1,5 TSI with 7-speed DSG

[VAGCF]

I've put my money where my mouth is (just finalising the deal) and it looks very likely that I will soon be ordering a Volvo XC40.

 

Thing is with the Karoq is that even without the 1.5 TSI issues I never really felt excited at getting one. More just that I really needed a petrol to replace the diesel Yeti and that the Karoq was the closest available.

 

With the Volvo I'm getting what I want as engines, transmissions, FWD or AWD are common across all models and I don't have to have a panoramic roof to get a 2.0 petrol and I can have just FWD!

 

And I'm excited at getting one!  

[agedbriar]

Volvo still use the torque converter auto, don't they?

 

Edited 20 April, 2019 by agedbriar

[Georgina]

Hi, that's a good point, why are/why did Skoda continue to sell this gearbox/engine combo when they knew it was causing problems?  My Karoq went back to the dealer yesterday indefinitely again, as not only is the 'lumpiness' from a cold start worse than ever and the power been scaled back most noticeably  in Eco mode, but it also stalled on me and left me stranded at traffic lights last week.  Mitchell's (dealer) are a 'feedback dealer' for the factory in the U.K and the problems I'm having are being reported back to the factory for a fix.  Two of the servicing team from Mitchell's have been to Skoda HQ to liaise on how effective the first software upgrade was as mine and a Kodiaq were the first two they did.  I'm glad there finally is an acknowledgement that this engine/gearbox combo is a problem and it seems there is a lot going on at dealer/factory level.  I really don't want to give up on the car because I like it so much, but it's a 50 mile round trip to the dealer each time and if they can't solve the problem this time (third time back to the dealer) then I'll be looking to offload it.  It's not fit for purpose.  Will keep you posted.

[Raymondo111]

16 hours ago, VAGCF said:

I've put my money where my mouth is (just finalising the deal) and it looks very likely that I will soon be ordering a Volvo XC40.

 

Thing is with the Karoq is that even without the 1.5 TSI issues I never really felt excited at getting one. More just that I really needed a petrol to replace the diesel Yeti and that the Karoq was the closest available.

 

With the Volvo I'm getting what I want as engines, transmissions, FWD or AWD are common across all models and I don't have to have a panoramic roof to get a 2.0 petrol and I can have just FWD!

 

And I'm excited at getting one!  

After getting messed about last year when they withdrew the 1.5 TSI Edition I looked for something else, due to the fact that I lease my cars I tend to look for the best deals and came up with a Volvo XC60 T5 Momentum AWD, the Volvo actually worked out cheaper to lease than the Karoq. I have had the car for 3 months and didn't expect to get brilliant fuel consumption but I have to say that it's averaging 30mpg which for a big auto AWD drive car is reasonable, the gearbox can seem a bit slow but it's certainly not dangerous and if you put it into sport mode it reacts a bit quicker. I would have to say that it's probably the most comfortable and well equipped car that I have ever owned over the 50+ years motoring that I have experienced.

[VAGCF]

Yes, the Volvo has a torque converter auto which is another plus point. I loved my DSG in my Passat TDI (after the mechatronic unit was replaced!) and said I'd love to have a petrol DSG in a more sporty car but ended up with a manual  TT - it was in the show room and I bought it!

 

In our SUV/practical car  a torque converter is fine as driving will be leisurely and I'm not competing in the commuting grand prix anymore. I'm expecting 190 bhp to give it decent performance anyway even with a slower TC auto and there's always the paddles to drop down a gear as well as sport mode. Having an extended test drive this week but I've pretty much made up my mind already.

 

Best car I've had from a quality perspective was my A6 Avant Black Edition. Looked great and a lovely car to be in. The XC40 isn't in that league inside but still quality.

 

 

[User2]

Hello,

 

I have been following this post after ordering my new MY19 Karoq. It took a while to get it delivered since I am living in New Zealand.

 

My car was built on 19 Dec (so post WLTP) and has the 1.5TSI engine + DSG. I have had it for a couple of weeks and did around 1200km. I totally love the car and so far haven't had any problems. Outside temp are between 10-20C night/day.

 

My settings:

- Auto stop - On

- Auto hold - Off

- Driving mode - Normal

 

Best of luck to everybody, I hope you'll all get to enjoy your cars.

[Boldsam]

I was in the market for a new car for months and finally decided on a Skoda Karoq as I loved the test drive. Decided on the 1.5 TSI Automatic. With these current engine problems I'm reading about here, would it be wise that I just go for something else instead?

[kerbero5]

10 hours ago, User2 said:

Hello,

 

I have been following this post after ordering my new MY19 Karoq. It took a while to get it delivered since I am living in New Zealand.

