SKODA Kodiaq

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Hi All, I have purchased MY19 Skoda Kodiaq about 3 months ago. As it has been 3 months, I have enough experience to say about the car. If you are looking for 7 seater SUV, Kodiaq must be part of your shortlist. Back in that time, Kia - Sorento, Mitsu - Outlander, Mazda - CX9 and Skoda - Kodiaq was on my basket. I ruled out Diesel as it is mainly to serve short-distance for my wife to pick up children. Also, after diesel gate, the future of diesel seems quite gloomy in my perspective. The value proposition for this car is outstanding. I have added luxury pack (LKA, 360 views, leather seat, traffic jam assist and etc) and tech pack (chassis control, virtual pedal and etc). Did not add virtual cockpit (I like conventional needle over graphic design) and panoramic sunroof (OMG). Sportline is a joke as it is only a cosmetic upgrade with no engine change (also you cannot get ventilated seat if you choose Sportsline). Compared to other vehicles on the market, I see this is quite competitive as CX-9 (70k mark) and Sorento (60k mark) pricing was far too stiff. Outlander is something you can get for 30k back then, but it was considered purely due to its cost. For car itself, it has all smart/clever features get you excited. Still quite happy with door edge protector and umbrella as they are not just featured for marketing or advertising. Driving itself is just good. Would not say it has ample power to drive but in my own humble opinion, do not understand people buy a car like Grand Cherokee SRT as I think SUV is not for sport driving. It is just a new form of people mover. Steering is typical VW / European and 2.0l turbo does its job without a problem. 7DCT seems much better than initial development. It gives a swift shift when needed. However, maybe this is the nature of DCT, on a downhill, though the speed goes up, it remains its gear ratio. Please give me some advice on this matter whether this is normal behaviour or not. For seating space, bear in mind, this is part-time 7 seaters. If you are looking for full time 7 seater, better to consider people-mover like Carnival and Tarago. Second-row seating space is vast for kids and access to 3rd row is okay. Boot space is good! Wide and high to put pram, bicycle and other big stuff. Fuel efficiency is about 11l/100km as it serves 80% on short distance or the urban traffic condition. When I take my family out over the weekend. It returns about 7.x on a highway. So, all in all, it would not complain too much about it. Main complaints about this car would USB port. Cannot believe there is only 1 USB port in the car manufacture in 2019. Yes, there are cigar jacks that can be used to recharge, but still not happy with it. Secondly, cup holders are too small for tumblers. It can be stored on door pocket, but kids are too small to pick it up from there. All in all, generally happy with the car and would recommend to my friends if they are looking for 7 seater SUV.

Well it was time to update the 7 seat suv as our previous car got ridden off. There were many things to bring into account when buying a new car, we also had a list of features that we wanted in our car. Some options we were considering were a 2016 Toyota Kluger GXL, 2016 Mazda CX-9 grand touring or a Nissan Pathfinder TI. We liked all these cars but found that none of them fit all the criteria. Although larger than the Kodiaq, none of the other cars did anything better than the Kodiaq. It was in May of 2018 that we saw a Kodiaq on the road and it caught everyone in the cars eyes. It really stood out from the crowd. We are pretty familiar with Volkswagen group products as previously owning a Jetta, golf, Passat and Bora and couldn’t fault any of these. So one Saturday morning, we decided to pop down to our local Skoda dealership and take a good look at the car. The second we sat in the car, we knew it was just right for us. Packed full of cool little feature such as the umbrellas in the door, rear sunshades and the rubber door protectors. We then asked to take the car for a test drive, it was a cold winter's morning and the car was covered in Jew. As we unlock the car, the first thing we notice is the level adjusting automatic LED headlights and the daytime running lights which also change into the indicator. This really gives the car a uniqueness about it. Some nice little touches that come as