Hi,

 

I've shortlisted the Karoq SE L 1.5 manual as my next car, but being new to Skoda's I'd appreciate some advice from you guys who already have one.

 

I'm likely to be ordering late autumn so firstly.

 

Is there a Face-lift or new mode due? (how far along the lifespan of the current model are we)

 

I'd really like the SE L beige interior but... (yes I have kids) is it a nightmare to keep looking clean or should I just go with the standard black and not worry about it.

 

I'm currently in a Kuga and the reversing cameras pretty good, with moving lines etc when you steer, what is the Skoda one like? Oh one downside to the Kuga's is it gets filthy and no way to  clean apart from manually due to road crap in wet weather getting on the lens, is the Skoda one similar?

 

Is the famous umbrella included, or is it a paid for extra?

 

Does the Manual have driving modes (sports/Eco etc) or is that for the DSG box only

 

I'll be going from (pretty good) Bi Xenon lights to the Full LED's on the Skoda, how are they?

 

I'm not sure I'll be able to  afford the heated windscreen, those of you without it, how quickly does your screen clear just using the fan.

 

Talking about the heater, does it take long to  get to  warmth, and how hot does it go.

 

Oh those heated seats, good (Ford ones were fine) or not

 

I'll likely ask other things as they occur to me, but I'd be grateful of any responses.

Hi tgo, blimey lots of questions there so I’ll do my best. Firstly, I came from a Kuga TX manual to the Karoq DSG - the camera is pretty much the same as the Ford, very good clarity, moving guide lines, still gets dirty even with the addition of a water jet, which I believe operates when the rear screen is washed.

As far as I know they still come with one umbrella, stored in a holder under the passenger seat.

LED lights are really good, if not excellent. The only downside is that as they run cold (unlike Xenons) they don’t dry out the misting up that sometimes occurs let alone melting snow or slush.

Push the boat out for a heated screen, especially as you’re used to one on the Kuga, they work really well. All cars should have them by default - much more important to see where you’re going, not where you’ve been.

Great heater on the Karoq. The diesel has an supplemental heater (ceramic I think) which starts to push out heat within a quarter mile. Not sure about petrol engines though.

Heated seats, again similar to the Kuga, they work fine.

The Kuga was a great car for me, it’s just that Ford hadn’t moved on at all when it came to the technology side of things enough to justify buying another Kuga, plus the fact that I wanted an auto this time.

Hope this answers a few queries.

 

I have owned a 1.5 SEL manual for a year now.

There have been two major problems with this engine: Kangarooing when starting from cold and complete loss of power when entering a roundabout in second.  My car has never really suffered the kangarooing except once but the power failure was very alarming.

Software patches are now available, and solved the power failure completely. Have a look at the " first gear problems" in this Forum that will tell you a lot more.

Umbrella is included must have cost all of £3.

Mode change is available I prefer Sport mode as more responsive and does not seem to harm the MPG.

LED lights fine but as said above they will not melt snow

The heater is only just adequate, again lots of posts on here about it.

Front heated seats are fine

Overall I like the car and have just completed a 1000+ mile round trip to Cornwall, returned around 40 MPG which considering the gusty weather was not bad. Plenty of power for overtaking and a quiet relaxing drive except for the standard Turanza tyres on mine that drum badly over poor roads, some owners have changed to quieter tyres.

Being able to remove the rear seats is a big bonus when lugging stuff around

If you are contemplating towing get the towing prep kit fitted before delivery as it will save you cash when fitting a tow bar.

 

Thanks for that, I understand that new 1.5's have a different engine code completely and presumably have been 'fixed' at the factory, so new Karoqs kangarooing should be a thing of the past?

 

I'm hearing conflicting things about heaters, some say good, some say bad. Is this a petrol/DERV thing?

Perhaps some more Petrol owners can chime in and let me know how they feel the heater performs.

MPG seems interesting. my current Kuga (ok it is taller, wider, longer and some 160 KG heavier...) does a  lot less MPG, I tend to do mainly short distance runs in a rural/suburban area and I have been known to  drive 'spiritedly' my long term  Avg for 2.5 yrs of ownership is something like 36 MPG 

 

On a long motorway run, driving  at 65-70 I have had up to 46, but around town, driving normally it's 23-26, If I drive like Miss Daisy I could perhaps  get high 20's.

 

How does the Petrol 1.5 Manual Karoq compare with that ?

1.5 SEL dsg

Reversing camera lines on my SEL do NOT move (bend). 

Pretty certain the diesels do NOT have a ceramic heater. 

Mpg for me is similar remembering it’s a dsg and I run with aircon permanently on summer and winter. I can get up and around 46mpg on a 50 mile dual carriageway run. A good average is 36 just local 3 mile runs and the occasional 15 mile country roads. 

