Colin170CR

Today our Karoq had its first oil change / inspection service at 10,700 miles (19 plate) at Marshalls Skoda M.Keynes. No other parts other than oil, filter & a few seals were needed. Not cheap at £185 but they did wash it inside & out. This is my wife's car & it had really low mileage when we bought it used from an independent dealer in October last year so a 1st service at just over 2 years old was about right. Once it's out of warranty I will probably have the servicing done at our local Independent VW group specialist.

There are many threads on this site about Superb suspension mods e.g. uprated sway bars, lower springs, wheels tyres & replacement dampers etc. The search bar is your friend. One in particular is pretty extensive & was written by JJ RS from Canberra. Link below. That said, there are many other threads by some very knowledgeable people as well. https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/488943-gandalfs-evolution/?tab=comments#comment-5490304

As others have said, the Superb is much much bigger, heavier, way more practical but, slightly down on power / torque to the Golf R. The difference in power is down to VAG brand differentiation. Skoda cannot have more power than a VW - even from the same engine. A stage 1 remap would easily solve the power / torque deficit & add another 80bhp/62kW & 130nm making the already quick Superb a bit of a hooligan sleeper car. Add a few suspension mods & it will go around corners better as well. TBH I just run my 280 (now 360) L&K Superb Estate on 100 octane fuel & in the Sport Mode setting which firms up the adjustable dampers enough for what I need without rattling the fillings out of my teeth. That said some stiffer sway bars would help it keep a bit flatter around the corners. I'm guessing that your hot summer weather is the reason that leather seats & sunroofs don't feature much on Aussie car specs. I can just imagine what leather seats would be like when getting into a car with shorts on that's been standing in 35-40c heat for a few hours🥵. We have the opposite problem in the UK - my wife complains that my Superb leather seats are too cold in winter so I have to warm them up before she gets in! What a Diva! Heated seats were a must have for her when we recently changed her car. It's funny how we all get used to having some features in cars that were not even available years ago. I can remember cars with no power steering, drum brakes, no heated rear windscreens & some where even the heater was an option! Unless you want the boy racer image & the much smaller space of the Golf R, I would go for the more practical Superb. Even in hatch format the rear seat legroom & boot space in the Superb is huge & IMO it looks classy in an understated way. I guess I'm biased but in the real world the Superb is just as quick & it doesn't draw as much unwanted attention from others or, the police🚔. Good luck with your deliberations.

280 L&K estate here with Revo Stage 1 remap. Running on 99 octane it's pushing out circa 360bhp / 488Nm via 6 speed DSG. Around town is 24-26mpg. 36-38mpg on a run. Fuel consumption has not change much at all after the re-map was done. I switched from diesel to petrol because I'm no longer doing starship mileage & I wanted more power & engine refinement. The 280 gives me all of that in an understated luxury package that can handle all weathers with no wheelspin when you need to press on a bit. The lower mpg is more than compensated by the smile factor.

Did you have towbar prep already installed? I didn't think that a factory retractable towbar was possible without the prep from the factory & certainly not cheap which is why most people go aftermarket bars. More info if you can.

Interesting. Let us know how that goes. After my wife crunched one of my wheels I also need to look at a bit of wheel refurbing as well. However, I think I'm going to get them colour changed powder coated to match the colour of the car - black magic. Same price as to have them diamond cut at £60+vat per corner. Just waiting for a gap in the dairy to get it booked in.

Petrol is becoming more available now in Beds / Bucks. No real issues for regular 95RON for the Karoq. However, most places do not yet have any 99RON Super Unleaded which I need for optimum performance in my Superb. Currently it has a tank full of 95 which it can accept but this reduces the overall BHP it produces. Probably down by 10-20BHP.

Not sure what your budget is for a carpet cleaner or whether this is even available in Sweden, but I can recommend this Rug Doctor. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rug-Doctor-Portable-Cleaner-Litre/dp/B00T31O22Y/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=rug+doctor&qid=1633949707&sr=8-5 Portable & great for cleaning carpets, upholstery,incontinent pet wee etc around the house & car.

Ha ha. Not sure if I would have enough content to make a it a worthwhile read. Unlike a guy in OZ (JJ RS) over in the Superb forum https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/488943-gandalfs-evolution/ who has a list of mods on his car as long as both of your arms.

