We went to the VIP launch of the Kodiaq and loved the car straight away, however SWMBO was concerned that it would be a little too big as a replacement for her Yeti L&K (facelift), so she really wanted to dislike the car.

 

We eventually got the keys after waiting 45 mins (not a good start) and I was all for getting up and walking away, literarily just before I got up the salesman finally came over to us in the waiting area  

 

So after the obligatory driving  licence details were exchanged we got the keys to a Quartz Grey Edition fitted with a 190 TDi, 4x4 and 7 speed DSG with black leather, this car was apparently ‘fully loaded’ and with a book price of around £42K (according to the salesman...)

 

A tongue in cheek photo of a pair of Kodiaqs parked together:

 

The spec:

 

Kodiaq 190 TDi registered March 31st (£35,360 RRP)
4x4
DSG (7 speed)
Black leather
19” Triglav wheels
Crew protectant assist (£200) 
Rear side airbags (£295)
Electrically folding tow bar with adaptor (£850)
Virtual pedal (£175)
Personalisation of drive mode selection (£40)
Remote folding of rear seats (£90)
Tablet holder (x2) for rear of front seats (£50)
Textile floor mats (£80)
Mythos gloss black decorative insert (£125)
Area view with trailer assist and front and rear parking sensors (£1,300)
Ambient lighting (£190)
Sun visors with mirror, illuminated (£10)
Tri-zone climate control (£300)
Space saver spare wheel (7-seater) (£100)
Canton sound system (£400)

 

= £37,295... not quite the £42k car we were told it was  

 

 

Items not specced: (thought this was meant to be ‘fully loaded’... (bits in red are a ‘must have for me’

 

Driver alert system (£45)
Travel Assist (£85)
Electric child safety lock with rear window roller blinds (£175)
Dynamic chassis control including drive mode selection and off-road function (£980)
Folding table on front seat backrests (£125)
Heated washer nozzles for front windscreen (£35)
ISOFIX on front passenger seat (£40)
Partition net screen (£150)
Rough road package (£295) 
Smokers package (£30)
Door and side trim panel in leather with waste bin (£25)
Heated leather Multi-function steering wheel with paddles (£245)
Aluminium pedals (£100)
Heated front and rear seats (£200) - only the fronts are heated
Ventilated front seats (£625)
Adaptive cruise control (£300)
Heated windscreen (£300)
Panoramic sunroof (£1,150)
Park assist, trailer assist and area view camera (£1,950)
Media command (£85) - pretty sure this is not there

 

I am not now convinced the Kodiaq is the flagship model, don’t get me wrong it is good but it is not quite up there with the Superb with regards to kit available or build quality, despite costing approx £5k more for an equivalent model. 

 

“How dare you” I can hear you say... well for instance: 

 

Soft touch plastics on the front doors but not the rear doors
Leather feels quite course (this maybe down to the fact my Superb is ventilated??)
Disappointed to see the ambient lighting does not extend to the dash and the door handles and air vents are not illuminated
ACC should be std IMO
No adaptive lighting?
No battery cover (top)

 

The bits I am impressed with are:

LED headlights, very impressive
Area view, this to me is a must have

Area view additional cameras under the mirrors:

and on the front radar cover:

 

Ride quality... but I would still spec DCC
Memory seat for driver AND passenger

Some bits where the quality was quite poor:

 

Chrome trim around windows all marked badly with white corrosion spots, the dealer assured me these were on back order, but this should not really be happening!

 

Interior door handles creak quite bad
Plastic trims on the bottom of the doors are easy to catch with your feet when getting out in a tight parking bay, this just requires a different approach though to overcome it.

 

Steering had grinding noise at low speed

 

Overall we were very impressed with the car and despite SWMBO wanting to hate the car... she really like it and the way it drives AND feels it is NOT too big! (to drive) ... it is still a BIG car but the area view certainly helps with parking and manoeuvring in tight areas - something she did a fair bit of yesterday just to try it out.

