Rory

We've just ordered a stock Kamiq as needed the car quicky. Not quite sure what Skoda is playing at. I spoke to 5 dealers looking for cars based on what the dealer was advertising on Autotrader and what was shown on the Skoda website as "available". There's a fair number of cars around, although you can't be too fussy about colour (not that there's much choice anayway!). A couple of dealers used the same phrase - "stock drops" - apparently Skoda basically dumps cars on them that have no customer order against them. If the leadtime is 28 weeks (or whatever) how come there are unallocated cars? There's the odd cancelled order around, but you can usually tell those as they'll have a few random options. It was even worse trying buy a Tiguan recently - hence we ended up with a Karoq - seemed hopeless trying to get a new one, and some owners are only just getting cars they ordered 2yrs ago - yet there's absolutely loads of nearly-new Tiguans kicking around.

Did Karoq SE-L never have a virtual dash as standard? Ours is one of the last of the pre-facelift and it has the "analogue" separate rev counter and speedo. We're pleased with our Karoq that when our daughter's Honda Jazz recently died and she needed a car quickly we pointed her towards Kamiq and the SE-L in that has virtual dash as standard. Kamiq facelift has recently been announced and, while they have stripped a few things off the facelift, the SE-L still has the virtual dash. I can only think the Skoda expects every Karoq buyer will cheerfully pay for the upgrade. That doesn't work if it's not pointed out to them, and it also means anyone buying from stock is likely to be stuck with the basic display (or be put off from buying the car). It's even worse than having something like the "wrong" colour as you're sat staring at it all the time you're driving.

Our 2018 Ateca (same as Karoq, of course) produced a page full of locking related faults when it had its All In check at 3yrs old. However it wasn’t apparent there was anything wrong but it strikes me the system must be iffy, to say the least. Another thing the check picked up is that several of the door speakers weren’t working. I do wonder if there’s some connection here – perhaps relating to how robust everything is to having the doors slammed, my daughter husband does slam the door extremely forcefully, especially if another door is open so there’s no air pressure to stop it, and kids can be the same.

I don;t know how Skoda did it in the past as I'm new to the marque but with VW the major service was towards £400 but those little ^ next to air filter (and spark plugs / diesel fuel filter) meant "if required". It used to be very annoying that they charged for a major service but were doing little more than the minor service plus pollen filter. The interval on air filters has been 6yrs for many years. Incidentally, it was the same on my 2005 Mercedes, and they "forgot" to change it at 6yrs. I have to say that even when it was changed it didn't make any difference to the car, and I spreadsheeted the MPG on that car as I used it for work.

The VW Group interval for air filter change has long been 6yrs/60K miles (as on the charts on the previous page) but no idea how dealers are supposed to know whether it's been done or not, unless maybe it's recorded as separate item on the service record. I had this argument over the fuel filter being every 4yrs and the service advisor assured me they changed it every major service for that reason - looking at the car afterwards there's no way it'd been changed.

I think it's another of those UK, maybe European, things that's a bit of a scam - in the US it's routine to test it and change when needed. If it was vital then it would be part of the schedule and the service packages - when I''ve asked why it's not included I've been told its a "customer option". I asked the Honda specialist who looks after our Jazz to change the BF - he looked a bit offended and said they test it and change if needed. Mind you, he also refused to change the front discs and pads as he said they weren't worn enough - I just wanted them doing as they looked heavily lipped and I could put them out of my mind.

Thanks. I guess they must have been added with the facelift. Have them on our Ateca and had them on Tiguan so quite miss them!

Yes - that wasn't their only misdemeanour and we bought our next VW elsewhere. Off Topic - I noticed a pic of your car and it has wheel arch trims. Ours (pre-facelift) car doesn't, and it seems few Karoqs have them. I'd just accepted it, but was bemused to see the 72 Reg courtesy Karoq SE Drive we got this week had them. Did you do something to get them fitted to your car, or is there some weird spec combination that gets them added?