standard include push button start with proximity key, automatic tailgate, LED head and tail lights, rear sunshades, dual zone climate control just to name a few. Coming from a diesel car, the first thing we notice after driving around 100 metres is just how quiet it was and how well it soaked up bumps. The 2.0L turbo petrol that makes 132kw , which is no means the most powerful engine in a medium to large SUV gets the job done with ease. It has good pulling power, spritely acceleration and the 7 speed sports automatic dual clutch (DSG) make a perfect combination. The ride was terrific considering the sportline rides on 20” rims and in the test car, which had no options fitted. The handling of the car is also very good and the breaks are also nice and grippy. After the test drive, we knew it was just the right car for us. The only problem was there was a 6 month waiting list. So we got home and jumped onto CarsGuide, which was a breeze to go through, found a my18.5 Kodiaq sportline in Tasmania that had done only 212 km with the optional tech and luxury pack, more on that in a minute. The car we got was the Kodiaq sportline 132tsi petrol in magic black with the tech pack and luxury pack which includes: Tech pack: Adaptive dampers which really smoothes out the ride that little bit more Hands free tailgate (foot wave) Wireless charging (only compatible for newer phones such as iPhone X, and 8 plus) Premium 10 speaker canton surround system with subwoofer. Privacy glass Automatic parking Drive modes - selectable Luxury pack: Heated front and rear seats Blind spot monitoring Lane departure warnings Lane keeping assist 360 degree parking camera AEB in reverse Memory passenger seat Memory mirrors Tri-zone air conditioning Standard equipment: Adaptive cruise control Pedestrian detection Front and rear parking sensor Auto wipers Auto lights Auto tailgate Driver fatigue system Dual zone air conditioning Start stop technology Brake assist Door protectors Umbrellas located in front doors Apple carplay and android auto Sat nav Bluetooth 9 airbags Just to name a proportion. The sportline model adds a few features over the standard model including: Sportline wheels Sportline badging Alcantara sports seats which are by far some of the best seats I’ve ever sat in Sports body kit Black grill Black window surrounds Black mirrors Black roof rails Alcantara door inserts Carbon fibre inserts Flat bottom steering wheel Black roof lining Off-road mode Are the optional packages worth it? For us, it was a no no not to have them. Without them you are left with a good car but could be better however I do think that the car, whilst already including a good standard features list, could add some more to that list such as blind spot monitoring which comes standard for the around 55k price mark. So we have owned the car for a near 6 months and chose this car to drive up to Queensland in. Did over 6,000 km in 28 days and the car never missed a beat. Fuel economy actually came down to 7L/100 km and that is with a car full of people, luggage and bikes on top. We also found out that it wasn’t just us that got sidetracked by the car, it would be hard for a day to go past without someone noticing. I had never talked about a car so much in my life And it was for a good reason. One lady even said that it looked like the nicest car she had ever seen, people were asking to sit in it, I’m pretty sure that Skoda nailed the design for this one. We also Leung that many of the driver assist features came in handy such as when we were exiting a car park when another car cut across our path, the car came to a complete stop which saved our amazing car. We were also happy with this car as it included a 5 year unlimited kilometre warranty with roadside assistance. This car also has 9 airbags and multiple driver assistance features which helped it get a full 5 star ancap safety rating. Now for the cons: No volume knob for infotainment system, just an up and down button Only 1 USB input This is by far the best car that we have ever owned, no it may not be the fasted nor the largest but for a family with a few kids who like to go travailing and enjoy standing out in the crowd and not being like every other SUV driver in the country, there is no better car. It blends practicality and sportiness in one package which won’t blow the bank up. My personal score for this car is 9.8/10. Very few things that I don’t like.

