SinglePointSafety

Now sold our Kodiaq so will no longer be on this forum. I'd like to say a huge thanks to the forum members who have given help and advice. I've been hugely impressed by the depth of knowledge, kindness and respect exhibited by, well, just about everyone. It's a great forum and I wish it - and the forum members - every success.

I have the same engine in my 2020 Edition model (which I'm probably about to sell) Given the way I drive (I don't dawdle but drive with mechanical sympathy) when and where I drive (don't use car for commute, mix of A/B roads and motorway) I've never had less than 45 mpg from a tankful, according to the trip computer I've been extremely pleased with the fuel consumption: much, much better than I expected. I can compare journeys and driving style directly with my previous car (Golf Alltrack diesel) which averaged mid-low-50s mpg. Bonus is that the Kodiaq is much quieter and smoother. Not seen any statistically-significant effect on mpg or performance using E10 petrol

Yes, this is one of the VAG's little quirks (previous car, Golf Alltrack, also did this) - with cruise control either active or enabled, the odometer reading disappears. On the Kodiaq, move the cruise control stalk forward to the 'off' position to see the mileage reading.

Wow, interesting choice of rims. Where I live, the low-profile tyres (and the rims) would suffer serious damage in a matter of months because of the huge number of huge potholes that never, ever get fixed. Unfortunately, that's pretty common in the UK, especially (why, FFS?) in the so-called 'prosperous' south and south-east. I've gone completely the other way: 17-inch rims with 65-section tyres, so I get a lovely compliant ride, less tyre noise (especially using all-season tyres), less probability of kerbing the rims, and much greater protection against our scarred road surface.

Promised that I'd update with my experience of selling or Toyota Yaris via Motorway. In a word.....superb. Their web app, which directs you to take a specified sets of photos to demonstrate the car's condition and service history etc, worked flawlessly. Our car had a 'reserve' price of £14.1K, at 3pm on the day of its auction, as promised, I get an email, best price offered was...£14.7K, about £1.2K more than WBAC's click-bait offer. Had some Qs along the way, managed to contact Motorway each time without any undue delay, all my Qs answered without any fuss. Week later, logistics guy arrives, gives the car an inspection, declares it 'immaculate' so a few minutes after his phone call to the dealer's used car buyer, the £££ shows in the bank account, and off he drives to the purchasing dealer. What more could you ask? Very satisfied, I'd use them again. In contrast, we were offered £12.4K p/x against a pre-reg EV, one local Toyota dealer didn't bother returning my calls when I enquired about selling them the car, another offered £13.4K and pointed to an imaginary 'scuff' (some barely-discernible very small very fine vegetation-induced marks, didn't get near to penetrating the outer transparent paint layer) and, you know, I kind of object to being treated like a complete moron.....

skomaz, have you seen some of the deals on, say, DriveThe Deal and other broker sites? They make buying nearly-new a (mostly) pointless endeavour. But, as you rightly say, each to their own circumstances, preferences and needs (have never, ever, managed to see a used car with the spec we require) The point that myself, and others here are making, is very clear: used prices are currently insane and it gives us a chance to reconsider our choice of car with minimal, or even zero, depreciation penalty.

skomaz, we normally buy new or pre-reg/demo and keep for 5 years or so. But my Kodiaq has some annoying faults which the dealer won't acknowledge ("they all do that sir", or "within acceptable limits" or.... you all know what I mean) and I might defect to another make, now that some more interesting hybrids have come along which offer the things we require (not ready to go all-electric until the charging infrastructure gets hugely better) and these are cars I can get hold of within an acceptable timeframe, given that we're a 2-car family. So at the moment the gap between sale price of existing car and new car is at an all-time low

Just for a laugh.... and because we're in the process of selling our 2nd car, a Toyota Yaris, probably using Motorway - I entered the details of my Kodiaq into the Motorway site. And.... W...T....F??? Even before the valuation takes into account some of the useful/desirable extras (I know, I know, they might not add much at all) the offer is pretty much what I paid for the car in March last year. This situation is totally insane. And, BTW, the Yaris valuation means that depreciation has been ~£4K in 3.5 years, or < £100 per month Really, really thinking hard about the temptation of selling the Kodiaq..... And I'll let people here know how the Motorway experience turns out

Indeed, it always saddens me that the worst service is likely to come from the two most expensive things you ever buy in life: a house and a car. The former is actually getting worse (houses get progressively smaller, more expensive relative to incomes, and lower in build quality) and I don't see much improvement in estate agents. The latter? The cars themselves continue to improve and consumer protection has (mostly) got better, but the culture in the motor trade remains atrocious (unless, evidently, you buy a Lexus). We've all got horror stories, and will continue to accumulate them it seems, as the OP has amply demonstrated.