I don't think you can take All In until the car is more than 3yrs old, but on the face of it, it's a no-brainer vs the service package as it includes roadside and warranty (and the MOT). We had it on our Tiguan and have it on the Ateca. On some brands VW Group has messed around with what All In covers, but the Skoda page seems to suggest that basically it a minor and a major service, so it includes plugs and air filter. If you're not going to have a Skoda warranty then to my mind you might as well use an indie or even a trusty local garage. They should be a fair bit cheaper and you won't get pleading to change the brakes and tyres when they're half-worn then.

Had a facelift late 22 Karoq as a courtesy car for the last couple of days and I can't believe how awful the basic digital dash is. What on earth are Skoda thinking? It was such a joy to get back in ours with its beautifully clear and uncluttered dials.

What are they doing for that? If the car has followed the usual annual service regime then 5yrs should just be a minor service - oil change and a few checks. Skoda's website shows it as £195. https://www.skoda.co.uk/owners/servicing-maintenance-fixed-price I don't know wht the chart has crosses in both standard and extended scope but even the dearer one is "only" £255.

Their quote is £2 less than Skoda's "list" price for the service, which consists of an oil and filter change and some checks, most of which they'll do anyway as part of the usual dealer vehicle health check. They'll want more for the brake fluid change - probably something daft like £95. I've had the argument several times that if it's scheduled then it should be part of the service cost - on a VW we had, with a 3yr service plan, they hand wrote "brake fluid changed" on the invoice when I complained about it not being included!

Had car in last couple of days for this (and replacement a/c compressor mentioned in another thread). It seems they couldn't hear anything and just 'lubricated the suspension'. Bit annoyed with myself that I didn't demo it when the technician came out to listen to the a/c but I thought it was obvious when going over speed bumps, and the garage has one on the entry to the servicing area. They gave me a pretty well identical courtesy car and that didn't do it all so it was blissful to drive and at least I know it's not something they all do.

Well, took a long time to get an appt with courtesy car at the dealer, but it went in yesterday and, as the noise is much less noticeable now it's colder, I got a technican out to listen to it. Noise is still there, and he could hear it, but it's much more subtle. I played a recording I'd made of it back in August and he seemed more convinced. I thought they might regass it and leave it at that, but I got a call later in the day to say they'd listened to the compressor and determined it was excessively noisy and they'll replace it. On collection I got the impression that replacing them isn't ususal (and the one on daughter's SEAT Ateca packed up last year too). The pretty well identical to ours courtesy car had a compressor I could hear too - although it didn't have the strangulated noise from behind the dash, there was a noticeable click on and off of the compressor, almost like the clutched ones do, and the noise of it running was obvious (vs when it was switched off).

I had a Merc with Bridsgstones on from new and it was like driving on iron rings! Thankfully they didn't last long and Michelim Primacy made a massive differene to the comfort of the car. I did stumble across an old thread talking about poor throttle response from walking speed and someone has commented that swithcing to higher octane fuel transformed the car. That's got me thinking - our car came full of fuel, but then after that I refilled with with Costco super (or whatever it's called) unleaded. I find it hard to believe that's made such a difference but I've only just refilled again so will have to wait a while to try.

It's got Michelin (Primacy, I think - I'm away at the moment). Ive realised that, despite the car having only only done 4500 miles when got it, and having all the appearance of being very gently used (brake discs no lip whatsover etc) that the fromt tyres only measure 4.5mm so perhaps the previous drivers had the same issue. I'll see how we get on as the weather gets colder but I might bite the bullet and put a set of CrossClimate's on. I ran the Tiguan that the Karoq replaced on full winter tyres during winter and they were very reassuring, although that car did also have 4Motion.

