So, the weekend is finally here... time to get Yogi Bear from Newcastle (not Jellystone, sorry to disappoint!).

 

Of course, the weather has had its say in things. We were booked to fly easyJet from Bristol > Newcastle this evening, but that got cancelled (along with most flights from BRS) this morning. So, with the kids off school due to the snow, Plan B was put into action. We're now in the hotel in Newcastle that we had booked 2 hours before we should have left Bristol, having driven up here in the vRS in less than 5 hours (doing no more than 70mph). Once we were north of Worcester, the M5, M42, M1 and A1(M) were all clear... both of snow and traffic.

 

If there's one thing I'm going to miss about the vRS, it's how easy it munches miles and gets you to your destination. Really hoping Yogi will be just as relaxing (quite possibly more so with DSG and ACC and everything else!). Anyway, figured I'd write a small mini journal to let you all know first thoughts as I collect him in the morning then drive the 270 miles or so home.

Awesome stuff, enjoy the adventure

Take plenty of pictures.

Hope it went well and you enjoyed the collection experience Wiggo 

Edited 3 March, 20188 yr by Falkster

Home safe and sound yesterday evening... fantastic car and excellent service from Sean @ Silbury Skoda throughout the order process. Unfortunately, Yogi doesn't look anywhere near as shiny as this any more.

 

I'll post some more detailed thoughts when I get chance - today has been spent getting the vRS all cleaned up and cleaned out, ready for BCA to collect tomorrow.

 

Love the colour  

That photo really doesn't do the colour justice - it's definitely more of a teal blue/green, looking blue in darker conditions and more blue-green (but definitely not green!) in bright sunshine. It is absolutely gorgeous in my opinion, and the chrome bits compliment it very nicely.

 

Anyway, colour aside, I am seriously impressed so far. On the 275 mile drive home, it averaged just under 40mpg at a steady 65mph or so for most of the way. The engine and DSG box are silky smooth and exceptionally quiet (such a change from the diesel vRS), and the refinement is a step up from anything I've owned, including the BMW 1 series I had before the vRS. The lane assist is far less aggressive and intrusive than it is in the vRS, and the steering on 'sport' mode isn't as heavy (which is good because it suits me for all purposes, rather than having to switch between 'sport' and 'normal' like I did in the vRS). The ACC is awesome, and I even plucked up the courage to let Yogi bring himself to a stop whilst following the Mrs in the vRS as we came off the motorway and slowed/stopped at the top of the slip road - foot hovering over the brake pedal nervously of course! The cross traffic thing works brilliantly when reversing out of parking spaces. Area View might seem like a gimmick on paper, but it is actually very useful (especially when you have a shiny new car!)... I would certainly say the rear camera is almost essential given the lack of rear visibility for such a big car. Leather seats feel very luxurious, cabin is a nice place to be, and there is acres of room.

 

Final thing to mention (for now!) is the Columbus infotainment unit. Quite simply, it's awesome, and leaps and bounds ahead of the Columbus in the vRS. The screen resolution and clarity is superb (same goes for the maxi dot), and the Home screen showing map, phone + media is brilliant. There are loads of small but noticeable changes and improvements which have gone a very long way to getting rid of all things that annoyed me about the unit in the vRS. In fact, it's so good that I'm not sure I will bother too much with CarPlay - and this from the bloke that had CarPlay as a 'must' on his shopping list. Haven't played around with the Infotainment Online stuff much yet, but the Skoda Connect bit is really clever and impressive.

 

Pretty sure I'll think of more stuff as the week goes on, but so far I'm absolutely loving it. About the only downside so far is that lack of rear visibility due to the small rear window and size, but as you don't spend too much time going backwards, it's not a major thing. Oh, and the armrest / cubby thing in the front - you can't leave stuff in there because it's visible even with the arm-rest down. But there's an extra glovebox so that makes up for it.

 

And I'll post some more photos once I've cleaned him up a bit - he's absolutely filthy after the drive home.