 

We are still going to wait for ‘the right’ trim level to come out for us, that will be a SportLine or L&K  (to hopefully get the car under £40k) but it certainly is right at the top of the list.

 

Fuel economy we saw just under 44 mpg showing on the infotainment screen (or should that be called the ‘fingerprint magnet’) for a 60 mile run covering A roads, town centre X2 and a 35 mile motorway run set to 70 mph on CC.

The return motorway at ‘just under legal speed limit + VAT’ showed 38 mpg, this included getting up to speed ASAP!

 

The engine whilst perfectly adequate is not going to set any records, so ‘it would do the job’ without issue but is certainly not as nippy as our Yeti (170)

 

Hope you do not see this as a negative report, just trying to be an impartial and objective review of the good and not so good points of the Kodiaq.

Edited 9 June, 20179 yr by Gizmo
link broken

2 hours ago, Gizmo68 said:

 just trying to be an impartial and objective review of the good and not so good points of the Kodiaq.

I think you have achieved that objective.

There certainly are some quality issues that need sorting on mine, although I don't have the chrome issue (yet!)

How does it compare to your Superb regarding road and wind noise on various surfaces/speeds ?

I think the Kodiaq is pretty well refined in that area, but never having driven a Superb I don't know how it compares.

 

Road noise is about on par with the Superb and really is no issue at all, we covered around 100 miles in the Kodiaq and only when we got back in the Yeti do you realise how quiet the Kodiaq is, not to mention how much better the suspension absorbed the crap roads in Kent, the ride is slightly firmer than my Superb but I do have the option of DCC so I can stiffen the Superb up or make it more comfortable.

 

Is it better than a fully specced up L&K Yeti? without a doubt,

is it better than a specced up L&K Superb? not quite...but it is close and if you never ride in the back then you may not notice the difference.

Speaking of which I also did the last 5 miles in the middle row of seats and they were very comfortable and getting 3 adults in there is easily doable if a little cramped, the rear most seats however are best left for kids as they are not that easy to get into!

Stick with your Yeti & leave the bear to those of us who love it to bits 

I have a few comments on your review:

 

1. Battery cover: Normaly they have a "plush" cover, from the material the case is on your picture, but here it has been removed. This is normal on test cars, due to many "testers" test the cars electronics with engine off and can deplete the battery and removing the cover makes the replacement/recharge easier.

I personaly don't see the need for a battery case, when the battery is located in the engine bay. It's only in the way when you want to replace/recharge the battery or require some work done on the engine, which requires removal of the battery.

 

2. 360deg view: In my personal opinion this is more a fancy toy than a must have option. The combination of front+rear sensors and a rear view camera (SUV rear visibility is abysmal, due to small rear window and high bumpers) is more than sufficient.

 

3. ACC: Here and in many countrys ACC to 160km/h is standard on high spec models (210km/h is optional), aswell as all around parking sensors and heated washer nozzles ammong other things. We don't get the standard 7 seats in any configuration though, which i think is better, because those who want those extra 2 seats can add them as extras, or leather seats for that matter. The standard specs are determined by each countrys general Škoda importer and distributer on sale statistics of previous models.

 

4. Kodiaq vs Superb: Superb in general is more stylish on the interior because it goes against the likes of MB E-class and BMW 5-series bussines classes, while Kodiaq targets at family cars from Hyundai Santa Fe and Kia Sorento to Nissan X-Trail, Honda CR-V and even Land Rover Discovery Sport for alot less price. Tell me, would you buy a Škoda, if it was similar priced as a Audi Q5, BMW x3, MB GLC or Land Rover Disco? Offcourse not and Škoda knows it. Frankly i'm surprised they put out a SUV this size that costs the same as a sedan (Superb). This is a family car and most of the time, children will be seating in the back seats and those "cheap" hard plastics are actualy easier to clean than soft ones and you can hardly notice them. On the other hand, how much more expensive would it have been to put soft plastics there? Probabaly not much, it's probably a relic from the Tiguan.