 

My car was built on 19 Dec (so post WLTP) and has the 1.5TSI engine + DSG. I have had it for a couple of weeks and did around 1200km. I totally love the car and so far haven't had any problems. Outside temp are between 10-20C night/day.

 

My settings:

- Auto stop - On

- Auto hold - Off

- Driving mode - Normal

 

Best of luck to everybody, I hope you'll all get to enjoy your cars.

 

That's great to hear. I placed an order 2 weeks back hoping the newer engines would be fixed, or at least there would be a software update to fix. Due date is first week of July, so theres time yet

 

Anyone else have a 1.5TSI Manual or DSG and is not having issues, or they've been fixed by an update?

[Kodiaqman]

Hi All

My wife took delivery  approx 3 weeks ago of a build week 8/9 Kodiaq 1.5 Tsi  SEL with DSG 4x4.

In that short time the engine/transmission has been faultless. Very, very smooth, quiet and no hesitation or strange behaviour whatsoever. 

The weather has been mild to warm with the odd exception when it was down to 4 degrees in the morning.

Car has been stuck in traffic and also on the motorway and runs beautifully to date.

We are very aware of the issues many have suffered - but as of today none have shown up with our car.

Hopefully this will continue.

 

[Rooted]

Good news for those looking at a 1.5 TSI Kodiaq.

If Skoda have the same with all the Karoq, Scala, Octavia and Superb they are now producing then all should be fandabbydozzy.

[Breezy]

Ive now had my 1.5tsi DSG for about three months and still no issues at all except that its black and needs washing every twenty minutes.

[clivecoo]

1 hour ago, Breezy said:

Ive now had my 1.5tsi DSG for about three months and still no issues at all except that its black and needs washing every twenty minutes.

Likewise  I've  had my 1.5 DSG for 4 months 4000miles no issues its blue so only needs washing every hour. Great car.

[Hairball]

Before ordering a 1.5 DSG 4x4  yet to arrive I tested a manual 2wd  demonstrator  back in February to check what the engine was like and all seemed good although it was not a cold day. The Skoda dealer I visited  use demonstrators that tend to be less than or a little more than 3 month old so post WLTP I'd guess. The recently cleaned demonstrator was white so already needed a wash. I ordered a red one so hopefully won't require a full valet for the best part of a day.

[antonv]

On 23/04/2019 at 05:04, Boldsam said:

I was in the market for a new car for months and finally decided on a Skoda Karoq as I loved the test drive. Decided on the 1.5 TSI Automatic. With these current engine problems I'm reading about here, would it be wise that I just go for something else instead?

As you can see by the comments, most likely you won't face this issue. There are enough people running such car without any problems and they are not posting on the forums.

 

I had really similar story to people with their Karoqs but with my BMW F31, actually my experience was much-much worse. Two weeks after purchase got robbed (multimedia, steering wheel), 4 months in repairs, no replacement car despite original BMW Insurance, very bad quality repairs, they even forgot to finish all steps in repair process, drivetrain malfunction and power loss during residential area overtaking due to EGR "brains" overheating and dying (common and very well-known issue, detected by kangarooing, BMW takes the risk to kill some of us), steering wheel heating stopped working, recall on EGR with other official service (risk of fire), in which they forgot to plug in EGR pipe back and car was leaking fumes into the cabin (found it quickly by the smell, imagine if it was older lady driving this, she would die), rear differential oil leak on 40000km, and when I sold it on 45000km 3 years old in perfect condition they found diesel filter error in car memory and charged me for it... I drive like an old person just FYI. BMW Sweden was terrible, when I read what Skoda is doing in UK I never got such attention here. Other people had much better luck with BMW as you can imagine, hopefully the same applies to our Skoda ownership

[Sanqhar]

Skoda aren’t the only one to have auto gearbox problems

 

 

 

Tom

[Georgina]

Hello, having not had my Karoq since 20th April and with no timescale for a repair in sight I have rejected the car and ordered a Fabia SEL from the UK stock so as to bring this very frustrating six months of Karoq ownership to a close.  Skoda UK accepted the rejection not on the basis of the cold start/light throttle issues but because a service engineer at the dealership was driving the car when it 'hesitated' and was able to agree with and replicate the issues I had experienced since the software update was done in March/April. I am very sad at having to return such a gorgeous looking car which was loaded with add ons and extras, but out of 180 days ownership I had only been in possession of the car for 100 days.  The dealership have been truly amazing which is why I have ordered another car from them, and VWFS have also been great, I can't praise them enough.

