Winston_Wolf

I actually find the umbrellas quite useful as I often forget to take one with me. I presume you still have two umbrella holders. If so, just buy one of these M&S ones for £9.50. https://www.marksandspencer.com/briefcase-umbrella-with-stormwear-and-windtech/p/clp22215122 I noticed these in M&S the other day (when I was carrying my Skoda brolly) and they looked pretty much identical.

I would think the shifting point to 2nd on a 1.4 TSI would be later due to its lower torque output. Another factor in play is the gradient you're on when pulling away. The car clearly has some sort of built in gradient sensor as I've noticed it's far keener to short-shift into 2nd when pulling away if you're on the level or on a slight downhill than if you're on an upward slope. It's not a major issue though in my car. Like SuperbTWM in the previous post, overall I find my TDI 150 DSG to be pretty much flawless in this area - the short-shifting to 2nd is just something I've observed that can happen on occasion. I've had my Kodiaq for four months (3000 miles) now and the six "I'm interested in buying one too" friends/family members that have driven my car in that time have pretty much all commented that the engine/DSG combination is amazing.

I think it's down to the smaller turbo unit on the TDI 150 spooling up much quicker with the same throttle input. Most of the people complaining about this problem are TDI 190 owners which says a lot especially when you consider there are far more TDI 150 owners out there.

Of course what's being made doesn't reflect demand if there isn't a choice which is the OP's issue. That said, those numbers are probably about right. Looking at number of 1.4 TSI engined Kodiaqs for sale on Autotrader (an engine in which all buyers had a free choice between DSG and manual), 81% of them are DSG models.

They could make one if they wanted to. For some reason Skoda don’t seem to want to produce many model variants. IMO its versioning of the Kodiaq range leaves a lot to be desired. For example, in the UK only the 1.5 TSI and TDI 150 engines are available in FWD when in reality very few people need 4x4. This adds weight/friction so slows the car and hits fuel economy by 4-5mpg. And only the (now entry level) SE spec is available with 5 seats. Having to have 7 seats gives you a smaller boot and adds 43kg and £1,000 to the cost. Considering the seats are only suitable for small children this versioning really is a bit daft as it must alienate a sizeable market. My perfect model would have been a 5-seat 2.0 TSI Sportline DSG FWD as I actually do need the extra boot space of the 5 seater but such a model version doesn’t exist. Instead I went for the TDI 150 SE DSG FWD as it was the most powerful 5 seat version available to me. I imagine it’s down to the fact that fewer variants must simplify the production line.

..and if you can get that black front badge and some black rims then you should look like this and be good to go!

I've de-badged a few of my cars in the past to give a cleaner look. My technique was to warm the area for 2-3 minutes with a hairdryer and then saw through the adhesive with some dental floss while pulling towards you slightly. Any stubborn residue on the bodywork just drops off easily with some WD-40. I would certainly be losing the black lettering on the back - black lettering on black paint doesn't do it for me.

The above advice is spot on - there is no catch! I did it last year to get a £3k deposit contribution in the summer SUV event against my new Kodiaq. Taking the PCP even got me the £159 deal for the first two services. I phoned Skoda Finance the day after collecting the car and got the settlement figure which included about £3.40 of interest. I was given 30 days to pay the settlement figure.

That looks similar to mine which was a 2015 Sharan 2.0 TDI 140 SCR DSG SE. Mine also ran on 16" rims which gave it a really nice ride quality. Back in 2015, VW were getting rid of the last of the Euro V spec 2.0 TDI engines while they could before the September deadline so I managed to get a 25% discount from the dealer on the RRP via Orangewheels. I paid circa. £24k OTR and managed to get £13.5k back by selling it privately 4.5 years later in Nov 2019 which I was very pleased about. My only gripe with that car really was the top gear ratio on its 6-speed DSG which was quite low (70MPH @ 2250RPM) so it revved a bit high on the motorway which hurt economy and engine noise levels at higher cruising speeds. In fact the ratio was almost identical to 6th gear on the 7-speed DSG in my current 2.0 TDI 150 Kodiaq. The Kodiaq is geared very high in top (70MPH @ 1700RPM) and feels comparatively very relaxed at higher speeds.

That's true. Carrying 6 isn't too bad though because you do have a lot of height to put tall cases or pile bags to the roof but it's not very pleasant for the one person in the third row sat next to them. With my old 2015 Sharan, I just solved the problem with a 460L Thule roofbox up top.

If I needed a car to mainly travel long distances with 6 adults I would be looking at an MPV like a VW Sharan (my previous car) or a SEAT Alhambra as their third row seats can comfortably take full sized people. You would still probably need a roof box though if you need to pack luggage for six.

For those experiencing this problem, have you noticed what gear the car's in while this is happening? Presumably due to the 1st gear ratio being incredibly low (about 5MPH/1000RPM) I've noticed that on a light throttle the car just loves to grab 2nd gear at the very earliest opportunity when moving off - literally, almost as soon as the car starts moving. What can happen at roundabouts is that when you see your gap coming you take your foot off the brake and feather the throttle getting ready to go and the car starts moving very slowly. Unfortunately, behind the scenes it's already shifted into 2nd while this is happening so that when your gap arrives and you jab the throttle there's no shove because the turbo's off boost due to very low RPM plus you're now in 2nd gear. It then either then tries to correct the situation by dropping back into 1st and you surge forward after a shift delay (especially as the DSG has already pre-selected 3rd on the second clutch at this point) or it stays in 2nd and there's no meaningful shove until the revs climb and the turbo does its thing. 2nd gear ratio on the TDI DSGs is about 8.5MPH/1000RPM. Even on my smaller turbo'd (and therefore quicker spooling) TDI 150, meaningful torque doesn't arrive until at least 1250RPM which in 2nd gear equates to about 11MPH so if you're below that speed and in 2nd then you're almost certainly off-boost. With its larger (and therefore slower spooling) turbo, on a TDI 190 the minimum speed you need to be at in 2nd is probably even higher. To guarantee a responsive take-off, I've learnt to not start the pulling away process (i.e. no throttle feathering) until I know I'm going and then commit to the take off in one fluid movement with the first press on the throttle pedal being a quick, solid one. I find it does this much more reliably in sport mode (on the transmission) plus it hangs onto 1st for longer. It seems that sport mode always tries to keep the revs above 1750RPM when accelerating, the level at which max. torque is available. Anyway, that's my theory about what can happen with my own car which may of course be independent of a throttle response problem on another vehicle.

I love Carplay and use it for Google Maps on most journeys so I'm delighted such a gadget exists but for £124 I think I'll be plugging in a cable for a while yet. How reliable is the connection and does it support all the Apps/features you get with a wired connection? I presume your iPhone connects to this dongle via WiFi and not Bluetooth due to bandwidth required.

Personally I find the 7 speed DSG (DQ381) in my Kodiaq TDI 150 to be very responsive on take-off. In this regard it's appreciably better than the 6-speed DSG in my last car (a VW Sharan TDI 140) and is therefore an area in which the car has exceeded my expectations. That said, in situations where a brisk take-off from a standstill is essential (e.g. busy roundabouts/junctions) I usually toggle the DSG lever into sports mode where the take-off is a bit more urgent. I suspect the higher maximum power output derived from the larger turbo unit in the TDI 190 comes at the cost of more turbo lag than you get in the TDI 150.

Thanks, that’s good to know because I really wouldn’t want to give any insurance company an excuse to pull cover in the event of a claim, especially a major one which naturally would be the only type in which a beady eyed inspector ever be deployed to check over your car.