 

5. Rust spots: Have you gone over them with your finger, because they look alot like dirt rather than rust. If you look very closely into the white triangle reflection in the left corner, you can see the pattern continues down to the paint (same picture). After wash/rain water droplets eveporate and leave a circular patern of dirt behind, that's why you need to polish your chrome for it to shine (after wash/rain with a clean cloth, here and there with a special low abrasive paste for hand polishing - not maschine!). And the car was recently washed in a hurry or left in the rain (see plastic trims on the bottom of the door). Looking at your pictures the car wasn't very clean to begin with and if this car was on the VIP event than organisers should be ashamed to bring a car like that. It should be spotless!

If you went over the chrome with a piece of cloth or your finger and the spots didn't "rub off" and felt coarse, that this is rust and like you said unacceptable! Especialy for a VIP event. In my opinion, this is just dirt, same as on the plastic/rubber trim on the bottom of the doors and if the dealer told you it's rust shows how qualified the dealers actualy are.

 

6. Steering noise and my test drive: It's a fault, shouldn't be there. 

 

My test drive:

I went on a long test drive incorporating city driving, highway and a little off-tarmac driving with lots of holes and bumps before i ordered mine. Was about 2-3 hours of driving and about 60km covered.

 

No DCC, 18" wheels, 2.0 TDI 190 4x4 DSG (Style, which is between SEL and Edition). 10% slow driving off-tarmac, 50% city driving (start/stops, up to 50km/h), 40% highways (up to 150km/h). Fuel consumption at about 7L/100km. This is normal driving (relaxed in city and agressive when overtaking). Could be lover after break-in period (car only had about 800km on the clock) and higher with aggresive driving in sport mode.

 

It was very smooth over bumps, very quiet apart from wind noise on the highways going faster than 130km/h. Engine was silent, on idle didn't even know it was on when talking to a friend in the car (radio off), very quiet until 2500-3000 RPM engine speed, nice roar on high revs. Dislike the START/STOP function so turned it off after a while, otherwise very smooth functionality.

 

BE WARNED, ECO MODE! In eco mode the throttle response is non to speak off. You need to put the pedal to the metal for it to move and that it goes into kick down and back to 7th gear to cruise. It constantly shifts between 7th gear and 3rd in city. AVOID ECO MODE! In city driving will always kick down and reaction time is slow while on the highway you can't coast due to the wind resistance of the car slows it down considerably, unless descending down a steep hill. Use normal mode, because leaving it in sports mode you will never get to use the 7th gear ,won't be quiet and the fuel consumption will get close to 9l/100km.

 

ONE MORE THING! If you turn off START/STOP manualy with the button, the car goes automaticly into ECO MODE. You need to select normal mode after you turn off START/STOP (car manual page 250 /eco mode). To avoid this, on DSG transmission, only LIGHTLY press the brake pedal with START/STOP function ON and the car WILL NOT TURN OFF. You can also leave the seatbelt un-fastened, but that is unadvisible due to safety reasons.

 

Steering was quiet at low speeds even over bumps and very smooth (almost too smooth, very little feedback) so that's a problem on the test car, because the first test cars on Mallorca had a servo "squek" on max turn which is a fault and was fixed.

 

Didn't even try sport mode because it's a 2t SUV with a 2.0L engine, nothing sporty about that. 

 

Transmission is very smooth even in city, when you get used to the fact that DSG drives differently than a slush-box. The Haldex coupling does the job very well at predicting wheel slip, i didn't notice any wheel slip even when accelerating agresivly from stop on a slipery surface.

 

Full LED lights are fantastic and they turn on in highway iluminated tunels very precisly. Didn't have the chance to try them in actual nighttime though.

 

The on-board computer is very fast and very reactive. The Canton sound system is very good. 

 

Tried the Amundsen navigation and it's quite accurate, smooth and nice to use. And even though the car doesn't have VW digital cockpit, the MaxiDOT displays all relevant information when using navigation, like where to turn, when to turn and in which lane you need to position yourself more than 200m up front on bigger crossroads, which i think is realy nice.