I could easily spin the fronts on my old Mk2 Diesel Superb 170 DSG. Mainly in the wet with a bit of left or right angle on the steering. Traction control would light up regularly even in just damp conditions. It was for this reason I went looking for a 4x4 model of the Mk3 Superb when it came time to change. This led me to getting a 280 which has 4x4 as std to get all that power down in a reasonable fashion. It is a very stable car to drive & inspires confidence in all weather conditions & I would not go back to a manual car now as the DSG is so relaxing. Also because my left knee would not be able to coupe with stop start traffic in a manual now. When looking for a 2nd hand Karoq for my wife / 2nd car we knew it had to be a petrol & a DSG so both of us could drive it. The 1.0tsi was out of the question. Just not enough power. I managed to find a 19 reg Karoq Edition 1.5 4x4 with only 8k on the clock at a good price which are are now enjoying immensely. So much so there may come a time when we may drop down to one car & I may entertain selling off my beloved Superb 280 - god forbid

Today I installed a new K&N air filter & removed the Snow Guard from underneath the filter to improve the airflow into the engine (1.5tsi 4 x 4). K&N reckon there should be a 5-6bhp increase in power & more torque but without putting it on a rolling road it's difficult to say if the performance has improved or not. No perceived improvement in the take up from a standing start but maybe a bit more responsive above 2,000 rpm. A stage 1 remap is probably the only solution to the standing start take up issue but that will have to wait until the warranty runs out next year. I'm looking to perhaps spruce up the rear end off the car (Edition model) which looks a bit plain with the black plastic bumper. Perhaps a rear spoiler or fake exhaust trims. Nothing too lairy. Just to break up the mass of dark plastic. Ongoing project.

Very true. I believe around 180-190hp & 300-335Nm is possible for the 1.5TSi with a stg 1 remap. With that it should transform the car. I am however, a bit concerned whether the stock DSG can take the extra power / torque.

Yes. I believe this is what is referred to as the "Audi throttle" setting. There are a few people in the UK on this forum who can reprogram VAG group cars with VCDS. I plan to visit one with our Karoq as soon as the warranty runs out.

Same for my 360hp Superb 280. From standing with SS off & set in sport it can rip up loose tarmac, & no wheelspin. Acceleration is pretty savage & although I haven't timed it officially, I reckon 0-60 is around 4.0secs. Extra 80hp courtesy of a Revo Stg 1 remap. Just wish I could get the Karoq to respond a bit quicker.

I thought I'd borrow the title of this thread from the Superb forum which seems to work quite well. Feel free to add anything you have done to your Karoq underneath this post. To kick off the thread, yesterday I fitted OEM door sill protectors & mud flaps to my wife's 19 plate Karoq, which we acquired last week. All parts purchased from Skoda Parts Ireland. https://www.skodapartsireland.ie/ 17.5 Euros delivery to UK. The mud flaps were good value at 17.40 Euros per pair (incl vat). The cill protectors were a bit pricey at 104.00 Euros (incl vat) but I wanted OEM quality & not some cheap flimsy wafer thin transfers from a dubious supplier. I've been down that route before with a boot sill protector for my Superb which I had to replace with an OEM one after 4 months. Buy cheap - pay twice! All good & I managed to fit the mud flaps without removing any wheels by using a right angled drill adaptor with appropriate torx bits & a flexi shaft drill bit drive for drilling the extra holes. I also fitted a pair of front Bosch Aero wipers (£19 on Amazon) to cure the noisy OEM ones. I may replace the rear wiper or just live with it for a while. So far (1 week in) we are loving the Karoq - apart from the slow / DSG hesitation take up from a standing start. I might look at a DSG / engine remap next year when the warranty runs out. I did this (engine remap) on my Superb 280 & it transformed what was already a quick car into a bit of a hooligan & sharpened up the throttle response. I'm not looking for that level of performance out of the Karoq but a bit more urgency via the DSG & 4x4 from standstill would be appreciated. I suspect the software fix for the jerky engine issue associated with the 1.5 engines is responsible. Once on the move it runs fine although when I drive it I do miss the low down torque & instant response that my Superb has. I do wonder whether we should have stretched the budget a bit more & found a 2.0TSI model instead of the 1.5. Hey ho, can't change that now & TBH the 1.5 is more than adequate for what my wife needs.

I use auto hold all the time & only apply the e-brake when parked up or sometimes at the lights or in a traffic queue where I might be stationary for quite a while. I turn off Stop Start as soon as I get in the car because it cannot react quick enough to re-start the engine when you want to pull away smartly e.g. jump into a space on a roundabout. I have also turned off Lane Assist permanently. Can't be doing with that unnatural robotic tugging on the steering wheel. I just wish the 1.5 DSG was a bit more lively off the line. There's a definite lag between pressing the go peddle & any meaningful forward motion. I think this is more DSG than the engine itself.

I have just picked up a 19 plate Karoq 1.5 4 x 4 with only 8k miles. It too has juddering wipers - front & back. I've just ordered some Bosch Aero wipers. Hopefully this will fix the issue. In mean time I think a good wash & perhaps some clay bar on the glass might be in order. I'll also be playing with a dash cam tomorrow.

