Sold my Kodiaq last month which proved to be the best car I've owned. Have owned the four big VW group manufacturers now, and despite them being basically the same car underneath, without doubt Skoda have been the most impressive.

In the coming weeks I'll write a review of each Skoda I've owned and add some real-world figures rather than what professional motoring hacks or armchair experts tell you. Hopefully it'll help someone decide if they're in the market for such a car.

So why not another new Skoda? Well that's easy. I much prefer to buy my car rather than lease it. The Skodas I've owned have gone from fantastic to outstanding value for money, however despite hefty discounting, I couldn't make the figures work on another brand new car. One thing I loved about Skoda was the std equipment levels, and if I wanted extras, I could easily option them, but then their marketing changed and Skoda followed others by introducing packs. Because these packs only contain one of my desired options, it meant paying for lots of equipment that I didn't want. Add several different packs and the price skyrockets. And then there's the cost of individual options. A sunroof on a Kodiaq now costs an eyewatering £1850. That's substantially more expensive than other VW group manufacturers ask for the exact same sunroof on their models. Long story short, I gave up the idea of buying another SUV and went back to an estate but even on Octavia, they want £1700 for a sunroof. That's just insane for a brand that peddles value.

Why not a nearly new Skoda? Skoda seem to be holding back on std equipment these days meaning I need options, but given the price of these, I find very few cars with the options I want. Or rather, I can't find a single car with the options I want. And when you do find one with a good number of options, well... the cost is often more than a brand new car after discounts.

Another Octavia? It's a great car however what it isn't is a luxury car. (Neither is a Superb in my book.) When I do spec up an Octavia ( not even a Vrs ) it lists over £40k, the luxury tax threshold meaning an additional £425 a year in tax. That would bug me everytime I drove it. Skoda still works brilliantly in lower trim levels but their higher trim cars no longer make sense - not for me anyway.

The best thing I can say about the Skodas I've owned, especially the kodiaq is I normally change my car every two or three years. In 40 years of owning many cars, there are only four I've kept for over 3 years:

Golf GT 2007 ( 3.5years )

Octavia SEL estate 2017 ( 4 years )

Karoq Edition 2019 ( 4 years )

Kodiaq Sportline ( 5 years )

And I'd have been happy to have kept that Kodiaq until it became economically unviable, it was that good.

Best wishes to everyone and good luck with your Skoda.

Edited 25 January25 Jan by kodiaqsportline
spelling mistake

So what did you get instead?

BTW, you’ll be back in a couple of years 😂

Too bad in UK they show packages down your throat. I completely understand what you mean, the ability to option only what I want is what made me buy my Kodiaq now and my Tiguan previously (we still get to choose in RO, at least for VW and Skoda, not sure about the other VAG brands).

Not many options for you, I guess, as most of the manufacturers have the same approach. I am buyng a Mazda, where (at least in RO) they have tri levels, and you could maybe find soemthing that works for you. My biggest issue is I absolutely do not want glass above my head, but I like most of the other things, so if I want a Toyota, I must have the glass thing, or have no nice sound system, no advanced lights, no 360 cameras, no leather seats. This is where Mazda was able to put forward more trims granulating the options and thus made me a happy customer, hardly waiting for my 3 in a couple of months now.

It is not impossible to find what you want in the used market, keep looking, you'll find people having the same preferences, granted not many. And do tell us what you ended up with.

Best of luck!