My two previous cars were diesels but once my annual mileage went down to around 7,000 miles I bought a petrol. My 107,000 mile diesel Yeti was screwed by the “fix” and once the trust building measure ran out I dumped it.  In my view diesel particulate filters are flawed technology.

Have no regrets buying my 1.5 petrol. 

It could do with better tyres, I don’t like the Turanzas on 18” rims. 

 

Tom

 

 

I do less than 10k/yr and it's all generally low mileage journeys so DERV is out for me, I'd be getting the DPF replaced yearly probably, not a great fan of diesel anyway.

 

That 36 average looks like pretty much a 10 MPG gain then! perhaps more as yours is auto, although you may perhaps  drive very very carefully.

 

Does no one have the beige/White interior (don't think it's leather on the SE L, alacambra maybe? ) 

57 minutes ago, tgo said:

 

Does no one have the beige/White interior (don't think it's leather on the SE L, alacambra maybe? ) 

 

We have the option, at £250 it was an easy box to tick, looks great.

 

I give the front seats a rub over with 'Dr Leather' cleaning wipes every month, still looks great - however, no kids or dogs to worry about.

 

Heated too - along with the very reasonably priced heated steering wheel.

 

There was a note somewhere about not all the surfaces being real leather but I'm sure the ones that matter are the genuine stuff.

 

Edited 8 March, 20206 yr by Berisford

I have owned a 1.5 SEL Karoq for 18 months, and my comments are similar to those above - with one addition. If I were to specify a new car, then I would seriously consider the automatic-dipping headlights. I don't know how much that feature costs, but I experienced it on a Karoq Scout that I was loaned as a courtesy car for 6 weeks while the SEL was off the road when thy sorted out the software update. It seemed to get the timing right every time, whether meeting an oncoming vehicle or approaching a vehicle from behind. The only time it failed was when I was driving between a double row of reflective cones through roadworks - that seemed to confuse the system, and it didn't dip when it should have.

 

I have had heated windscreens on Fords and found them very useful indeed for clearing a frosted screen before setting off for work. Now that I have retired, there isn't the same urgency, the screen having been warmed by the sun by the time I'm up and about.

1 hour ago, tgo said:

I do less than 10k/yr and it's all generally low mileage journeys so DERV is out for me, I'd be getting the DPF replaced yearly probably, not a great fan of diesel anyway.

 

That 36 average looks like pretty much a 10 MPG gain then! perhaps more as yours is auto, although you may perhaps  drive very very carefully.

 

Does no one have the beige/White interior (don't think it's leather on the SE L, alacambra maybe? ) 

Yes I do drive carefully and rarely any traffic queues in and around Bury St Edmunds. Nothing like driving in a city. 

I check mpg “fill to fill” and the results are within 1 or 2 mpg of the car computer “since refuel” figure. 

 

Tom

26 minutes ago, Berisford said:

 

We have the option, at £250 it was an easy box to tick, looks great.

 

I give the front seats a rub over with 'Dr Leather' cleaning wipes every month, still looks great - however, no kids or dogs to worry about.

 

Heated too - along with the very reasonably priced heated steering wheel.

 

There was a note somewhere about not all the surfaces being real leather but I'm sure the ones that matter are the genuine stuff.

 

The configurator says 'beige upholstery' so I think it's different from the leather you can get on the higher models. My concern if it is fabric , especially with kids, it would be ... problematic

1 minute ago, tgo said:

The configurator says 'beige upholstery' so I think it's different from the leather you can get on the higher models. My concern if it is fabric , especially with kids, it would be ... problematic

 

That said, the pictures don't look fabric like  so I don't know.

29 minutes ago, StEdmund said:

I have owned a 1.5 SEL Karoq for 18 months, and my comments are similar to those above - with one addition. If I were to specify a new car, then I would seriously consider the automatic-dipping headlights. I don't know how much that feature costs, but I experienced it on a Karoq Scout that I was loaned as a courtesy car for 6 weeks while the SEL was off the road when thy sorted out the software update. It seemed to get the timing right every time, whether meeting an oncoming vehicle or approaching a vehicle from behind. The only time it failed was when I was driving between a double row of reflective cones through roadworks - that seemed to confuse the system, and it didn't dip when it should have.

 

I have had heated windscreens on Fords and found them very useful indeed for clearing a frosted screen before setting off for work. Now that I have retired, there isn't the same urgency, the screen having been warmed by the sun by the time I'm up and about.

 

I think (*at this time) the only extra I'm going to have is the TSR (Traffic sign Recognition) as the SE L comes remarkably well equipped as standard.

 

* possibly heated windscreen, but funds are tight hence picking the SE L to start with, to avoid having to get extra's.

