JND

It was last Easter Monday that the 6th and final lock out happened on our 69 plate Karoq (see earlier emails) and we decided to sell it and replace it with a Dacia. The Jogger Extreme is a hybrid, and after 7000 miles is running extremely well returning an average of 59.2 mpg. I know this a Skoda forum, but I can highly recommend the Dacia hybrid...... a lot of car for a reasonable price with plenty of room for the dog!

You are absolutely right about buying second hand, but I thought a demonstrator with 2000 miles on the clock would have been a safe bet with any problems ironed out! We have a 2011 Renault Megane convertible bought in 2017 having done 35K. It has now done 77K and apart from the usual servicing, tyres and brake pads it has been no trouble, and has never let us down! It's interesting to see that the VAG group does not seem to be as reliable as it used to be according to the league tables.

True enough, but Skoda have not redressed the issue properly and many of us have been fobbed off. I know this forum is dedicated to Skoda, but my membership will cease when I get rid of the Karoq and get a Sportage (Highly recommended by a friend) or a Duster with rather less sophisticated electronics.

Further to my post of 20222 we can no longer trust our 69 plate 4x4 Karoq Sportline which has now done 34000 miles . On Easter Monday we left the keys by the gear lever and unloaded the boot. Closed the boot and went to release the dog only to find everything had locked. The temperature was rising... and we were in a remote part of Wales, so I phoned Green Flag who would be with me in 2 hrs, but I would have to sign a declaration as they would have to "damage" the car to get access. Our spare key was at home 90 miles away - even if we could have borrowed a car there would have been a 4 hr delay before we returned to a fried dog. It seemed that the "damage" was to smash a window, so I did it myself and cancelled Mr Flag. This is the 6th time we have been let down by the locking system - although this was by far the most dramatic occasion. After the first time, when I was able to rescue my wife (thank goodness for mobile phones), I contacted the garage who then checked the car over and said they couldn't find a problem....(funny how others on this forum have had that experience!). The fifth time, I was told that they needed to replace the two front door locks which they did. The warranty was coming to an end and I wrote to Skoda UK saying that I had no confidence in the car but after a fair bit of wrangling, they gave me £300 towards the cost of a further year's warranty (I think I had to pay £30 extra, so it was worth it). That warranty ran out in September, and so any work which needs to be done now will come out of my pocket. The only good thing to come from this sorry saga is that the website "mywindscreen" put me in touch with an excellent glazier who replaced the glass at a third of the Autoglass price. No more Skodas for us - the Dacia Duster which preceded the Karoq gave no trouble, neither did the two Fabia VRS's we enjoyed in the past. I'm looking at the Kia Sportage as a replacement.

I was interested to read of door-locking problems on the Karoq. Mine (2019 4x4 Sport) has been back under warranty on two occasions; the first time I was told it was a faulty bowden cable (I thought that was mechanical!) and the second time a faulty door catch. Being concerned that this might happen again, I asked if the repair would be covered when the car's warranty runs out in September and I was told that replacement parts have a two year standard warranty. In a letter querying the length of time it took to get an appointment from the problem to the solution (nearly a fortnight when we couldn't use the car!) I mentioned my concerns and was told that if a part is replaced under warranty it is only covered for the length of the car's original warranty! If you pay for a repair out of warranty then the parts used are guaranteed for two years. Apparently this is "standard in the industry". It seems to me that this two tier system of repairs is completely ludicrous. Either a part is worth of being guaranteed or it isn't. It shouldn't depend on who's paying the bill! We like the Karoq (good in so many ways, but not hugely frugal) but my experience of Skoda servicing and maintenance is enough to make me look at alternatives for the future.