Ranger

undoubtedly the greatest threat to Skoda is Skoda themselves. My first was 13 years ago and the customer experience was a revelation, dealers who were interested, honest and had a real “ can do” approach. The cars were well built, reliable and durable, OK not perfect, but were excellent value. My faith in VW group product was derived from 60k miles a year for nearly 20 years, during which the VW, Audi and Skoda cars stood up to the punishment far better than the Vauxhall, Volvo and BMW models we ran. We’re now faced with unsound engineering, substandard materials and above all, an attitude from dealers and Skoda customer service that is very much “can’t do”. My current Kodiaq has been troublesome, I could live with that, but an expectation of the dealer network that they’d be willing to resolve issues is hopelessly misplaced and after more than 20years of almost continuous VW group ownership, this will be the last. The need for something with at least 2000kg towing capacity limits choice of Japanese product so something Korean is now on the cards.

Should have concluded this posting, the car was repaired on Nov 11th, unit was replaced and DSG service carried out at the same time. Since then its driven like a new car with much slicker changes and quieter, which might suggest that there had been a problem looming for a while but I'd just not noticed it. Not quite the end of the story, the fan motor failed at New Year and with the earliest diagnostic appointment I could get being over a month away, I called the roadside assistance in the hope it might be something simple but it wasn't and he referred it the dealer! After some "discussion", an appointment was found later that week which confirmed the roadside diagnosis and a new fan motor was ordered (2 weeks) and the car booked in (5 weeks!). With a car that's pretty much useless with no demisters in a wet Jan, I've now decided that this is the final nail and after 21 years continuous VW/ Audi/ Skoda ownership in the family, I'm off to find something with better aftercare service, anyone got any suggestions?!

The dealer has said it’s perfectly in order to drive it, it’s had a software update which might help it stop dropping into emergency mode (it hasn’t) and there’s a new unit on order but awaiting confirmation of delivery, anywhere between four and twelve weeks. My concern is whether it’s doing damage elsewhere in the gearbox, it’s certainly noisier than it was and it’s holding gears longer before changing up, which is hammering the fuel consumption, average of 43-45 is now sub-40mpg. When it drops into emergency mode, there’s a momentary loss of drive which is unnerving if it happens when accelerating, particularly overtaking! Awaiting a further conversation with the dealer on Monday which might confirm a delivery date for the parts.

Swotting up on mechatronics unit failures led me here, my Kodi suffered a failure earlier this week. Warranty is authorised but reading other threads, and then quizzing the dealer, I’m horrified (though not entirely surprised!) that lead times can be 10weeks+. Whilst the fault is intermittent, and as the car is still ‘driveable’, even when it does occur, I’d be interested on anyones views as to whether it’s safe to do so and whether there’s any damage being done elsewhere?

If it’s any consolation, my dog did exactly what you describe when we first picked her up and the lowering tailgate caught her across the back but stopped instantly, rising slightly, when it touched her. She was moving at the time and there was enough room for her to get out when it stopped. Whilst it’s not ideal, it’ll hopefully set your mind at rest that pooch isn’t in too much danger.

I’ve just taken the all in one package for my Kodiaq, which does have full history and had extended warranty that had just expired, and the acceptance was based on an assessment by the dealer rather than any reference to its history so I’d expect that the same would apply to any car. The only things they asked about were the DSG and Haldex services, the rest was checked by the techie on the assessment. Interestingly they couldn’t undertake the assessment until the previous warranty had expired, one of the conditions of the all in one package.

Granted it’s not the same animal but before I bought my Kodi, I was looking at Superb L&K estates and came across an immaculate 280 with a dealer I’d bought from before. To try and overcome my concerns about the likely fuel consumption he offered me the car for 24 hours. I have to admit to making the most of it and covered almost 200 very sprightly miles, it was a fantastic car, far superior to just about anything I’d driven in recent times, but the key figure on handing it back was 26.6mpg. The search continued, ending with my Kodi…which is a diesel.

I’d not checked the coolant cold but after standing for about 10mins, it was at the max mark on the header tank. Its been standing since Saturday, albeit in near 40deg temp, so I’ll check them cold tomorrow and see how they look but there’s been negligible difference between the hot and cold coolant levels in the past.

I’d not noted the water temp when the warning came up but immediately after it was nudging above 95deg. The warning came up just a week after an oil service at a dealer and the level was fine when it was checked the day after the warning. The oil temp has been sat at a steady 90-92 degrees since, albeit running solo throughout (and it’s not been out since Saturday!).