16 minutes ago, tgo said:

The configurator says 'beige upholstery' so I think it's different from the leather you can get on the higher models. My concern if it is fabric , especially with kids, it would be ... problematic

 

Hmmm.....I'm suspecting there's an error (not uncommon) in the configorator v price list.

 

'Beige Leather' v 'Black Microsuede' has always been the option in the past - I see the 'Build your own' doesn't add any extra money for the Beige option.

 

You need to speak with a dealer and let them check on their order building system......it's not like Skoda to give anything away for free.

13 hours ago, tgo said:

Thanks for that, I understand that new 1.5's have a different engine code completely and presumably have been 'fixed' at the factory, so new Karoqs kangarooing should be a thing of the past?

 

Exactly. If you're looking at ordering a new 1.5tsi engine it's best leaving any mention of kangeroo's to the Bondi Vet.

Black or Beige microsude/leather is apparently the interior trim. Sounds hard to keep clean, anyone have it? Is it. or is it ok.

Interesting.......that picture you posted is without doubt the leather trim option. I didn’t like the feel of the micro suede trim and I’d like it even less in beige!

I would recommend heated windscreen over upgrading seats and traffic sign reader.  Far better and more useful spends of money 

I'm not upgrading seats. It will be whatever the SE L comes with. I'm just undecided if it will be black or beige. The £75 for the TSR is a  lot less than the £275 for the heated windscreen.

I have never seen beige suede in a Karoq but did so on the Octavia. From someone who likes lighter interiors, I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole. And that's the car I drive mostly with me being the only occupant. Forget dirty shoes or finger prints or whatever else, just imagine what the dye from your trousers is going to do to that seat. At least with beige leather ( which again looked awful IMO ) you can maintain the colour if you regularly wipe them clean, but that's not so easy with suede.

 

If I want to look for an option, I usually go to Autotrader or something and look for cars with that interior. It shows you 'real-world' effect rather than in some manufacturer publicity shot. I can't find a single picture of beige suede on an SE-L Karoq in this country. There are however several pics of Octavias with the microsuede - best have a look at them, should give you as good an idea as any of what the interior will look like after a few years.

Edited 10 March, 20206 yr by Guest

good post, I'll check out AutoTrader

The test Karoq I drove had Traffic sign recognition but I didn't like it. Instead of letting me maintain my top speed within the range of 5 to 9 km above limit (my usual strategy) it was constantly admonishing me of speeding, the message text replacing the numeric speed display that I actually needed.

 

Edited 10 March, 20206 yr by agedbriar

11 hours ago, agedbriar said:

The test Karoq I drove had Traffic sign recognition but I didn't like it. Instead of letting me maintain my top speed within the range of 5 to 9 km above limit (my usual strategy) it was constantly admonishing me of speeding, the message text replacing the numeric speed display that I actually needed.

 

Oh right.

 

I thought it would just let me know what the last sign it saw was, without dong anything beyond that. Is there a way to do something in settings ?

10 minutes ago, tgo said:

Oh right.

 

I thought it would just let me know what the last sign it saw was, without dong anything beyond that. Is there a way to do something in settings ?

 

Like in 'Waze' where you can allow a bit extra?

 

I wouldn't think so, the Skoda lawyers would have vetoed any such facility to break the law?

We have TSR on our Karoq and it doesn't alarm at all, it works exactly how you presumed it did. Same with the TSR on my Superb. I suspect its a setting but I've never needed to look as ours is off.

 

Get the heated screen if you can, its really good and you'll miss it if you don't.

 

Camera has a clearer jet that runs with the rear wash wipe and works pretty well.

 

Heater on ours (1.5 petrol DSG) warms up pretty quickly and works fine.

 

I'd go for the normal interior. We have 2 kids and a springer spaniel and the stock grey interior survives them well.

 

I realise its probably a budget thing, but the DSG and ACC are a really good combo.

 

To be fair, a stock SE L is pretty well equipped and I am sure you'll be happy with it regardless. 

 

 

On 10/03/2020 at 09:17, tgo said:

I'm not upgrading seats. It will be whatever the SE L comes with. I'm just undecided if it will be black or beige. The £75 for the TSR is a  lot less than the £275 for the heated windscreen.

I wanted the beige alcantara seats on my Karoq having seen it in a Kodiaq which I liked. I ordered it on my 2.0 Tdi SE-L in Jan 2018 but got an email 2 weeks later saying this was no longer an option, so I was forced to have black. It may be that they have now managed to capture more beige alcantaras so it is an option again. If you are worried about stains on the beige from kids, the black is no better as pale stains show up (sweets, crisps etc) just as much. The upside is that the alcantara is quite easy to clean.

 

Get the interior you want. ☺️