HI all, New to this part of the forum.  I currently own a MK7 (2016) Golf GTD which is the current in a long line of VW's over the last 15 years (12 of them between the wife and myself). Whilst my current car is brilliant and doesn't actually need changing yet, recently my VW dealer invited me to the launch of the new VW T-Roc. Whilst it's quite a good looking beast, there were two things that I told them would put me off. First was the lack of the new 1.5 TSI 150ps engine in DSG guise (manual only), if I want a petrol DSG, I (currently) have no choice but to go for the 2.0L 190ps unit with 4 wheel drive (which is overkill for what I need and nearly £32k base to boot). Second is the plain awful interior with no soft touch plastics anyway on the dash or door cards, and making the interior look and feel very cheap and nasty indeed.

 

What looking at the T-Roc however did do, was get me thinking about the next car, and it being a small SUV. I knew I didn't want a big car (so no Tiguan or Kodiac), but thought something about the size of the T-Roc (or maybe a little bigger) with it's slightly elevated driving position would suit me over the hatchbacks I have been running. This is in no small part due to the fact that I'm over 50 and just find taller cars easier to now get in and out of. This today lead me into out local Skoda showroom where they had a Karoq Edition sat there. Now I have to be honest and say in days gone past, I never really care for the huge grill and corporate face of Skoda's, but I have to admit, looks wise, the Karoq is the first Skoda that I can honestly say looks really nice from every angle. Whilst (according to the book) it's only just over 100mm longer than my GTD, it seems much bigger and certainly has a presence. However on sitting in the car and talking to the sales guy (who weirdly was very knowledgeable about the car - hmm never had that before), what immediately stuck me was the design and build quality of the interior. I think VW can learn some lessons from Skoda, as I thought it was brilliant with great quality plastics and soft touch areas where you need them.

 

Couple that with the standard equipment and I think I could be onto a winner. I recently priced up both a MK7.5 GTI and a Tiguan R-Line will all the nice toys (19" Alloys, leather, power seats, sunroof, sound system, keyless etc) and it came to nearly £40k for the GTI (well £39,125 actually) and well over £40k for the Tiguan. A Karoq edition with the 1.5 150PS engine with DSG, and nearly every option comes in under £31k. That's quite a saving. I know that the GTI is much faster (don't need that these days), and the discounts available will probably currently be greater on the Golf than the Karoq with it being so new, but I'm sure that will change over the coming months.

 

About the only thing the Karoq doesn't have (yet) as mentioned elsewhere in the forum is the Active info display instruments (that the Golf, T-Roc and Tiguan upper models all have as standard). But the sales guy assured me that it would be available (most likely as standard kit in the Edition model with a small price adjustment), from build week 22 this year (so May), which seems to coincide with what others have said. 

 

Anyway, all in all, I am left pretty stunned at how nice, well build, handsome and well equipped this little SUV is, and at a price that makes it really attractive. For me it would be a big change moving away from VW after so long, but from what I've seen, there is no penalty to be had at all in choosing Skoda over them these days. Just thought I'd state that.

Edited 24 January, 20188 yr by Sootchucker

Hi Andrew

 

You will be converted, more or less the same car at a discount. I don't think the Tiguan has auto dimming wing mirror glass either

I actually think the Karoq is the best looking of the three variants too

Hey Eddie - long time no speak, when did you abandon the VW fold for Skoda ?

In 2012 for a Mk2 FL Octavia vRS estate

 

Not sure when I will upgrade, but I'm liking the Karoq