Good evening All, I am potentially (don't laugh) trading in my Golf Mk 7R for a nearly new (or new) 1.5 Karoq SEL in the coming weeks! My wife and I both play golf lots, so need something spacious, but also comfortable; my days of boy-racing are fading quickly lol!!!

I have done LOADS of research and seriously contemplating the Karoq! Anyway, just found out that the car will likely have 19" wheels (I did think 18s), so worried now the ride will not be much better than my current R, which is also on 19s! I do have DCC, love the car to bits, but want more comfort now!!

I can't have a test-drive for another 3 weeks still of course, but am I worrying over nothing, ie the ride will be much more comfortable than my R? OR, am I likely to need DCC once more for the additional comfort we want?

Apologies for the spiel, I'm just worried that we might have to go back to the drawing board now again!! :(

Cheers 

Andrew 

When we bought our Edition model in 2018 which runs on 19's I was also running a Golf R on 19" prets (non dcc) and the ride in the R was far harsher than the Karoq.

I don't find the ride in the Karoq uncomfortable at all so give one a try see what you think, the only way to be sure really.

 

Edited 12 November, 20205 yr by Nicky_P

You will only find out by test driving both, and ideally take your spouse and switch front seats half way around

 

But ultimately if you want comfort these days, then smaller wheels with deeper tyres might be better than DCC, think of tyre depth as primary bump absorber, and the springs as secondary bump absorber (one gets small ripples, the other the bigger irregularities), In practice they work together but to compare easier to think in parts

 

The (basic spec) Karoq is sold with 16 inch wheels in some European countries, and going up 3 wheel sizes is seriously reducing tyre wall

 

DCC?

DCC - Dynamic Chassis Control, ie. Adjustable suspension..

I assume that you HAVE to have the 19s? Can you not ask them to save themselves some money and put on 18s lol??

Cheers.  

1 hour ago, DSL said:

DCC?

Dynamic Chassis control (adjustable dampers that are electronically controlled), note it is the damping, not the actual springs so smooths the reaction to bumps, not absorbs it like deeper tyres can

 

http://www.skodamanual.cz/QR/Karoq-DynamicChasisControl.php
 

Edited 12 November, 20205 yr by SurreyJohn

5 hours ago, SurreyJohn said:

Dynamic Chassis control (adjustable dampers that are electronically controlled), note it is the damping, not the actual springs so smooths the reaction to bumps, not absorbs it like deeper tyres can

 

http://www.skodamanual.cz/QR/Karoq-DynamicChasisControl.php
 

Hi, and I assume that the tyres on the new 19s for the SE L won't be very deep?? :(

1 hour ago, gigolo456 said:

Hi, and I assume that the tyres on the new 19s for the SE L won't be very deep?? :(

For UK :
SE and SE Drive get 215/55 R17 94V tyres

SE L, sportline & Edtion (2wd) get 225/40 R19 93W tyres

4x4 versions get 225/45 R19 92W tyres

40 Profile tyres are great on flat showroom floors, but prone to damage if you use a potholed road

 

The 16 inch and 18 inch wheels are not standard in UK

But if you look at page 94 of this, has the full set : Vega, Crater, Mytikas, Braga, Trinity and Triton with both the 2wd and 4wd tyre sizes.  Page 86 has some others eg Ratikon, or 16 inch Castor alloy with tyre sizes

https://az749841.vo.msecnd.net/sitescscz/alv1/f54e767f-1b2c-4992-ad17-33e4b2f54179/karoq-katalog-2020-06.52cb1fc2d491fd7303e959900d0c70ad.pdf

 

Sadly in UK it is not easy to get the sensible size wheels as option, or specify all season tyres (ideal for UK climate) instead of summer tyres (not suitable in colder months).  Almost have to buy them as extras and hope dealer will take the unwanted size, otherwise end up buying 2 sets of wheels and tyres.

 

Glad I’m on 225/55 17s on my 4x4 SE, I’ve dropped the pressures on the front down to 36psi and the ride is excellent. 

In addition to going for smaller wheels deeper tyres to improve ride, recent reviews of All-Weather Tyres indicate that they nearly all ride better and are quieter than summer tyres.  Winter tyres are probably better still in these respects.  It's also a pity that adaptable anti-roll bars have not yet started to appear in cars in the Karoq price range.  I've read and do believe that anti-roll bars reduce roll but compromise the ride, as a wheel on one side of the car can't then move independantly of it's partner on the other side.  Say when one wheel only hits a hollow, it must pull down the wheel on the other side too.  Also the bar tends to act as an undamped spring, when twisted, leading to some extra bounce.

