I’ve had my Kamiq for about 14 months and have decided it has to go. I didn’t do my research properly and the main problem I have with it is the low seating position. Also really dislike the mish mash of the infotainment display and even after all this time I find it just too complicated for me. The final straw is the poor dealer/service experience. I made enquiries for weeks regarding when the first service is due with the dealer saying a year and Skoda and the cars onboard computer stating two years. I eventually gave in to the dealer and took my car in for a service whereupon the guy on the desk stated it shouldn’t be serviced because it’s every two years. Normally I would have gave him my wrath but I thought what’s the point.

Anyway after looking at various possibilities including the new Hyundai Tucson and Honda CR-V it looks like I’m going for a Honda Hrv hybrid. I like the space and minimalist dashboard with plenty of standard spec.

I realise almost everyone loves the Kamiq and like most break ups the problem is me not her.

Hi Bill, service intervals really depend on your annual mileage and the service schedule being correctly set by the dealer during your PDI before handover to you.

If your annual mileage is significantly less than 10 000 miles, service interval should be on 'Fixed' annual servicing, otherwise schedule can be 'variable' - which is up to two years.  

But they all arrive on Variable / Flexible  so 24 months / 18,000 -24,000 miles interval before the First Oil & Filter Inspection Service will Appear.

(& oddly the Inspection Service might be there showing in 12 months, which confuses things)

 

But at a PDI's some chancers reset the Service Interval for Fixed Servicing @ Fixed so 372 days / 9,600 miles without asking the new owner if they want that.

Some will say because there is a service plan and so needs to be on fixed. 

They never say because they like to get more custom. 

Then there are those that do not reset to Fixed bit leave the Inspection service still in 12 months time.

 

Pity there are the idiots on Service Desks that know what their Workshop Staff do or do not know.

Oddly they are full time employees that deal with dozens of customers in a week and still never know anything.

1 hour ago, Warrior193 said:

Hi Bill, service intervals really depend on your annual mileage and the service schedule being correctly set by the dealer during your PDI before handover to you.

If your annual mileage is significantly less than 10 000 miles, service interval should be on 'Fixed' annual servicing, otherwise schedule can be 'variable' - which is up to two years.  

Appreciate your reply and sounds straightforward however I had Skoda telling me one thing and dealer the other 

As I’ve said went with dealer and went in after 12 months only to be told on arrival a service wasn’t required 

Now if two people on the same desk in the same dealership can’t agree what chance have you got

Anyway tbh I’ve had approximately 30 new cars in my lifetime and have never experienced the lack of support you get with Skoda 

I might not be going for the right option with the hrv but what I do know is that the Honda support and communication is far superior to skoda

55 minutes ago, roottoot said:

But they all arrive on Variable / Flexible  so 24 months / 18,000 -24,000 miles interval before the First Oil & Filter Inspection Service will Appear.

(& oddly the Inspection Service might be there showing in 12 months, which confuses things)

 

But at a PDI's some chancers reset the Service Interval for Fixed Servicing @ Fixed so 372 days / 9,600 miles without asking the new owner if they want that.

Some will say because there is a service plan and so needs to be on fixed. 

They never say because they like to get more custom. 

Then there are those that do not reset to Fixed bit leave the Inspection service still in 12 months time.

 

Pity there are the idiots on Service Desks that know what their Workshop Staff do or do not know.

Oddly they are full time employees that deal with dozens of customers in a week and still never know anything.

My onboard computer said 24 months as did Skoda only dealer said different 

Anyway it won’t matter in a couple of months as it’s gone

Cant be doing with low seat and ridiculously complicated dash controls 

Tell who please, Parks, Arnold Clark, West End or Henrys?

Any can do exactly the same thing and each and every time the employees act as though it is the first they have done it.

Parks and they have been really poor however I’ve had two Hondas and various other makes from Parks over many years without any problems so I might just be unlucky this time

Repeatedly asked Skoda and Parks to speak to each other without success 

2 hours ago, Bill65 said:

Parks and they have been really poor however I’ve had two Hondas and various other makes from Parks over many years without any problems so I might just be unlucky this time

Repeatedly asked Skoda and Parks to speak to each other without success 

 

We had issues with Park's Nissan in Ayr back in 2008 when we bought our Nissan Navara as it didn't arrive to spec nor were they willing to sort it without a fight. More recently had problems with the same branch's Dacia division when having our 2014 Dacia Sandero Stepway in for servicing, MOT, and it retaining water in a door. I've had problems with Ingram Skoda too, but that's down to the less than enthusiastic staff in my experience.