 

I thank you all for your advice and comments and wish you all many happy years in your Karoqs, I'm truly sorry I haven't got one anymore!  I'm off to join the Fabia forum now

 

Best wishes

[OldKaroq]

1 hour ago, Georgina said:

Hello, having not had my Karoq since 20th April and with no timescale for a repair in sight I have rejected the car and ordered a Fabia SEL from the UK stock so as to bring this very frustrating six months of Karoq ownership to a close.  Skoda UK accepted the rejection not on the basis of the cold start/light throttle issues but because a service engineer at the dealership was driving the car when it 'hesitated' and was able to agree with and replicate the issues I had experienced since the software update was done in March/April. I am very sad at having to return such a gorgeous looking car which was loaded with add ons and extras, but out of 180 days ownership I had only been in possession of the car for 100 days.  The dealership have been truly amazing which is why I have ordered another car from them, and VWFS have also been great, I can't praise them enough.

 

I thank you all for your advice and comments and wish you all many happy years in your Karoqs, I'm truly sorry I haven't got one anymore!  I'm off to join the Fabia forum now

 

Best wishes

 

So sorry you have had these problems, and have been left with no choice but to reject the Karoq.  Mine is of April '18 vintage and It has been a good 'un. Refreshing  to hear that the dealer has treated you well.

 

My wife has a '15 model Fabia SE and is very happy with it, even now.

 

All the best!

[SimonAudi]

Georgina

 

What engine in the replacement?

 

Why not another Karoq - with different engine?

 

Just curious..

 

 

[Hairball]

5 hours ago, Georgina said:

Hello, having not had my Karoq since 20th April and with no timescale for a repair in sight I have rejected the car and ordered a Fabia SEL from the UK stock so as to bring this very frustrating six months of Karoq ownership to a close.  Skoda UK accepted the rejection not on the basis of the cold start/light throttle issues but because a service engineer at the dealership was driving the car when it 'hesitated' and was able to agree with and replicate the issues I had experienced since the software update was done in March/April. I am very sad at having to return such a gorgeous looking car which was loaded with add ons and extras, but out of 180 days ownership I had only been in possession of the car for 100 days.  The dealership have been truly amazing which is why I have ordered another car from them, and VWFS have also been great, I can't praise them enough.

 

I thank you all for your advice and comments and wish you all many happy years in your Karoqs, I'm truly sorry I haven't got one anymore!  I'm off to join the Fabia forum now

 

Best wishes

 

I'm doing the opposite of you with my Fabia going into the dealer tomorrow when I pick up a Karoq 1.5 DSG. The Fabia is a fantastic car in my opinion, my SEL has done a little under 50K miles since I picked it up three and a half years ago. It never missed a beat, no rattles no or issues. and good on fuel (mine has the now discontinued 1.2 petrol)engine). Due to a lower back injury I have to change car though. It will be missed. Good luck with the Fabia!

[Georgina]

On 21/05/2019 at 14:32, SimonAudi said:

Georgina

 

What engine in the replacement?

 

Why not another Karoq - with different engine?

 

Just curious..

 

 

Had to bring our long term car ownership plans forward by a couple of years, so I've gone for the Fabia in 1.0 TSI  95 manual as it will eventually be passed on to our son once he's at driving age.  Had I been able to keep the Karoq for the full 3 years it was always the plan to then replace it with a small car for our son to use, its just happened a lot sooner.  Got SEL spec though to ease the pain.  And my husband's Kodiaq is due for a swap at the end of this year, so he may well order a Karoq if the budget doesn't stretch to another Kodiaq (which is a totally amazing car).  He needs 4 wheel drive and high clearance as he does a fair bit of off road driving so Karoq might not be as practical.

[BramptonTrev]

We have a Karoq 1.5 DSG which we bought about 3 weeks ago (07 May 2019) with 4389 miles on the clock and registered 30 Nov 2018.  We have now driven 1000 miles.  It replaced a 08 Honda Jazz 1.3 CVT.

 

It exhibits the non-smooth running for the first 200m or so when cold and is then ok.

 

Our road a cul-de-sac a new development, a bit pack em all, so the road width is minimised, and is a downhill slope for 200 metres falling 15 metres with multiple turns down to the next road.  The car is parked on our sloping drive facing downhill to our road.  The rear bumper is about 1 foot higher than the front bumper.  So when you press the accelerator, the car moves off quickly. The drive is the length of the car, so it is an immediate put the brakes part on and turn 90 degree left onto the road - then travel 20 metres and 90 degree, right turn, then 60 metres and 90 degree braking left turn, then 30 metres, 90 degree braking right turn, then 90 metres and brake for a 45 degree left and 45 degree right type chicane (stops you arriving at the next road in a hurry!) then a 90 degree left or right exit into the main road.  So at this point the engine has had no work to do but manages to run unevenly/ a bit rough and has not got above 2nd gear.