 

 

 

Now that i look back on my post, looks less than 50cents and more like 5 bucks worth :p Text-ammount wise :P 

 

https://www.driving.co.uk/car-reviews/clarkson/clarkson-review-skoda-kodiaq/

 

This is what i think happened to Clarkson. He was driving in ECO mode the entire time because he didn't know that turning off STOP/START function automaticly puts you in eco mode. And you know he turned that off :P Because the 2.0 TDI is quite brisk and the 2.0 TSI is even briskier.

 

"So you put your foot down a bit more and the sensors get busy once again before deciding that moving off would cause someone to have bronchitis. So you mash your foot into the firewall, which causes the sensors to think, “OK. He really wants to move, so I’ll select seventh gear, which means it’s all done nice and slowly and with minimal damage to Mother Nature.” " - ECO mode-> constantly shifting into 7th gear, needs kick-down to move, in example you need to press the throttle realy hard

 

 

Edited 18 June, 20179 yr by McGyles

14 hours ago, McGyles said:

ONE MORE THING! If you turn off START/STOP manualy with the button, the car goes automaticly into ECO MODE. You need to select normal mode after you turn off START/STOP (car manual page 250 /eco mode).

 

 

Were did you find this information ?

On page 250 of my manual it says "If the START-STOP system is deactivated manually, this will be automatically

activated." (when selecting Eco mode).

It does not say that disabling stop start puts the car in eco mode ....

It means exactly the opposite in fact...

 

16 hours ago, McGyles said:

I have a few comments on your review:

 

1. Battery cover: Normaly they have a "plush" cover, from the material the case is on your picture, but here it has been removed. This is normal on test cars, due to many "testers" test the cars electronics with engine off and can deplete the battery and removing the cover makes the replacement/recharge easier.

I personaly don't see the need for a battery case, when the battery is located in the engine bay. It's only in the way when you want to replace/recharge the battery or require some work done on the engine, which requires removal of the battery.

 

The top of the battery cover =on my Superb is attached to the rest of the cover, this is the only cover I have looked at on a Kodiaq however so you may be right that it has been removed?

 

The reason they are covered fully is to prolong the battery life when it gets really cold.

 

2. 360deg view: In my personal opinion this is more a fancy toy than a must have option. The combination of front+rear sensors and a rear view camera (SUV rear visibility is abysmal, due to small rear window and high bumpers) is more than sufficient.

 

The car we drove did not have park assist (or more importantly the extra sensors in each wheel arch) with such a big car where the front cannot be seen, let alone the rear, by the time the PA and rear camera has been added you may as well go the whole hog and spec the Area View IMO.

 

3. ACC: Here and in many countrys ACC to 160km/h is standard on high spec models (210km/h is optional), aswell as all around parking sensors and heated washer nozzles ammong other things. We don't get the standard 7 seats in any configuration though, which i think is better, because those who want those extra 2 seats can add them as extras, or leather seats for that matter. The standard specs are determined by each countrys general Škoda importer and distributer on sale statistics of previous models.

 

We can now spec all trim levels with just 5 seats.

 

4. Kodiaq vs Superb: Superb in general is more stylish on the interior because it goes against the likes of MB E-class and BMW 5-series bussines classes, while Kodiaq targets at family cars from Hyundai Santa Fe and Kia Sorento to Nissan X-Trail, Honda CR-V and even Land Rover Discovery Sport for alot less price. Tell me, would you buy a Škoda, if it was similar priced as a Audi Q5, BMW x3, MB GLC or Land Rover Disco? Offcourse not and Škoda knows it. Frankly i'm surprised they put out a SUV this size that costs the same as a sedan (Superb). This is a family car and most of the time, children will be seating in the back seats and those "cheap" hard plastics are actualy easier to clean than soft ones and you can hardly notice them. On the other hand, how much more expensive would it have been to put soft plastics there? Probabaly not much, it's probably a relic from the Tiguan.

