Having talked about it now and again for a while, I had these fitted 3 weeks ago to my MY2019 Karoq 1.0 DSG SE Tech. Results - well probably just about worth the £900 (£600 from Koni, £300 to fit), but maybe just a bit disappointed. They are better on sharp ridges, broken roads etc., but still firm over these and I continue to be much aware of such road surfaces. They are definitely better over speed bumps - but that's not a standard Karoq strong point. Less thumping over broken surfaces and a bit less low frequency road noise on coarse gravel finished tarmac. Possibly a bit firmer over some middle frequency road surfaces unfortunately, but more controlled over a big but smooth depression in one road near me. But they've definitely not turned my Karoq into a Citroen CX like ride - so I probably should look into a DCC equipped car sometime. Actually Koni indicate the same replacement shockers for the SEAT Ateca which may indicate something.

Regarding road noise, there's one further modification I made a year ago in the boot - thumping on the spare wheel there previously would produce a sort of boom, indicating some sort of car panel vibration down there. So I placed 4 firmish foam pads between an appropriate part of the wheel underside and the boot floor and tightened the big central plastic wheel nut fastener so that the foam pads pressed firmly against the boot floor - thumping the tyre then produced a much queter and damped sounding noise and I found it was worth further experimenting with the tightness - slackening off a little led to the quietest noise and this all resulted in less road noise once on the move. The only other slight improvement in ride and road noise now likely in this car is replacing the current Hankook AW tyres this time next year when they wear out. Current thinking is Pirelli AW tyres, but I'll see if anything else interesting emerges this Autumn.

As an aside, the garage who fitted the shocks noted a rattle from the brake calipers when carrying out the final road test. Nothing wrong with the pads themselves with plenty of wear left after 45,000 miles. They said certain makes do tend to do this but there are some pad makes that don't seem to rattle - he did give a couple of examples but i forgot to note these down. I do notice the caliper rattle when driving with the front windows open, but not when shut - the Karoq does very effectively isolate the interior from outside noises. While they were at it, I got the garage to do one final swap over of front and rear wheels , just to even out tyre wear. One final observation - before the works were done I used to get a vibrating noise under the dashboard over certain road surfaces, but this has now gone - maybe it's something to do with a recent change in temperature or maybe the new dampers are reducing vibration transmitted to the car.

Did you change all four shock absorbers?

Funnily enough I find our late 2018 Ateca, with 90K miles on it, an altogether "nicer" drive than our Karoq (with 15K) The Karoq is crashy where the Ateca feels more compliant.

The Ateca is on 17" wheels and Michelin CrossClimate tyres, the Karoq on 18" Michelin Primacy, so that will help the Ateca somewhat.

Years ago I had a Merc from nearly new that had a most unMerc-like ride. It was on 16" Bridgestone Turanza tyres which are noted as being like iron rings. The rears wore out quickly and I fitted Michelim Primacy but it didn't make much difference. Then I changed the fronts and it was night and day better.

Rory, yes, I did change all four and I did note your earlier comments about your preference for the Ateca ride.

I should have noted that the Special Active shocks are supposed to improve ride over higher frequency bumps, like ridges and broken roads. The damping is reduced in these conditions, but increases on more gradual bumps.

I kept the original shocks as they are OK (a bit of misting) just in case I didn't get on with the Koni's, but I doubt I'll now put the originals back.

My number 1 gripe about the Karoq is the crash and bump ride - I’ve considered swapping to a 4WD version but they all attract the outrageous luxury tax…….