 

Had more luck with Arnold Clark personally, but my Mum primarily worked for the Fiat branch years ago (also with Toyota, Peugeot and others in Ayr), so that may have swayed my judgement a little bit.

 

So what is the best now with these new cars? I suppose it starts with 24months. Better to keep it 24 months for a petrol engine as it does not need much maintenance or still 12 months?

Yeah I kinda think the dealer support is more to do with that dealer/chain then the manufacturer.  Have to say I love my Kamiq, well appart from all the rattles and creaks anyway.  But, as with everthing, its personal choice and what you like.  I have a Honda Civic years ago and the dealer support was shocking.  Just goes to show.

13 hours ago, Omniking said:

So what is the best now with these new cars? I suppose it starts with 24months. Better to keep it 24 months for a petrol engine as it does not need much maintenance or still 12 months?

Still honestly don’t know went to and fro between Skoda and Parks who refused to speak to each other and on booking and attending at dealership for service guy on the desk did an about turn and said 24 months 

Imo it should be 24 months especially on a low mileage car like mine

Strangely others take the opposite view and state that it’s low mileage cars that benefit more from servicing after 12 months

24 minutes ago, ayrshiredude said:

Yeah I kinda think the dealer support is more to do with that dealer/chain then the manufacturer.

 

Dealer support is a make or break IMO. There's not much by way of support when I've required bits for mine, having been given a part number for door card clips one time and then the second time when I needed the part number for a part for the seat backs I was told "sorry pal, we don't give out part numbers". This was the same guy too.

23 minutes ago, ayrshiredude said:

Yeah I kinda think the dealer support is more to do with that dealer/chain then the manufacturer.  Have to say I love my Kamiq, well appart from all the rattles and creaks anyway.  But, as with everthing, its personal choice and what you like.  I have a Honda Civic years ago and the dealer support was shocking.  Just goes to show.

As you say personal choice. Many good things about Kamiq. I’ve not had any creaks and think build quality is great. Also looks good.

However I find driver position low seat uncomfortable and pedals offset 

When you add complicated infotainment, climate controls and sat nav into the mix it makes it hard to live with

Hope you continue to enjoy your car

20 hours ago, Bill65 said:

Cant be doing with low seat and ridiculously complicated dash controls 

 

That's an interesting comment as, having experienced two recent Civics and two Jazz's within the family I actually find their dash controls far more complicated than Skodas.

Low seat? Cant you raise it up a bit with the  height adjustment or are you small yourself ?

7 minutes ago, DManPoole said:

Low seat? Cant you raise it up a bit with the  height adjustment or are you small yourself ?

Raise the seat up😂

Im 5ft 11in maybe not explained correctly 

Ive come from Crvs and a Karoq and just find that it sits too low for me.

I find reversing in particular offers poor visibility 

im not on to criticise the car particularly I should’ve done my homework more thoroughly 

I realise I’m in a minority of one here (on a Kamiq forum and with journalists who love the car) 

Will leave it at that I realise people can get tetchy at even mild criticism of their chosen model

Enjoy the new car.

 

Skoda had them cheap enough for Motability to have them cheap for customers in the UK but they are no big success.

Simply it really is not a Crossover / or a small  SUV & they are just a hatchback no matter what the Media / Manufacturer call them.

Not easy in and easy out enough for many.

Skoda are shifting a good few to markets somewhere.

 

Lots of people seem not to realise that raising a seat means some can not see out the top of the windscreen. 

That includes car designers.

 

It is good that there are all sorts of cars to suit all sorts and sizes of peope and their needs, wants and likes.

 

 

Edited 19 December, 20214 yr by roottoot

19 hours ago, Omniking said:

So what is the best now with these new cars? I suppose it starts with 24months. Better to keep it 24 months for a petrol engine as it does not need much maintenance or still 12 months?

It may seem a little conterintuitive, but with low annual mileage, servicing should be annual - the reason for this is that most of the miles will have been on short trips, with the engine only getting up to temperature towards the end of the trip.   

Just taken delivery of a Kamiq SE  and agree it looks like a small SUV but is not ,the seating position is to low I agree there ,coming from a Yeti there is a big difference .Mine is DSG  so no issues reaching pedals ,but if it was a manual would struggle to press in clutch pedal with seat at its highest point short legs 30"  I do tend to sit close to windscreen to see over bonnet  ,maybe should have hired a car for a week to see if I gelled with it ,a short test drive is never enough time , It is just a car at the end of the day and can sell and move on and the way prices are and delivery times may not loose a lot .my Yeti only lost £1750 in 4 years of ownership . 

