Rory

Sounds like the only upgrade of note is the virtual cockpit - did she option that anyway? I'm surprised at the wait - we ordered a new SE-L in Aug when we got our used 22 model. Dealer called in Dec to say it was on its way. I cancelled as the price to change was bonkers - they'd suggested £6000 when we ordered which was mad enough, but asked for £13,000 when they called in Dec.

I don't think they changed anything last year but they seemed to do two updates in 22 - early Apr was a slight faceift (with the step in the headlamps) and then in mid July 22 they announced the model year 23 changes.

I would imagine a tiny number of owners ever remove them - I'm sure we won't, I'd probably hurt myself get the seats out. Wonder if that means it gets a solid boot cover?

No torch in our 22 SE-L.

The 4Motion on our Tiguan was "nice to have". I guess you get independent rear suspension too. Mind you, it was £1500 extra (before discount). The whole car (150 TDI DSG Match 4Motion) was 'only' £24K new. Be interesting to see what discounts become available on new Karoq. Will there be any more colours? Last time I looked even Petrol Blue had gone.

Hurrah - particularly on the SE-L, I can't believe they stuck with the 8" digital display for the last couple of years.

They'll be back to circa 20% off again soon enough. The only annoying thing will be the cars that breach the £40K list price will be stuck with higher tax - I guess very few people will buy those, unless they somehow don't realise.

Ours seems more than iively enough in "normal" - I can't say it's never given me any concerns in such circumstances. I used to have a Merc that had Comfort and Standard settings - it was close to undriveable around town in Comfort, especially as it started in 2nd gear.

I've only driven VW courtesy cars with lane keeping assist and it didn't bother me - I thought it was amusing more than anything else. Daughter says it's close to terrifying in her Kamiq - unless she's massively exaggerating it sounds much more forceful than I remember - or perhaps I just never did anything to make it intervene more strongly.

Wow, I thought that must be wrong, to be honest, but sure enough the spec says Halogen headlights. LED running lights.

"Our" Karoq is really my wife's but I do drive it quite a bit. This is unscientific, but to my mind you've got the mode the wrong way around. In normal, everyday use, use "normal". I took the Karoq for one long trip motorway trip and was a bit disappointed that the MPG seemed stuck at low 40's. It then occurred to me to switch to Eco and slowly crept up to low 50's MPG. Other than trying it for the heck of it, I can't think why I'd use Sport.

Is the digital dash the narrower one - basically I think it just has one "dial" in the middle? I didn't like that at all when given an SE courtesy car. The old twin dial non-digital dash in ours is lovely and clear. the Karoq spec is a bit weird in this respect - even the facelift SE-L only gets the 8" display. Yet the bigger one was standard on daughter's SEL Kamiq. Does the newer one have lane keeping assist? Drives some people bonkers - my neighbour hated it so much he sold his car back to the local Skoda dealer and bought an older one. It can be turned off with a couple of button presses, but has to be done every trip. I assume the older car doesn't have it but check that - our 22 reg SEL doesn't but the specs did change a bit during Covid.

We just sold an 8yr old Tiguan without keyless and I'd never changed the battery in its fobs. I just realised the OP didn't say the car was keyless - I assumed it was. With the early keyless fobs they were transmitting all the time - hence people putting them in Faraday cases etc. The newer ones (think it changed 2019/20) are motion sensitive and they partially shut down, so should last a little better.

Some people squeeze the 2032 in - I considered it for daughter's Ateca, which went through a spell of eating keyless fob batteries, but I was worried the fob would burst open if she dropped it (she's forever dropping her keys). Trouble with 2025's is they seem very marginal in terms of power / voltage for these keys, and these button call batteries get faked a lot. People often report having to try several batteries before one works, and then it not lasting long. I read Energiser work well so got some from what apeared to be a reliable supplier (but you never really know). The first one lasted 12mths and just changed it - she was never getting 12mths out of the batteries before.

No, of course not. It obviously isn't durable enough.