 

If I were buying a Karoq now, I'd definitely go for one with DCC and if I couldn't get it with 17" wheels, I'd immediately fit a set of 16" wheels with AW Tyres and store or sell the original wheels / tyres.  However I'm fairly pleased with the ride and noise levels of my 1+ year old 1.0 SE tech Karoq on 17" wheels with Bridgestone Turanza tyres, evern though those tyres do draw quite a bit of criticism in this forum.  I did test Karoqs with 18" & 19" wheels last year, but the ride and noise didn't suit me, but it's possible that the tyres had been at overly high 'showroom' pressures.  At least my current wheels & tyres will do for now, but when they wear out, I'll probably change to 16" wheels with All Weather tyres.  See these 2 items from the Tyres section for more discussion on all weather tyres and links to recent reviews.

All round good ones that I'm interested in, as they do well in reviews for ride and noise, seem to be the new Goodyear Vector 4 Seasons Gen3 and the Bridgestone Weather Control.  The Goodyear has better snow performance, but the Bridgestone even better ride, but may wear more quickly.  If you want an AW tyre that feels more like a summer tyre, the Michelin Cross Climate is the one to go for.  I changed to these on 16" wheels on my Yeti, but was a bit disappointed with ride & noise, even if there was some improvement over the old Dunlop summers - a friend actually found the ride worsened on his BMW Mini when he tried them on 17" wheels.  However, note that quite a few people here do like these tyres, even though I wouldn't now consider them.

 

 

If you fit 16” wheels they have to be 6j width to comply and not cause insurance issues?

Quite a change from the 19” 8j on my edition.

Having said that I will shortly be fitting the winter wheels and tyres left from selling my Yeti as I now know that I was sold the wrong wheels for that car as they are 16” 6j and not the 16” 7j which should be used on a Yeti.

 

The Karoq edition on 19” is better than a Yeti on17” and may even be better than 16” 

1 hour ago, kenfowler3966 said:

If you fit 16” wheels they have to be 6j width to comply and not cause insurance issues?

Quite a change from the 19” 8j on my edition.

Having said that I will shortly be fitting the winter wheels and tyres left from selling my Yeti as I now know that I was sold the wrong wheels for that car as they are 16” 6j and not the 16” 7j which should be used on a Yeti.

 

The Karoq edition on 19” is better than a Yeti on17” and may even be better than 16” 

Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised when I go for a test-drive, and I'll ensure it's a Karoq with 19s lol!! Can't imagine there will be much difference than the 18s, but time will tell i guess, and I've no doubt it will be softer than my current R lol!!

If you want comfort go for the edition with less extreme tyre profile and not the other versions?

54 minutes ago, kenfowler3966 said:

If you want comfort go for the edition with less extreme tyre profile and not the other versions?

Surely the wheels on the Edition and SE L are pretty much the same??

Unfortunately 2nd hand 17” Karoq rims seem to be pretty thin on the ground.  I managed to source 2 sets of Ratikons (5 for winters and one spare plus 2 extras), but not seen any more for a good couple of months.  There’s an overpriced set on ebay that’s been there for months, but that’s it apart from buying from overseas.

1 hour ago, gigolo456 said:

Surely the wheels on the Edition and SE L are pretty much the same??

I am not certain but posts on here previously started that the edition on 19” uses a 45 profile tyre as set up more for comfort whilst the SE L and sportsline  use a 40 profile. This means that you can't change those to the 45 profile as speedo is then incorrect as it under reads. There is someone on here very unhappy with his Sportline because of that?

 

38 minutes ago, kenfowler3966 said:

I am not certain but posts on here previously started that the edition on 19” uses a 45 profile tyre as set up more for comfort whilst the SE L and sportsline  use a 40 profile. This means that you can't change those to the 45 profile as speedo is then incorrect as it under reads. There is someone on here very unhappy with his Sportline because of that?

 

Ahh OK, so same crater wheels but different tyres??

I switched my wife's standard 18" Braga alloys with 215/50R18 Michelin tyres for the 19" Vega from my previous 2019 Superb Sportline with wider 235/40R19 Bridgestone tyres without affecting the speedo but economy is around 10% worse. Best economy on 215 tyres was 66mpg but only 60mpg on 235 tyres. Comfort still acceptable despite the drop from 50 to 40 profile tyres. Karoq SEL 1.5TSi manual.

Be interesting then when I swap my 19” wide wheels for my much narrower 16”winter tyres shortly. I don't seem to be able to beat 44 mpg on display yet driven sensibly.

On 13/11/2020 at 12:44, gigolo456 said:

Surely the wheels on the Edition and SE L are pretty much the same??

The tyre sizes are different for 2 wheel drive and 4x4 versions when 19 inch rims fitted