Just picked up on this topic, I’ve a 190 4x4 Kodiaq which tows a caravan with an all up weight of 1890kg and had performed faultlessly up until last week. Being fairly new to caravanning, it’s been run on fairly short trips, 50-60 miles for each leg but on the longest single journey so far, 100 miles in mixed traffic, the engine overheat warning came on momentarily. Stopped within 30secs and Stood the car for 30mins, all warnings gone, on starting the oil temp on starting at idle was 82deg. Moving off, the next 50miles we’re uneventful but monitoring the oil temp, it hovered around 112-115deg, peaked at 118deg. The outside temp was 18-20deg. Monitoring it since, running solo it’s almost constant at 90deg. Dealer has suggested booking the car in for a diagnostic check but couldn’t offer any other thoughts until they’d looked at it. The car has a factory fitted tow bar (does this bring with it any cooling pack upgrade?) and runs with a 10k service interval cycle.

Undoubtedly it is, but its holding me back from replacing it with another Skoda which would be more difficult to have serviced by an independent specialist

I've a 2018 Kodiaq 190TDi Edition which was bought at 2years old and came with a hefty list of options fitted that raised the spec' to something very similar to the L&K which came later. With 63000 miles on it now, I'm starting to look at things which could replace it in the next 12 months. I'd spoken to three Skoda dealers recently about a more or less like for like replacement , all were keen to push an order through before the April 1st price increase but I'm still to be convinced another Kodi is the answer. I've had Skodas in the family for all bar one year in the past twelve, Superb and Fabia have figured in addition to the Kodi, but much though I love the car and would have another, it has to be said that the build quality isn't brilliant and dealer service with it even less reassuring. It currently has a KESSY start button issue which is getting worse, the dealer has investigated twice and says it performs as expected. I don't regard having to press it, hold it and generally fiddle with it as starting performance anyone would expect! This came after a seven month wait for an oil seal to have the DSG service completed, I called religiously every month only to be told "its still on back order, no need to call us, we'll call you when its available". So I did stop calling and guess what? after seven weeks without a call I had to book the car in for service and mentioned it again, to be told "the parts have been available since last month, you should have called us!!!" All this was on the back of a visit to have the Haldex oil changed where they did the work and then mentioned on collection that the DSG service was due, which really hit a nerve as when it had been booked in for that visit, having had an Audi previously, I'd questioned the service interval for the DSG and been told it was now 80k and didn't need it. To add to the woes, it took six calls over a three week period to establish what the correct interval was for my particular car. The dealer claimed it was because the car was built during the crossover period when the service interval was extended and the VIN was "indeterminate" as to which group it fell into. All this has led to me questioning whether I want another Skoda, or indeed any other VW group car; whether to keep the current one and hand service needs to an independent specialist (harder to do with a new car); or go for something completely different such as a Volvo XC60 or BMW X3. I've used the same dealer for servicing all of the Skodas owned and their service was one of the reasons I continued with Skoda and returned to the marque after seven years of Audi ownership, but the recent efforts leave me with the feeling that they're falling short of the mark. My experience of others is limited to Audi in the past decade or so (great service but came at a price!), and Nissan for a short and very recent period so not really qualified to judge yet. Is it just me or are dealers losing sight of the traditional service Skoda customers had come to expect of them?

We’ve a Golf with 66000 miles on the 150bhp engine and so far, so good but I’m still a bit nervy about how it’ll be in five or six years with 100000+ miles on it. It’s settled into 42-43mpg with almost 60 on a run so no complaints about that but the technology that powers it hasn’t really caught on and I’m wondering why. Is there something we should know?

Is this the PD engine? My son’s Golf 1.9PD had a similar problem which after much head scratching on the part of the garage was finally diagnosed as a broken wire to the camshaft position sensor. Dipping the clutch and bumping the engine it seemed was enough to make contact again and it ran normally.

My 2010 hatch had the integrated blue tooth on the Columbus, although the car I test drove in Nov 2009 before I ordered mine didn’t have it so it came as a pleasant surprise. overall it was one of my favourite cars of all those I’d had, one of the few I was really sorry to see go although the replacement Vauxhall Insignificant probably had something to do with that. Best of luck with the Superb, the Elegance is still a really nice package and I’m sure you’ll enjoy owning it.

Had driven Audi’s with active assist and wasn’t keen but it came on my Kodiaq and after a few weeks getting used to it, I don’t think I’d want to be without it. Combine lane assist, adaptive cruise and DSG and the car practically does drive itself.

Best of luck with your Kodiaq, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. I too have been through the VW group ranks (Beetle 1302S, Golf x 2, Touran, A4 x 2, A6, Q5 and Superb Mk2) after a 7 year sabbatical with Audi, returned to Skoda a month ago, also with a Kodiaq Edition 190 TDI and pleased as punch with it.

I’d have to say drive the two back to back and see what you think, the VRS is excellent and is a lot more practical, but the Golf has a good lead in the refinement stakes. That, and the fact that they’d dropped the 4x4 at the point I was buying, were the only things that put me off placing an order for a VRS four or five years ago. Bizarrely I ended up with an Audi Q5. That’s just been replaced with a Kodiaq and the only thing that it doesn’t outshine the Audi on is the refinement, it does virtually everything so much better but seems to have a slight harshness about it.