Big 👍 to OP for admitting it's his fault. Have to say though, spending all that money on a car without even sitting in it / test driving beforehand?

 

Having issues with the infotainment on the Kamiq? Well having owned the previous generation HR-V all I can say is good luck. Once upon a time I was a fan of Honda, bought three of them, then in 2015 I needed an SUV which was reliable - HR-V fitted the bill. There several good things, quite a few bad things, but biggest issue was it proved to be the most unreliable car I ever owned. One complaint I had was the infotainment. The signal range of the radio was very poor and used terms I didn't understand ( Honda do things in-house, they don't like conforming to standards ), the system was Android based but it was designed only to recognise Apple. There's plently of reviews to tell you how awful it is. ( I bought one of the first cars so very few reviews ). The sat nav was a joke - I think it was based on Super Mario arcade game, it was just horrible.

Both the dealer ( Phoenix Honda ) and Honda UK were useless at resolving the problems with it - I ended up selling the thing. I'd taken out the 5yr service and warranty package when I bought it ( £499 at the time ) but Honda UK said something u should be aware of. They admited there was a problem with my car ( it spent 1/4 of the time under my ownership in their garage ) but when I asked what happens if they can't resolve the problem in the next four years of warranty, they replied " You just have to keep bringing it back to the workshop". What I later found out was my car was built at Honda's plant in Mexico who's workforce had a poor reputation. I believe HR-V production has since returned to Japan.

 

So good luck with your HR-V, I hope it's not a dud like they one they sold me.

 

Servicing - Did you take out the £159 SKODA servciing offer ( 1st two services ) when you bought the Kamiq?  If so then that's probably where the confusion may have arisen.  VW group dealers really should be asking prior to delivery if your car should be set to fixed or variable servicing, but in my experience, most of them don't. Some leave it as it came from the factory ( variable ) some take it on themselves to set to fixed ( annual ).  Sounds like your dealer left it at variable but if you'd taken that service offer, that's only really applicable to fixed intervals. ( It's really bad wording on Skoda's behalf ).  At your mileage, you should have been on fixed or annual.

 

You wrote that if a car does low miles then the service interval should be increased? That's not how it works.  it's a decision you won't have to make with your Honda because regardless of mileage servicing is every 12,500 miles or 12mth, whichever comes first.

 

If you do buy the Honda, it may be worth taking out the £700 5yr servicng offer. If you don't, it'll cost you over £900 for the first 3yr if you choose pay-as-u-go. 

Edited 23 January, 20224 yr by kodiaqsportline

Thanks for your thoughts Kodiaqsportsline and a lot of what you say makes sense. However re service intervals, you can see from replies to the topic that there are many contradictory opinions. Even two staff on the same service desk at the dealers disagreed. It really shouldn’t be open to interpretation. 
I’ve ordered the new Honda HRV hybrid style with service package and this time I made sure I took a test drive. I was very impressed and believe the design, drive and infotainment has significantly improved from the previous model. Of course no car is perfect and the dashboard plastics etc look a bit cheap and not to the same standard as the Kamiq. It’s due to arrive in March so I’ve got the Kamiq for another couple of months.

 

Sadly I am not gelling with my Jan 22 Kamiq 1ltr 110 SE DSG  in Titan Blue  150 miles  has the full spare  and the 2yr service plan ,main thing is the seating my good lady cannot get a decent position as came from a Yeti ,so think I will need to sell it .any one want to avoid the 26 week wait . 

9 hours ago, kitchens said:

Sadly I am not gelling with my Jan 22 Kamiq 1ltr 110 SE DSG  in Titan Blue  150 miles  has the full spare  and the 2yr service plan ,main thing is the seating my good lady cannot get a decent position as came from a Yeti ,so think I will need to sell it .any one want to avoid the 26 week wait . 

This was the main problem for me , car just sits a bit low plus really struggled to get comfortable setting in the drivers seat. In Sept my dealer offered me a kodiaq Sel which had been built but wasn’t in the country. I took too long to make a decision and someone else reserved it. Now waiting on a new hybrid HRV but if it takes too long and I see Hyundai Tucson’s in stock I might cancel.