Having had my Karoq Edition a few months now, I find the 19 inch Crater wheels a bit hard on some local roads but fine on good A roads and the motorways.  I have seen comments regarding getting smaller wheels which improve ride quality.  So, I am hoping to get some winter tyres on smaller wheels.  I did see recently a post by ‘Kodiak’ from the Poole area, that a set of 16” wheels and a space saver was for sale.  If they are still available, please let me know.  (Would have asked the gentleman, but cannot find the post now)

 

thanks

Personally, I'd look for a set of 17's.  The clearance from brake calliper to wheel rim can be a bit tight on 16's, if you have 312 mm discs on the front.  I know our 190 TDI has that size of disc, yours may be different.  

Also 16's will have higher tyre side walls which will, as you've suggested, soften the ride quality.  You will however lost some steering precision.  

 

Over the years, I ran 16's, 17's, 18's and 19's on three successive Mk1 VW Tiguans and concluded that for me, 17's were by far the best compromise.  I'm now using the Audi Q3 alloys which I had on the last of the Tiguans

with Dunlop D5 Winter Sport as winter wheels to replace the OEM 18's on our 2019 SE L.   

 

Edited 18 October, 20223 yr by Schtum

Thanks for the quick response.  I did wonder from experience, what was the best size wheel as we can have 4 sizes to chose from, and you have answered that!

I am just looking at comfort now.  Done with GTi’s due to hard suspension and then I get an Edition with 19 inch wheels :-).  Having said that, I wanted the Edition spec and have not been disappointed!  Excellent car.  
So, looks like 17 inch is the way to go.  Many thanks.

ps nice wheels on yours and I do like the colour.  Suits the car.  Out of interest (as you have had 3 Tiquan’s) how do they compare to the Karoq you now have?

1 hour ago, Sid20 said:

 Out of interest (as you have had 3 Tiquan’s) how do they compare to the Karoq you now have?

 

We had three 4Motion Mk1 Tiguans between 2011 and 2019.  My wife was doing a sizeable mileage for work so we were changing them every 2.5 years or so.  We had a manual 140 TDI R Line with 19" wheels which gripped like the proverbial in corners but was gutless,

A Viezu Tuning Box woke it up a bit.  That also found its way onto the manual 170 TDI Match Edition on 17's which followed it.  It was quick and fun to drive.  Next was a DSG 184 TDI Match Line which wasn't quite so quick as the 170 + Tuning Box but good enough.

My wife used them as her work car and mobile office and I used them to pull a couple of trailers occasionally.  The Tiguans followed on from my wife's BMW 123d which was stuck in a snow drift for 3 weeks in 2010, outside our house on the Forth Estuary.  Hence the move

to AWD and winter tyres.

 

Hard to compare them with the Karoq.  They were relatively old technology, being based on the Mk5 Golf platform, as is my Yeti, rather than the MQB platform of the Karoq.  When the time came to change we test drove the new Tiguan but for the spec we wanted, it 

was going to come in at £40k plus and we weren't prepared to pay that.  

 

We visited the local friendly Škoda dealer who had kindly loaned us a Yeti for the afternoon in 2010 and then couldn't give us a delivery date for one, on spec.   When he heard what we were looking for, i.e. a 190 TDI Karoq, the DP said he just happened to have one that had just been delivered.

We tested a FWD 150 TDI and liked it.  They gave us a good price without any haggling on our part.  From memory, it was c £32k.  I half suspect our car was either a cancelled order or they were concerned about shifting it as the 190 is probably not most buyers' choice.  It's well specced with leather, heated wheel with flappy paddles, heated screen, reversing camera, space saver spare and they did us a good price on fitting an aftermarket tow bar. 

 

Almost 3 years later, we've only got c, 25k miles on it, rather than the 45k we'd budgeted for at the outset as, like many people during the pandemic, my wife decided she'd had enough of her senior management post.  

 

On reflection, apart from the newer technology, the Karoq is more comfortable, relaxed, and quieter.  It's a better long distance tourer, although the furthest it's been to date was a trip to Lincolnshire to collect a motorcycle trailer.  There are tentative plans for a trip to the Haute Loire in it next year.

The handling is much lighter and it's more chuckable.  The effects of XDS+ are very noticeable and it rotates very nicely in tight corners with very little understeer.  The only downside to that being that I managed to cook the front discs and pads at c. 18k miles on one particularly quick return trip of 280 miles across country.  It's now wearing drilled Brembo discs and Brembo HP pads on the front.   It is a bit bouncy when pushed hard on bumpy roads and I can see a set of KONI Special Active Shock absorbers in its near future and it might have the ECU flashed to see c. 230 bhp.

 

Other than that, it's probably the best car we've had in the dozen we've owned over the past two dozen years

 Have to say one of the best, comprehensive reviews I have read due to the fact you have run both over a long period. 
I just need to improve the ride and as you say, we will have great tourers.  230bhp sounds interesting!  We’ll save that discussion for another day!!

Many thanks

1 hour ago, Sid20 said:

 230bhp sounds interesting!  We’ll save that discussion for another day!!

 

At that point it might be getting on for being as quick as my old Mk5 GT Sport Golf 170 TDI which was remapped to 210 bhp and 330 lbs-ft.  That was great for overtaking dawdlers.  

wasn’t a red one was it?

Petrol version.  
Best car I have ever owned!  

Photo taken Aug 22.  No remapping, it was fast enough for me!

No, it was a 2.0 TDI which I bought new in 2008 to cheer myself up after getting back from a great holiday in California and Oregon.  

We'd had a RAV4 there for 3 weeks and I went car shopping thinking about one of those and came home having test driven one before I ordered another new Golf to replace my 8 year old Mk4 GT TDI.    

You wouldn't see torque figures anywhere near 330 lbs-ft from the 1.4  TSI engine even when it's remapped.  

 

 

👍.  Mk 5, had to be one of the best VW’s.  Hopefully my Karoq will be as enjoyable!