Yep, have done some test drives recently (for potential replacements for our 2nd car) and £1K excess seems to be common for unaccompanied drives. But biggest gripe? One dealership insisted on an accompanied test drive, with an unvaccinated 15-year old salesperson who offered to "wear a mask if you really want" (OK, he might have been a bit older... but.....). We respectfully declined...... Regarding XC60 (and indeed pretty much any car) - best advice is to visit some car broker sites such as Carfile, DriveTheDeal etc and get a good idea of what realistic selling prices are. When we eventually settled on our Kodiaq 2 years ago, after discounts the price difference between a Volvo XC40 and XC60 was < £2K for like-for-like spec, which was tempting. No idea why the XC60 - at the time - attracted such enormous discounts. Kodiaq was bought via a broker with ~20% discount.

Do not dismiss the 2.0 TSi - my experience is that it is far more economical in the real world, if driven with restraint and common sense, than the 'official' figures. It will also give you all of the performance any sane person would need, even when fully-loaded. And remember: the relatively small differences in fuel consumption are second order compared to the overall running cost of the car ie depreciation, insurance, servicing etc

USB 12V to 5V adapters are famous for causing DAB interference: I had to try several on my previous car until I found a good one. Not an issue if DAB signal is strong, but slightly weaker signal - DAB is killed completely Hard-wired dashcam eg Nextbase, does not seem to cause any DAB issues - might be that the Nextbase adapter is better designed

That's interesting olderman1: I agree, USB method should work, but consistently - on my car - never did. Columbus registered the presence of the USB stick, just could never update from it. Weird......

Updating via Phone or WiFi is essentially the same - for the former, the phone becomes a WiFi hotspot. Not recommended for a near-30 Gb download for obvious reasons.... MIB (modular infotainment platform, no idea where the 'B" comes in) is the designation of Skoda, VW, Audi etc infotainment system, so the latest version, v3, supports wireless Android Auto and Apple Car Play, and evidently gets its updates over the air (OTA) via its built-in SIM card, whilst v2.5 (found in, for example, MY20 cars) has slots for SD cards which have the updated navigation data on. You can also have media eg music, on an SD card. Tech 'under the bonnet' is updated by the dealer when Skoda releases new software to improve things and/or fix a problem, such as a change in the engine management software, or DSG gearbox software, and so on. For example, the 'kangarooing' problem exhibited by some of the early 1.5 petrol engines was supposedly fixed by a software update administered by the dealers - they have equipment and software which plugs into the car and does this. There are some things that a 'home user' can fiddle with via the diagnostic port, but increasingly the car's systems have been locked down, thus limiting what the home user is able to access and change

Some comments on the above, based on experience of updating my Columbus MY20: (1) I've never found that the car will recognise data on a USB stick - I always have to use an SD card, even though the manual implies I can use either: you might have a different experience (2) Agree that you will now need a 64 Gb SD card with the latest maps - and the download from the maps portal might throw up an 'network' error, but you can just 'resume' and not have to re-start. The portal is dreadfully slow..... (3) If using a Mac to download and unpack the zip file/download to SD card, you will probably need to use an app such as 'CleanMyDrive' to remove hidden Mac-specific files from the SD card that seem to stop the Columbus from recognising a valid data file (4) It's important that the folders Mib1, Mib2, and file metainfo2.txt, are the only things on the card and on the top-level of the directory (5) No need to run the engine or even turn the ignition on (in my car) - just turn on the infotainment system, start the process, go back every 15 minutes or so and adjust volume ie something to stop the system from turning off (6) Updating takes about an hour (7) When searching for valid map data files, the Columbus can be so slow you think it will time out (which indeed it might) - but when it works, it still takes some time to start the process (8) When it says '100%' on the progress bar...be patient and let it do more stuff until it has obviously finished, It should, really should, be much simpler and foolproof, but it isn't - perhaps people have a better experience with OTA updates on MIB3

