we have not had heavy rain this week so I have no idea if this work has cured the leak. Other people have had the same work done and days later were just as wet inside as before. Fingers crossed!!!!!!!
Now I would like to offer my two penith to anyone who is about to buy a new Karoq as this experience has not been much fun but I have learned a lot along the way. We had and 2014 Octavia 1.2 before which we loved but due to having two knee replacements I was finding it difficult to get in and out of which is why we looked at the Karoq. Both my wife and I found it to be instantly comfortable and in fact better than the VW Tiguan and decided to purchase. I feel that I made a bit of a mistake when speccing the car as I turned down the 1.0 TSI model being sure that it was not powerful enough for such a heavy car and as they had a 1.5 SEL DSG in stock with 'Virtual dashboard', electric tailgate and various other extras which someone else had ordered but then cancelled it meant that I would not have to wait for my car to be built.
Now I have not been a fan of the 1. 5 TSI engine in my car as I find it a little noisy and harsh particularly when pulling away from cold, tends to use more oil than I would like and is not partcularly economical even though I am a gentle driver, but I have learnt that this engine varies a lot and when you get a good one they are very good. As I have been without my car since 30th of November I have had several courtesy cars during that time. The 1st was a new 1.5 TSI Golf with only a couple of hundred miles on the clock and the engine in that car was night and day different to mine. I did not like that car though as I struggled to get in and out so they replaced it with a Karoq 1.0 TSI manual just before Christmas - What a revelation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I could not believe how smooth this little engine was and to be honest I struggled to tell the difference when driving, as it had plenty of acceleration, but the huge difference was the economy -58 mpg WOW!!! I took it on a 250 mile round trip to deliver Christmas presents ( socially distanced ) and was amazed how good it was on the motorway it had plenty of power and would overtake just as easily as my 1.5. The only time I noticed a small difference was on a very long hill in Devon where I did need to change down to 5th keep the speed up to 60 mph.
I would definitely recommend this 1.0 TSI engine if you don't do thousands of miles and drive mainly in town - it's a cracker!!!
Fast forward to when I discovered that my car had been damaged and they then gave me a 1.5TSI Octavia as they didn't have a Karoq. This was a beautiful top of the range car and again the engine was like the Golf in that it was smooth, quiet and very punchy. I can only think that they have updated this unit and sorted some of the issues with the earlier ones, The only thing was once again I found it difficult to get in and out so although I have been disappointed with my Karoq, it was nice to get it back and realise that it is comfortable, Other things I have discovered though is that I prefer the suspension on the Octavia as it hardly notices the rough roads around my village whereas the Karoq is very hard ( probably to stop it rolling on the corners ) which makes it very noisy over the bumps in comparison and can be skittish on rough surfaces.
When I learned how much I had lost over the not quite two years I have had the Karoq it has made me rethink getting rid of it. At the moment we are not going anywhere and it's just not worth throwing more money at cars to just sit there losing value. I still prefer the interior of the Karoq to any other SUV on the market so for now it will probably stay.
Sorry to drone on but I hope my experiences over the last ten weeks may help someone to make up their minds what they really want or need. It shows you really need to have a test drive for longer than just round the block and be very sure what you are buying, I will come back again if I still have a leak!!!!!!!!!!! Regards David