 

Once on the main road, we can pull away up the gears to 30mph and the performance is ok - no rough running.

 

Down our road, the Karoq is a much worse performer than our previous 08 Honda Jazz 1.3 CVT and our Y reg Vauxhall Agila 1.2 manual - both these travel smoothly regardless of starting temperature.

 

It was not apparent on the test drive at the dealer's but then we sat in the car with engine running for 15 minutes whilst the salesperson went through a lot of stuff, particularly playing with the smart screen etc - so the engine was therefore warm when we set off.

 

I have the engine no (starts DADA) from the Service History Certificate.

I have also found a sticker on the engine (on what looks like a belt cover, driver's side) which has a number matching the engine number but starts DAD and preceded by MKB (i.e. Czech, Skoda) and also a date (24.10.18) and time stamp (07:07) - might that be the build date and thus build week number?

 

How do you find out the software version number?

 

The cold start aside, this is a lovely car.  It appears to manage more mpg (above 40mpg) than the 1.3 Jazz (about 36 mpg) and the 1.2 Agila (about 1.2mpg) - a high proportion of rural A roads and motorway and not much town stop/start and certainly no London type stop/start/stop/start.....

[Rooted]

@BramptonTrev

Really you do not need to do detective work, just have Skoda UK on the case, your car is not as it should be.

They will string you along, send you to a dealership and waste time but Skoda CZ & Skoda UK know exactly which vehicles / engines got what Engine Management / Mis-management.

[Hairball]

This is an observation only and not defending a known problem.

 

Back in the day before fuel injection and euro limits we had carburettors (the old analogue way to deliver fuel) that used to have a thing called a choke that used a richer fuel/air mixture to work when cold. Some of us may remember using a clothes peg to hold the choke out in our original Minis to keep the engine running rich until it all warmed up.

 

Then came fuel injection (think digital and sensors etc) and the choke knob was lost to history. This sensed the fuel mixture delivery and did what it needed to keep the engine running. All was nearly well.

 

Euro standards set limits over time resulting in fuel systems having to comply and now manufacturers  had to limit the smallest amount of fuel injected into the engine as much as possible almost stopping the coast on throttle fuel delivery like our old analogue carburettors did. In a nut shell fuel delivery almost became binary, either fuel in or no fuel at all hence constant throttle became jerky from smooth.

 

This was most noticeable on motorcycles in the mid 2000s where on or off fuelling of a small mass made huge differences to the way bikes worked. Larger mass vehicles would be affected less due to the inertia of the greater mass being driven. Until greater restrictions euro  applied. Thus engines are expected to warm up and respond at the slight sniff of a flame with the smallest of fuel and run perfectly. There comes a point when smoothness of driving at lower temperatures and current euro standards will reach an impasse. 

 

Anyway remembering the days of the old carburettors in my old (original) Mini and Triumph Dolomite 1500 (HL with over drive)  cold start and often warm smooth driving was a challenge. 

 

However none of the above is an excuse for the inability for a volume manufacturer to release vehicles in this day and age where expectations are that a car is like a light bulb, you switch it on and it goes. I do not know the latest euro standards but I feel that this is a problem that will not go away, more likely get worse. It's a challenge for the software and hardware  engineers with odd hair and sandals need to sort out. With the huge push to electric and hybrid vehicles the focus may well be  moving away from fixing perceived legacy internal combustion engine issues...

 

Wow, this was meant to be a short reply. I do apologise, 

 

Buyers deserve the complete support of the suppliers regardless. Apologies again for the what could be seen as a rant.

Edited 3 June, 2019 by Hairball

[rayx]

18 hours ago, BramptonTrev said:

MKB (i.e. Czech, Skoda)

 

No, it is German means engine code, only three letters even when fourth one is used ...

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorkennbuchstaben

 

https://translate.google.co.uk/translate?sl=de&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fde.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FMotorkennbuchstaben

[Zealboy]

For the record my Karok is a January 2018 1.5 TSI DSG. It was probably the first on the road in Devon and has now done 20k miles. 

Engine and gearbox have been smooth and totally reliable although I always turn off stop/start which to my mind is dangerous. I recently completed a 2600 mile round trip to Portugal where the car was faultless a  a real pleasure to drive for up to 10 hours a day. 

My only issue is I struggle to get past 40 mpg, but I don't hang about either! 

Great car.