I've had Skodas of one kind or another since 2009 and have always been happy with them.  I changed from an Octavia MK3 to a Karoq a year ago.  Car was a year old when I bought it.  It's a Karoq SE Drive with the 1.0 litre engine.  I'm in my seventies now so don't do as much motorway driving as when I was working.  That said, the car will easily cruise at 70mph when I do go on the motorway.  I find the Karoq an easy car to live with.  It's easy to get in and out of and is probably the most comfortable Skoda I have owned.  It is big enough (but the boot isn't as big as the Octavia's).  Like all modern cars, there's too much technology on it for me but I just use what I need and ignore the rest.  I bought a spacesaver spare wheel as those gunge kits are a waste of time in my view.  In short, it does the job for me and I am happy with the purchase.  The problem with asking about different models of car is you will get loads of different answers and opinions.  For me, I'd stick with what I know and feel comfortable with and would keep well away from the £40k road tax threshold.  That's far too much to pay for any car in my opinion.

^^^^ Helpful and very relevant if I did go Karoq. Ta.

On 16/01/2025 at 21:33, oldstan said:

Fairly regularly on here we talk about what to replace our Yeti with.

 

Mines coming up 14 years old.  I'm fond of it and will keep it until something happens that causes me to re-think it. It's low mileage and nigh on immaculate. It's a DSG.

 

But I was in Exeter today and Marsh Barton in Exter has the biggest collection of car dealers in Europe and it's tempting to pop in to one or the other every now and again.

 

The Skoda showroom is a reasonablr size, not massive, but has  a fair number of models to see.  There were two new Kamiqs in the showroom and having read the reviews and comparisons I sat in one for the first time. I'll be honest and say I won't be buying one - mainly as it's not quite big enough. The seats are definitely lower to the ground when compared to alternatives.  I didn't find it as easy to get in and out of as the Yeti, the boot wasn't tremenously impressive and the interior was a tiny bit oppressive compared to the Yeti.

 

They had no new Karoqs but had a couple of used ones. I sat in one of them and was immediately struck by the extra room behind the wheel, in the rear seats and in the boot. The extra height was noticable too.

 

The base model (SE Edition) has sensible wheels that aren't diamond cut and the tyres are a sensible 215 55 17. Theres no keyless locking, which is fine by me, and the mirrors power fold, which I'm happy with. but It has enough bits and bobs but nothing too extravagant.

 

In short, I quite liked it.  If I had one it would be a DSG 1500 SE Edition and might have a space saver spare wheel given that one is available. Metallic paint is extra if you don't want it in blue  (I don't).  It could well be suppied by Drive the Deal or Carfile. DtD is doing a good discount on them, better than Carfile although you would need to get it on PCP  and cancel it within a week or two to get the best price.

 

I've sat in a Yaris Cross, A Mazda CX30, a Puma, a Kia Niro and a new model Duster and I thought the Karoq seemed the best (for me) so far. Loads of front legroom in particular.  It achieved decent NCAP results in 2017 too, but that will be different now with a new, stricter NCAP regime. It had a nice familiar Skoda feel to it but that's neither here nor there.

 

Apart from the five models I noted in the paragraph above I have also wondered about the Citroen C5 Aircross. Honda CRV and VW T Cross or T Roc.

 

Of all those the ones with a longer warranty are Kia, Toyota and Dacia (the latter two providing extra annual warranty if the car is main dealer serviced).  A manufacturers extended warranty on the Skoda is in the region of £630 (recently up from £570ish). I believe that includes breakdown cover.

 

I'll be happy to hear if any of the above resonates with any of you good people. I'm always happy to get other people views.

 

 

I recall a post I'd made a while back regarding my Yeti & Karoq experience 

 

 

I have just replaced my 2010 Yeti 1.2 TSi S petrol manual with a diesel manual Citroen Berlingo Multispace 2016 (chose that year for its update features.) The Berlingo was chosen because it has the lower flat floor right to the back and wife can put my folding wheelchair in more easily than lifting over the Yeti's raised cill. We like the sliding rear doors. Other than that the rest is quite similar to a Yeti.

The only compromise was it being a diesel instead of petrol as I would have preferred so have the nuisance of adblue and particulate filter (Modern law requirement for cleaner exhaust). Having looked long and hard to find a car I jumped at the chance of this one which was the right price which was lower than all others at a 17,000 milage. Why lower? well it was insurance right off cat S (repairable) but only because of outer damage to the 2 nearside doors and windows. No damage to cills or A and b and C posts. With doors and windows replaced and small scratch on rear panel sorted it is back to being immaculate. It has marginally more room than the Yeti.

Bought it without going to see it and had it transported down to me. The seller was extremely helpful and honest When I delved further into it I found it was the top of the range model and it had all the optional extras available fitted as well. Only thing I don't like is the inevitable multitude of electronic add ons that seem to come with all modern cars.

As I had a right leg amputation followed by right knee replacement (followed by broken femur when I fell over practising using crutches with my prosthetic leg) I will be getting hand control fitted once left leg muscles strong enough to allow me to walk again with tin leg. I am longing to get back to driving my "proper car" 1980 Reliant 3 litre V6 4 seat convertable with no electronics and totally self maintained and my 1935 Austin 7 2 seater Nippy. As a lively quite strong retired (now 80) professional electronics operator/engineer I find it quite horrifying the way things are going where we are now so reliant on the throw away attitude and garages/makers dealerships with seemingly ignorant workers with no common sense. I am fortunate to have a good independent garage nearby that did work on my Yeti while I got on with doing the work needed on my proper cars.

So now my Yeti is up for sale now just putting advert on here so look above.