Actually xman, yout story regarding what the dealer gave you, illustrates the point I was making very well: you need both a list of the options AND - this bit is important - some way of agreeing what the 'standard' specification is at the time of order. When order date to delivery is many months, it is entirely possible that the standard specification will change. This happened with my Kodiaq order, but overall I judged that the changes were minor and advantageous to me, so no problem, especially with price protection. And also be aware that if you spec a car close to the £40K VED threshold, even though price protection may apply, the list price might rise between order and delivery, and take you over that threshold

I don't agree with Golfmk56's assessment of this forum (unless they have led a sheltered life): compared to many forums I've encountered, this is mostly respectful and knowledgeable, although the answers so far to the OP's Q do indeed miss many obvious things such as MY and what the OP thinks they actually ordered The advice given by Golfmk56 though is one I've also expanded on in both this and other forums: you absolutely cannot rely on a brochure and/or price list - indeed they have weasel words which more or less say "this brochure might be incorrect, your dealer is the definitive source of info" (wishful thinking, I know....) So when ordering a new car, I always - politely - ask the dealer if the car I'm ordering differs in spec from the brochure, and if so, how, given that my contract is with the dealer, nothing to do with Skoda UK. I then politely remind the dealer that if the spec differs from what we both believe is ordered, my consumer rights allow me various options (including rejection) depending on the discrepancy. So.... always, always, download and keep the brochure/price list current at the time of the order, and ensure that you have solid evidence of your 'discussion' with the dealer ref the spec. And then keep in touch with the dealer as the order proceeds, no harm in asking again if the spec has changed and remind them that it's the dealer's responsibility to tell the customer of any changes (not that they would - this level of good customer service would result in their franchise removed and a few of the staff publicly executed as an example to others)

Thanks JR, that's interesting and useful observations. I knew about the speeding fines: a colleague got pulled over a couple of years ago and ended up with what he described as 'an eye-watering amount of £££ and hassle'. But then, he drives like a total d**k and thoroughly deserved it.....

Ah yes KeithOwen, those were the days..... for at least a decade all of my cars' headlights have been easily changeable, either using the infotainment system or lever(s) under the bonnet, so anything which still requires bits of sticky plastic on the headlights....? What???? And, dammit, I still have a trusty magnetic GB sticker - destined to become a fridge magnet I suppose Perhaps we'll get more sympathy from the EU folks after the Euros final (sob) if we transgress.... I kind of understand the point JR is (I think) trying to make - that the enforcement of the various laws in various countries is, er, variable, so my approach has always been a common-sense compromise of obeying the important, high-consequence and visible stuff. IMHO it's also a good idea anyway to have a warning triangle and a hi-viz tabard in the car, and paper copies of V5C, insurance docs etc, as well as on my phone and in cloud storage. Regarding the ULEZ issue, in Belgium, cities like Antwerp do indeed use ANPR and you need to register your car (assuming it meets the standards eg diesels must be Euro-6) which is easy(ish) to do on the web site. It's my understanding that most ULEZs are avoidable using park and ride facilities. And another thing - since Brexit, there are laws on what foodstuffs you can take into the EU (remember the news report about lorry drivers' hammy sammies being confiscated by gleeful French customs?) but I have no idea if these laws are being enforced for the average tourist, since I've not been to the EU post-Covid: no doubt someone on this forum may be able to comment.