Karoq 1.5tsi 4x4 DSG here. I think what is being described is front wheel spin with a bit of traction control thrown in for good measure. I used to get this quite a lot on an old Mk2 Superb 2.0 190 FWD DSG diesel I used to have. The Torque generated could easily overcome the front tyres in the wet or dry - especially with some lock on when turning left or right out of a junction - which is one of the reasons I replaced it with a 4x4 Superb. Take up on my Karoq from standstill seems quite lethargic until it gets to around 20mph. The first bit of travel on the accelerator doesn't seem to do much at all until you bury it into the carpet. Selecting Sport mode doesn't seem to improve things much either. It can be very tricky getting into a gap on a roundabout as there seems to be a large delay between right foot pressure & actual forward motion at the speed needed. However, I get no wheelspin or juddering at all, even in the wet, as the 4x4 is doing it's job nicely. By comparison my Superb 280 also hesitates slightly from a standing start before engaging warp factor 9. Selecting Sport mode helps a bit but does not completely solve the issue. No wheel spin though, even in the wet. I think it's common ailment that all DSG box's have at slower speeds. Re-mapping the DSG might be the answer & improve the smoothness / responsiveness, but it's not a cheap option.

My '66 plate 280 L&K has paddles. Not sure if they were std as I purchased the car used at 25k miles - it's just ticked over to £50k & still going great. I use the paddles & sport mode to manually change down when approaching roundabouts or lights. Can't say I'd miss them if they weren't there but I have now got used to them. We have just acquired a 19 plate Karoq Edition - wife's car. It too has paddles & I was trying to explain to my wife what they do & how to use. I shouldn't have bothered, she was more interested what colours options there were for the ambient lighting!😒

Yes the Karoq is a sizable upgrade in space, tech & power to the '15 plate 500 which didn't even have a DAB radio! TBH I couldn't / wouldn't drive the 500. Apart from the fact that it's a girls car, it has a bone shaking ride & no power whatsoever (69hp 1.2 non turbo). Wife was happy enough driving the 500 in & around town but she felt a bit intimidated when on the motorway or faster roads. The only good thing about the 500 was the depreciation - or lack of it! We paid £6k + a trade in old Corsa (£500) for it at 2 years old back in 2017 & got £3.9k for it as a trade in for the Karoq (& we could probably have got more if we had sold it privately). So that's only a £2.1k drop in 4 years of ownership! I admit the current jump in 2nd car prices has helped. However, it's a doubled edged sword because anything extra made when selling a used car currently are more than eaten up by the cost of the replacement car. Hey ho. You win some & loose some! Much happier that now we have a proper 2nd car that I can drive as well!!

We are now officially a 2 Skoda family!! I have been looking for replacement for my wife's aging Fiat 500 for quite some time. My L&K Superb 280 (now 360) Estate will be joined by a white 19 plate Karoq Edition 1.5tsi 4x4 with 8,750 on the clock this Friday. After much debate & countless hours on Autotrader I finally settled a Karoq as opposed to a Kamiq (or any other make of small SUV). I really would have liked to have stretched to a Sportline Karoq but I just couldn't find any used ones at the right price plus, Sportline's don't seem have the vario-flex rear seats or some of the other bells & whistles that come with the Edition model. We test drove it today & bought it on the spot. Now looking forward to picking it up & joining the Karoq as well as the Superb Briskoda Forum. The wife is well chuffed & really glad it has parking sensors & a rear camera because in her eyes compared to her 500 the Karoq is a bit of a bus🚔. She drives mine from time to time so I'm sure she will get used to the Karoq as her daily driver pretty soon. I'm sure I will find a few things to add to / improve on the Karoq so I look forward to trawling through this forum for ideas & advice.

Agreed. I was looking at getting my existing alloys powder coated gloss black & to fit a black wheel protector making it blend in. I have already bought some new boots for the fronts so they can be fitted when I get the wheels done in a few weeks. First though a trip up to the Lakes to get the last few hundred miles out of the old tyres.

Many thanks. Wonder why I couldn't find that thread when I searched. Hey ho. Good info. Think I will go down the Alloygator route when I get my wheels powder coated.

No takers? I'm also about to have my 19" alloys refurbed (for the 2nd time). This time I'm getting them powdered coated gloss black to match the car colour & was wondering about Alloygator rim protectors to help them last a bit longer. I've seen the video's but it would be nice to to get a review from any forum members that have used them. I'm especially interested to hear about any issues when replacing tyres on rims with Alloygators fitted.

Had this on my Superb estate a few weeks ago. 1st time I think was because the rear seats were down & there was stuff in the boot ready to go to the dump the next morning. Not sure why this would trigger the alarm but it was the only thing that was different to normal. The 2nd time was due to the dash cam which had come unstuck from the windscreen & was hanging by its lead from the head lining. On an old Alfa I once had the alarm went off when the battery voltage dropped too low after standing for a day or so. Turned out the boot light was staying on & draining the battery.