I really don’t know where to start, I had an Octavia 1,4 from 2014 best car ever everything worked perfect for 12 years unbelievable and now the wife wanted a SUV type car so we went for the Karoq 1.5 sportline 2025 in hope that it could only be as good as the Octavia, but sadly NO.

Infotainment is really CRAP, can’t save profiles so every time I start a trip I have to go in and set everything up, the excuse for this “safety and fuel economy”, every time I drive the car there is some kind of pop-up on the screen I have to read and confirm while I’m driving, is that safety ?
Some times I get warnings in the virtual display “new car ?” but it’s there so short time that I can’t read it and there is no message log in the system, crap..

Also the Skoda connect doesn’t work all the time and specially when you need it the most, when the 3 years of Skoda connect is done it’s much cheaper buying a good GPS tracker and that you can follow 24/7, in Skoda connect you can only see your car when it’s NOT moving..

Sometimes when I play music from USB and a new number is starting I get 2 sec of noise in the beginning,
the speaker system is really CRAP, wow… sound so crappy that I don’t know how Skoda can live with them selves, and it’s probably VW.

The DSG changes far to late, driving normally in town the RPM goes up to 3500, that’s not necessary, my old Octavia 1.4 never went over 2200 before changing.

ACC., I really would have been without it, I want the old CC back, why couldn’t they make it possible to choose. The ACC jams on the breaks and sometimes without any reason.

Set speed after the road signs is really dangerous, I live in Spain and her when there is a exit from the main road they put speed signs of 40 km on the exit and when your are driving 90 on the main road and the system sees the 40 you can guess what happens, really dangerous..

Lane assist works really fine.

Driver Assist is also really dangerous don’t ever use that it takes over the car and not in the good way.
So I’m beginning to understand why Europe can’t sell cars any more and why China is overtaking because wow… all this shouldn’t be an issue..

I think I’m going for an BYD next time…

Don’t ask Gemini what is crap in the Karoq, you wouldn’t like it.

This was what I could remember to through up about, sorry..

Unfortunately a lot of the 'safety' and 'drive' profile systems have been mandated by the EU, as has the inability to turn them off permanently, meaning they are reinstated each time you start to car...

The DSG issue drives me mad! I noticed from day one on my Karoq SEL how it revs so much before changing gear. My wifes 2024 Fabia changes at about 2000 rpm when driving . Also had the Karoq change down at about 75 mph on the Motorway when braking going downhill in Devon! Have been thinking about a change of manufacturer myself after 20 odd years of Skoda ownership.

We replaced our 8 year old Karoq with a new one in March this year. We also have a 4 year old Kamiq, both are 1.5 DSG. I don't recognise any of the problems raised by the OP. Gear changes are as smooth as silk, we have no problems with the infotainment system. I was anti ACC at first compared with the standard CC, and still wish I could switch between the two. I don't like the way ACC works on multi lane carriageways but it's ideal when following traffic on single lane roads, unlike CC. Overall though all our Skodas have been bombproof, only needing normal servicing.

I took delivery of a ex demo SE l Edition DSG 1.5 tsi on Monday. Traded in my 2018 Suberb for it. Must admit having second thoughts now

On 29/09/2026 at 14:06, minsy said:

The DSG issue drives me mad! I noticed from day one on my Karoq SEL how it revs so much before changing gear.

I’ve never heard anyone comment on the DSG changing gear at high revs usually the comment is it changes too soon and they use Sport mode to hold on to lower gears for longer. I don’t suppose you are in Sport rather than Drive?

thamestrader

I was actually in drive when I braked at 75 mph to slow on the M5 near Torquay as the speed was increasing on the slope. Had to use the flappy paddles to put back into 7th. I find the only way to get the car to change gear at sensible revs is to use a really light throttle. My previous Scala 1.5 DSG was a completely different beast when it came to gear changing. Had a new manual Fabia colour edition as a loan car when mine went in for service and that car was telling me to change gear about 2000rpm!

If you've used the paddles you're in sport mode ...

@minsy that is a really unusual behaviour from a DSG gearbox, I’ve driven DSG cars since 2013, currently have wet clutch DSG in the Karoq and dry clutch in the Fabia, previously had a VW Touran with wet clutch DSG never experienced anything like you have described. In everyday driving they have all changed all up between 1500 and 2000 rpm unless the throttle is pushed to the floor when they change up at the red line. I do know that the DSG adapts to driving style: I tow a twin axle car trailer, both the petrol Karoq and previous diesel VW Touran would hang on to the lower gears and change down when easing off on down hill sections for a day or so until they re-adapted to driving solo.