Looking very nice.

 

How does the 150PS 1.4TSI engine cope with the Kodiaq's weight?

 

I'll be going for this engine (but manual box) and its the only thing that I haven't had a chance to try yet (no test drive).

I had one for a few days and thought it was very good engine considering the cars size around town/villages but when I went on the motorway I realised why it pulled well through the gears. It was only doing about 27mph per thousand rpm in top gear, therefore on the motorway it was much higher in the rev range at 70 mph. Which will effect mpg if you do a lot of motorway travel.

Edited 5 March, 20188 yr by Danny 57

10 hours ago, silver1011 said:

How does the 150PS 1.4TSI engine cope with the Kodiaq's weight?

 

No problems at all. It's not a vRS (although I never thought the diesel vRS was particularly 'fast'), but when I had to pull out from a petrol station with no slip road on the A1, it shot off quick enough (that's the one and only time it has been anywhere near the redline so far).

 

Having had a test drive in both the 4x4 manual and the 2wd DSG, I'd go for the DSG every time. It's a big comfy sofa on wheels and you really don't want to be bothered with boring things like changing gear (or pretty much anything if you have ACC and all the other assist systems!), you just want to relax and enjoy the journey . I was nervous about ordering it as it's my first auto, but don't regret it one bit so far. Also, 2wd DSG is cheaper than 4x4 manual, so if you don't actually want/need the 4x4...

On 05/03/2018 at 23:25, Danny 57 said:

I had [a 1.4] for a few days ... but when I went on the motorway I realised why it pulled well through the gears. It was only doing about 27mph per thousand rpm in top gear.

That sounded rather low-geared, so I just checked out mine (a 1.4 150 DSG, in case it makes a difference).  From the dashboard readings, it's about 31.5 mph per 1,000 revs in top (sixth).  That's not at all low-geared for a petrol engine.  

 

(Diesel  models will have a higher ratio, but that's only to be expected, given that they develop max power, and reach their limit, at much lower revs than petrol engines.)

5 hours ago, DaveMiller said:

That sounded rather low-geared, so I just checked out mine (a 1.4 150 DSG, in case it makes a difference).  From the dashboard readings, it's about 31.5 mph per 1,000 revs in top (sixth).  That's not at all low-geared for a petrol engine.  

 

(Diesel  models will have a higher ratio, but that's only to be expected, given that they develop max power, and reach their limit, at much lower revs than petrol engines.)

 

I had (think) the manual gearbox and had forgotten that rev/mph ratio. Just so used to a more relaxed engine speed at 70-80mph.

I'm going for a test drive in a 1.4 TSI manual this morning and will be sure to try it at higher speeds if possible.

Car looks great Wiggo. So glad I went with the Petrol blue and black leather as well.   Will finally be picking mine up Tuesday morning, so only 4 more sleeps.

 

Silver1011, when I had an extended test drive in the 1.4TSi 150 DSG it cruised along the motorway at 80mph with no problems. Very quiet and well planted for a vehicle of its size.   I've been following Kodiaq forums for real driver reviews of the 1.4 engine and as yet have not found any adverse comments.

Just come back from a sneeky peek now it's at the dealers.  Only two more sleeps now, roll on Tuesday morning!!

Very nice. Yogi is now that colour again after giving him a good wash this afternoon. Still waiting on some decent light to try snapping a few pictures though - nothing I've taken or seen so far has done the colour justice. You'd swear looking at pictures that it's simply a dark blue, but it really isn't. Maybe it's one of those colours you just have to see in real life.

Yeah, that's what I love about the colour. It changes hue in different lighting. In bright sun light it's really spectacular.

First sunny day since getting Yogi, freshly cleaned, and yet he still just looks blue in a photo, even on the bits in direct sunlight!

 

You've missed a bit 

Nice, thanks for sharing.  Ours is built sometime this week   How are you finding the 1.4 at the moment?