I did think that about the infotainment updates. I was out in the car today and I'm absolutely certain that the throttle response from rest has changed. I had wondered if maybe the drop in temperature had made the tyres a bit less grippy but it's been 19C here today and it still takes some concentration to not over press the gas pedal when turning out of tight junctions. The throttle response from rest is instant - when we got the car there was an irritating momentary delay and even once it got going there was an initial "softness" in pick up - that's gone now.

Ours (picked up in Aug 23 with 4500 miles) is doing this - was most apparent first time I went in a multistorey car park and the clonking as it changed direction for each ramp then straightened out, was ridiculous. I thought it might get better with use, but it hasn't and it's going back in a couple of weeks for the dealer to look at (also noisy a/c). I presume it does it all the time but you can't hear it at speed. We (thankfully) don't have many speedbumps around here but I noticed driving over some this week that it does a double clonk. Sounds like it;s coming from high up at the front but I'm aware it's always hard to tell. There's the odd noise from the back but it's more sporadic. I'm finding the car quite creaky / squeaky at the rear to the extent that I checked all the rear seats were in correctly, secured the belts etc etc.

Interesting - the car has asked for updates a couple of times on the infotainment screen, but I assumed they were related to that (the infotainment system). I've just OK'd them as they popped up. Could things like drive mode related updates etc be done in such a way?

Recently changed wife's mk1 diesel Tiguan for a Karoq and in semi-rural driving have no problem getting low 40's of MPG on the display (so the real MPG will be a little lower). Had a 1,5TSi DSG Tiguan as a courtesy car and that showed...45MPG. I think the dealer can be important - we were luckly with the VW as the dealer (a smaller one, but part of a big group) always seemed keen to help, even though they were a bit thick at times. The Skoda dealer we've bought from has a remarkably epic reputation locally, although time will tell. We have a couple of Hondas in the family and won't ever darken the door of our local Honda dealer again. There used to be two great dealers locally, but Honda canned them and appointed someone else who are the worst franchise dealer I've ever dealt with. Lots of Honda dealers have closed. Honda UK is now even worse than VW UK Group customer service (and that's saying something).

Had ours a couple of months now - was 18mths old and done 4K miles when we got it - and I'm sure the delay/softness in take-up from rest has gone. A friend had commented that his T-Roc with same engine and DSG box often broke traction out of junctions - there was never any suggestion of that happening when we first got the car, but it's done it a couple of times recently.

Hmmm...it was certainly the case with our late mk1 Tiguan that the key couldn't be removed in Drive. It was my wife's car and I'd sometimes turn the engine off as the car stopped and then be momentarily baffled by why the key wouldn't come out. Thinking about it, this is something we'll have to be careful of with our recently acquired Karoq as it's keyless, so nothing to force you to put it into Park.

Don't know where you picked up the 1 litre from - OP is is looking at 2 litre diesel. We do have a manual 1 litre petrol SEAT Ateca in the family - think the engine is 115PS - it's obviously not a ball of fire, but it drives perfectly adequately.

Actually, it leveled out at around 45MPG after maybe 50 miles but then I thought to put it in Eco mode and went up pretty quickly into the 50's. On the motorway Eco was fine in terms of driveability. I think in Eco it seemed more willing to run in 2cyl mode. We didn't have a choice when we got Tiguan - at the time, towards the end of the mk1 run, it was only available with diesel. 4Motion is reckoned to knock a good percentage off too, but it did feel reassuring to have that. The car does pretty low mileage so, as you say, MPG isn't too important but I like to be able to do the round trip down south without having to think about refueling.

We just changed 2015 version of the same Tiguan (although ours was DSG and I'm bemused by yours being non-DSG, I thought, at least in Europe, they were always DSG?) - anyway, I agree with not entertaining a diesel, hence we got the 1,5TSi Karoq. OK, ours was the 150PS engined Tiguan with 4Motion, but even on long steady runs down to our head office I couldn't quite get 50MPG on the display. Did the same run last week in Karoq and it showed 52MPG which I'm very happy with.