Ummmm.....trying to get this discussion somewhat closer to I guess what the OP was asking.... my neighbour has a few-years-old Superb with LED headlights, and he reckons that coming off the Dover-Calais crossing, when the car's GPS registered he was in the EU, the infotainment system offered to amend the headlight setting. Anyone know if this is the situation with the Kodiaq? That would really be Simply Clever! One of the cars I considered before deciding on the Kodiaq was the Honda CR-V. Doing my research, I found and downloaded the owner's manual, and was somewhat surprised to see the instructions for fitting stick-on beam deflectors. The salesperson responded that this "was a mistake, it's where they re-used an old manual, LED lights have a flat beam pattern, no adjustment needed, honest" but checking with Honda, they confirmed that the stickers are indeed needed because the LED dipped beam pattern isn't flat. So kudos to Skoda for making this adjustment easy (as it was in previous two Golfs, simple adjustment via the infotainment system). This was an important factor for us, since pre-Covid we visited the EU several times a year, often with crossing times that meant driving in the dark and needing to use lights. Headlight stickers? That's so last millennium..... The Very Big Thing to watch out for is that some countries, like Luxembourg, have very strict rules when it comes to using dashcams - and these are enforced, with big fines. And before anyone rushes to say, oh, you can get away with it....a colleague got stopped by the police in Luxembourg for just that reason, fortunately he escaped with a warning and they stood there while he disconnected his cam and placed it in the glovebox.

dpm1971: when I was looking for a new car and eventually bought the Kodiaq, as the vehicle which (for us) has the least number of compromises, I looked at and test-drove a number of cars (I like doing this, Mrs hates it....) The list included Honda, Toyota, Audi, Volvo, VW, Ford, Mercedes, Hyundai, Kia, JLR.....you get the idea, very thorough research. I even came across many (whisper it quietly) pleasant, knowledgeable and competent salespeople...who actually replied to my emails. Blimey! Looking at perceived build quality - dash materials, infotainment system, seats, shut-lines and so on, I was pleasantly surprised that all of the cars were very good, and really not much objectively to separate them. Similarly, none that we actually drove were appalling to drive, and doing my best to compare like-with-like, allowing for some test vehicles with ridiculous rubber-band low-profile tyres, all were good-riding and quiet. But, but....there is no denying the pecking order in the various driver satisfaction and reliability surveys. Leaving aside arguments about selection bias, these diverse surveys nonetheless have broad agreement: if you want a reliable car with a good dealership, it's Lexus, Honda, Toyota, with JLR SUVs at or near the bottom of the table. I've not seen any survey in which Mercedes overall ranks higher than Skoda. To be fair, the Mercedes showrooms were nicer than the Skoda ones, but the staff no more knowledgeable or accommodating in my location.

Be careful with some 3rd-party rubber mats: my experience is that some are, well, really smelly, with a very pungent odour that takes several weeks to dissipate and if the car is then left in the sun (mine is garaged) the odour returns. The Skoda rubber mats that came with my car as part of a 'protection pack' (included the mudflaps and boot liner) are pretty much odour-free, fit properly (of course) and appear to be well-made. And agree with Zac ref tunnel mat

Echo what the others have said. I used a broker for my Kodiaq: the local dealers were unwilling to match the price (policy set by 'head office' on max discount) but were quite happy to service the car. My broker wasn't DTD but a colleague used them, no problems, totally happy with the service.

Best I've seen from my MY20 2.0 TSi is 57 mpg (!) - but that was unusual circumstances: parked a mile or so from the motorway junction, so on the return journey, motorway so busy everyone*** doing steady 40-45 mph, traffic eases but then we're in a construction zone with 50 mph limit, then final part of journey on A-roads, we're all stuck behind a tractor doing 30, then I'm back in my hometown, 30 mph limit, roads quiet. Journey took 30% longer than normal......More representative is a trip to The Lakes last October, loads of construction zones and speed limits on the motorways (and lots of traffic) displayed mpg on outward and return, both 50 mpg exactly. *** apart from the occasional Audi or BMW driver, weaving from lane to lane to 'get ahead'. Why, FFS?

Strange, Skoda certainly **did** sell a choice of two 17-inch wheels for the Kodiaq: Nanuq 6.5J x 17, suitable for snow chains, and Ratikon 7J x 17, both using 215/65 R17 tyres. I considered the Ratikon until I saw the price and my wallet screamed and locked itself away, hence (pre-Brexit) I ordered a set of Borbet wheels of similar appearance from the EU (the company I used no longer sells to the UK post-Brexit). Hugely cheaper and excellent quality, just have to ensure the wheels have the correct spec, which Skoda kindly supplied when I asked nicely (offset, bolt centres, diameter of central hole)