 

I've been in a Fabia redline for a little while, with a little 3-pot 1l with has surprised me with it's performance for such a small thing.  Just been put into an A6 Avant for a little while during some warranty work on my Superb which is a whole different world from the Fabia

1 hour ago, silver1011 said:

You've missed a bit 

 

Nah, he got cleaned on Friday, so is already starting to look mucky round the edges 

12 minutes ago, exFiesta said:

How are you finding the 1.4 at the moment?

 

The engine is absolutely brilliant - quiet, refined, plenty powerful enough for the task. I just need to get to grips with the DSG 'box, for long distances it is fantastic - for driving round town, not so much in my honest opinion... but that may just be me not being used to it as it is my first auto.

8 minutes ago, WiggosSideburns said:

 

The engine is absolutely brilliant - quiet, refined, plenty powerful enough for the task. I just need to get to grips with the DSG 'box, for long distances it is fantastic - for driving round town, not so much in my honest opinion... but that may just be me not being used to it as it is my first auto.

 

Good to hear.  I felt like that would be the case in the test drive, but that was about 1h30 so a bit of a guess.  What are the main issues for you with DSG around town?  I remember it took time to adjust to DSG for roundabouts and such to time hitting throttle with getting the output you're after (plus being light enough on the brake to not activate the start stop).

 

I've found the start stop on the Audi to be particularly annoying as it is super sensitive and shuts down the engine at any opportunity (not strictly DSG, but is related to having it).  Is it the same on the Kodiaq?

Edited 25 March, 20188 yr by exFiesta

4 minutes ago, exFiesta said:

What are the main issues for you with DSG around town?

 

In some ways, it's much better because you don't have to think about gears, but at other times it is annoying because it doesn't change gear when I think it should (but that may be more down to me also going diesel > petrol, so completely different driving style!). I think the main issue I have is when trying to park / manoeuvre the car, especially going between D and R - when you stop it cuts the engine, then starts it again when you switch gears. But that's moving into your next point...

 

7 minutes ago, exFiesta said:

the start stop on the Audi to be particularly annoying as it is super sensitive and shuts down the engine at any opportunity

 

Yes, it's the same in the Kodiaq. I've managed to control it sometimes - gentle stop with minimal brake pedal pressure and it doesn't trigger, then push hard on the brake and it does. But at other times, it has triggered whilst I'm still slowing down (at about 1 or 2 mph), then if I don't come to a complete stop because I'm only braking slowly, the engine starts again, then when I do stop (only max. a couple of seconds after the engine stopped the first time), it then refuses to stop the engine, but eventually does so after I've been stopped for 10 seconds or so.

 

It was so much easier to control the start/stop in the Octavia, because it wouldn't trigger if you left the car in gear with your foot on the clutch - so you could be in complete control over when it activated. With the DSG 'box, although you should be able to control it with light/heavy pressure on the brake, it doesn't always work as you think it should/will.

 

And back to manoeuvring - the 'auto-hold' is excellent for normal driving and fits into the whole laziness thing of DSG and all the other electronic aids... not having to think to engage the handbrake so you can take your foot off the brake is really nice. But then when you're trying to park, it engages when you're creeping, and every time you switch between D and R, which makes it a pain. So I turn it off then, but forget to put it back on, which leads to a heart stopping moment when the car starts moving off the next time I go out and stop at the first junction / set of lights and take my foot off the brake!

 

I'm pretty sure that a lot of this is me just getting used to things / learning how to drive a DSG properly / etc, but I'm sure there must be a slightly more 'simply clever' way for things to work. Another really annoying example - I have Area View, and when you engage reverse it turns the rear camera on, but then when you move to D to continue your parking manoeuvre, it doesn't automatically switch to the front camera... that would be really nice if it switched between the two automatically.

I expect you're right, a lot of it will be getting used to the various aids and the change from diesel to petrol.  Will have to see in a few weeks time