 

I really do not care what badge is on the from and rear of the car, I’m looking for VFM with good quality and lots of kit, the Kodiaq is being presented as the new flagship model... until it surpasses the Superb in ALL areas of tech then it is not a flagship model IMO despite costing more than the Superb.

 

 

5. Rust spots: Have you gone over them with your finger, because they look alot like dirt rather than rust. If you look very closely into the white triangle reflection in the left corner, you can see the pattern continues down to the paint (same picture). After wash/rain water droplets eveporate and leave a circular patern of dirt behind, that's why you need to polish your chrome for it to shine (after wash/rain with a clean cloth, here and there with a special low abrasive paste for hand polishing - not maschine!). And the car was recently washed in a hurry or left in the rain (see plastic trims on the bottom of the door). Looking at your pictures the car wasn't very clean to begin with and if this car was on the VIP event than organisers should be ashamed to bring a car like that. It should be spotless!

If you went over the chrome with a piece of cloth or your finger and the spots didn't "rub off" and felt coarse, that this is rust and like you said unacceptable! Especialy for a VIP event. In my opinion, this is just dirt, same as on the plastic/rubber trim on the bottom of the doors and if the dealer told you it's rust shows how qualified the dealers actualy are.

 

They are not dirt, no amount of rubbing them would make them disappear, the trim is corroding, the car was not spotlessly clean by any standards but consistent with being washed the day before I would say.

This was not on a VIP event, we had that a few months ago, it was purely a pre-booked 24hr test drive mainly so see is SWMBO could get on with the size of the Kodiaq... which she did and looked very comfortable (not nervous) whilst driving.

 

6. Steering noise and my test drive: It's a fault, shouldn't be there. 

 

I agee and it was something that has been mentioned before on a youtube test drive.

 

BoxerBoy, I do not do reviews with rose tinted glasses on, they are warts and all, so where there are issues I am happy to point the out, likewise where praise is due it will be praised.

 

It is quite a big improvement over the Yeti (but then it should be as the Karoq will be the Yeti replacement) just not as good as it should have been IMO regarding std spec, which is why we are in no rush to change, lets see what the SportLine and L&K (if they do one) brings to the table.

The biggest issue at the moment is the lack of any decent colours available, Quartz Grey is nice as is the Moon White. (this is not just the Kodiaq though the Superb colour choice is no better!)

 

Hopefully before the end of the year we will know what the Yeti replacement is going to be, at the moment it’s between a Kodiaq and a Model 3.... quite different cars I think you will agree.

Yeah i completly agree with you the Superb is still the "flagship" model.

 

I'm seriously disapointed that that is actualy rust, like you said - completly unaccaptable.

 

The Yeti replacement is already out there i'ts called the Karoq and it's a smaller Kodiaq with removable 2nd row seats like the Yeti.

It does have the VW "Virtual Cockpit" though.

 

 

 

Ps: For your enjoyment, this is how NOT TO USE the car :P Russians, they are so.... russian :P

 

Although regarding that the tyres on the car are ****, that the engine is a petrol one (probably 1.4 TSI 150), that it doesn't have the "Off-road function" and that it's being driven by noob russians, the Haldex 5th gen unit is not bad.

On 19. 6. 2017 at 08:40, Mr Grump said:

 

Were did you find this information ?

On page 250 of my manual it says "If the START-STOP system is deactivated manually, this will be automatically

activated." (when selecting Eco mode).

It does not say that disabling stop start puts the car in eco mode ....

 

hmm, i missunderstood it than.....

 

Thought that regarding "this" in "this will be automatically activated." was meant for the ECO mode rather than the START/STOP function. English is my second language and I'm used to refer to an afformentioned system as "it" and "this" regarding to the chapter ie ECO mode.

 

Couldn't understand it why it would be like that and your explanation actualy makes sense.

 

TY for the correction

Edited 20 June, 20179 yr by McGyles