1 hour ago, sussamb said:

If you've used the paddles you're in sport mode ...

if I use the paddles on mine it displays M and the gear number if I don’t use the paddles to change up the DSG changes up at the redline to protect the engine and gearbox - which is the same as sport mode.

I have a 2019 1.0 DSG with ACC and love both aspects. I don't have much problem with the infotainment either, but mine's an older simpler version with oldy worldy non virtual fixed speedo etc.

My DSG in the 1.0 seems to behave very differently to yours, as it seems to want to change smoothly into a higher gear,as soon as possible, so much so that it almost seems as if the engine is labouring on steepish hills. I like it that way however, as it's so easy and pleasurable to pull the gear stick back into sport for hills and for power in overtaking, for which there is surprisingly plenty from that little 3cycl engine. It also wants to stay in top when coasting downhill, which I also like. The main DSG downside is less then ideal moving from standstill ,particularly for a quick getaway - a well documented DSG issue, but the rather fierce accelerator pedal setting doesn' t help + pedals could be better located.

I've bored people here too often before saying how much I like the ACC on my car, so much so I wouldn't buy another car without it, but mine is an older version without the additional slowing for bends feature etc., which I believe you can anyway switch out. In previous cars I used to find ordinary CC frustrating in anything other than roads with light traffic. ACC reduces my right foot 'tiresome pedalling' significantly on busy motorways. Not perfect though, as it's slow to react to a car jumping in front of me or to log off from a car I've been stuck behind then want to overtake in a faster lane. This does actually keep me constantly alert to what other cars around me are doing, realising I can't rely 100% on technology. I do seem to anticipate more, looking further ahead, than I did before ACC came along, so that's an upside. it took me a little while to adjust my driving style to suit ACC and get familiar with the way it behaves, but maybe I'm a slow learner.

Interesting you like lane assist. I don't have this and it does seem to be the feature that attracts most criticism in Briskoda. I'd like to try it though so as to make up my own mind.

The DSG box "learns" driving patterns, so maybe the previous owner hammered it. Try a reset.

Edited 10 hours ago10 hr by Rbz5416

Certainly the DSG in ours drives just fine. It changes up just about as early as is reasonable, and I think the downchange on braking from speed is something it's supposed to do.

The only time I've ever used Sport or manual changes in ours is for experimentation - I've never felt the need to use them in normal use.

Maybe newer cars are a bit different - could the OP have a more sporty mode being used by default in the driver profile (or drive mode)?

I drove a Karoq SEL DSG demonstator a couple of years ago and Im certain the gear changes felt entirely different to my edition model I own now.The changes are nice and smooth but the car revs far to much for my liking. I suspect some changes have been made at tthe factory for some bizarre reason. It bothered my so much I tried my dealers new demonstrator to see if was the same as mine and it was. Mine also displays M when using the paddles and I definitely wasnt in sport mode when it changed down

Mine is a 25 & has no over-revving, except when using engine braking to keep the ACC on the limit when going down hill.

If the demonstrator does it as well then maybe whoever uses it at the dealership has a leaden right foot. As I said previously, try a reset of the DSG.

Thanks Rbz5416, excuse my ignorance but how do you do that?

23 minutes ago, minsy said:

Thanks Rbz5416, excuse my ignorance but how do you do that?

Not something I've done but YouTube has a number of videos. Try this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Etr7sKMgf1A

For what it's worth, mine changes up around 2k, just like the herbert in the video is complaining about!

Edited 3 hours ago3 hr by Rbz5416

19 hours ago, minsy said:

I was actually in drive when I braked at 75 mph to slow on the M5 near Torquay as the speed was increasing on the slope. Had to use the flappy paddles to put back into 7th.

Was that going down Telegraph Hill by any chance ?

Been there, done that! Its exactly what you'd expect from the DSG. 75mph in 6th is no-where near max rpm , so when you brake, the DSG will change from 7th to 6th to apply engine braking.

On 30/09/2026 at 07:20, sussamb said:

We replaced our 8 year old Karoq with a new one in March this year. We also have a 4 year old Kamiq, both are 1.5 DSG. I don't recognise any of the problems raised by the OP. Gear changes are as smooth as silk, we have no problems with the infotainment system. I was anti ACC at first compared with the standard CC, and still wish I could switch between the two. I don't like the way ACC works on multi lane carriageways but it's ideal when following traffic on single lane roads, unlike CC. Overall though all our Skodas have been bombproof, only needing normal servicing.

Likewise. Had my 24 1.5 DSG Sportline for 2 years and have had no issues.