Over the weekend I flew to Canberra. I decided last minute I was going to get a hire car so I walked into Hertz and said “give me a skoda.” They had a rather bland white Kodiaq for me so of course I said “I’ll take it!”. I figured after 2 days and over 300km of driving in and around Canberra on a vast array of road types I’m pretty well equipped to give my thoughts on my experience so here goes. The first thing I noticed was that they do look QUITE bland in white. Their design doesn’t look as sophisticated in white as other cars do, but it still had a premium look to it, but a nice black or dark grey would look A LOT better on these. The large gaps above the wheels does make them look a little awkward and as with a lot of Skoda wheels lately I’m not a fan of the design. Walking up to the car with key in pocket I put my hand inside the door handle like I was going to pull on it and BAM, car was unlocked, no stupid gestures on the outside of the handle or rubber buttons. Just grab the touch sensitive handle like you would to open it. To lock you just touch the outside of the handle and if you keep holding your finger there it will also wind up any windows and close sunroofs if fitted. Whilst doing so the large obvious blinker in the front headlight units (that doubles as the DRL) and mirrors flash and the mirrors fold in out of the way and become flush with the outer extremities of the car which is great. Jump inside in the dark and you’ll notice each door is fitted with a long LED Strip from front to back which at the time was red in colour and on further investigation you can change the colour with a lot of options. In this menu you can also turn them on or off along with the footwell lamps that give the car an air of class. Turn on the ignition by pressing the rather cheaply placed on/off switch (where they key normally would go) and the dash lights up and the ridiculously wonderful LED headlights light up. I just could not stop talking about how great these lights were. They had a very wide angle and were extremely bright, turning the LED fog lights on only made this angle wider and the LED high beam were also very very good. Great to see a car with a full compliment of forward facing LED’s and not LED headlights and the rest halogen. My only gripe with the lights is something I’ve found with a lot of LED and HID headlights and that they cut off a tiny bit to low with no adjustment forcing you to use the high beam a lot more on dark roads. Auto high beam would make this a lot easier. First I was looking for a cup holder... hello cup holder? Surely it has one right? All I could find next to me was a shelf in a box. I later realised when you turned this upside down it had cup holders and other hidey holes in it for keys and cards and so on. As ‘simply clever’ as it was I found it a bit cheap to be honest. When putting a bottle of coke in it it would ever so gently touch the sides of the drink holder so that when you went to pull the bottle of coke out the whole drink holder unit would lift up then fall down again as it separated from the bottle. The dashboard is nicely laid out typically premium looking as always with Skoda. The 8” screen is very clear and a decent size with excellent touch sensitivity but the optional 9.2” looks loads nicer and more premium. I do look forward to the kodiaq getting the digital dash sometime this year though as I think they look great. Standard on the only trim available (though I really do think they need an entry model) is leather seats which are very comfortable also and the centre arm rest adjustable forward a long way (long enough to cover the cup holder) is great with a large storage space underneath. Plenty of door and dash storage spaces also to be found further shows Skodas ‘simply clever’ mantra along with umbrellas in the front doors. Over two days I must say I was loving the SUV life, as a bus driver the higher driving position was welcome being able to see a lot more of what was going on and getting in and out of the taller car was so much easier, getting out was a matter of drop legs and you’re standing. The centre row of seats can be slid forward or back to be either boot or leg room biased of which there is a lot of both. One thing I find stupid however is that the third row of seats isn’t an option in Australia. I would never ever use these as even my 5 foot skinny friend doesn’t fit in them and have no interest in having kids. By having these as standard it means that those that would never use them are stuck with extra weight and less underfloor storage as well as the annoying gaps along the floor. Another bug bear I found was the the rolling cover/blind inside the boot area didn’t actually meet the second row of seats when they were fully back which means you get that tiny extra bit of road noise from the rear. The standard electric opening tailgate is a great touch though which can be operated from the boot, a switch on the door or the key fob, but can only be closed from the boot which I thought was silly. The 132kw 320nm 2.0 turbo certainly has its work cut out for it in this car. With nearly 210kg more weight than the 162kw 350nm superb, most of which stems from the AWD system, it’s got quite a bit more to move. Around town I found the car Spritely and somewhat fun and could even get it off the mark quite acceptably. However taking it up to black mountain with the pedal to the floor on a 30° day was a different story. Now I wouldn’t say it was struggling but I wouldn’t call it powerful either. At highway speeds mashing the pedal also didn’t really find me speeding up as quick as I would like for an overtaking manoeuvre. With the big wheels and a decent final drive ratio it see’s the Kodiaq sit on a leisurely 1800rpm at 100km/h which will be great for fuel consumption and NVH but is also just another reason it’s a bit slower. However, for the average family that would buy this or the average Mum driving it I’m sure it would have enough poke but I still don’t think that means that more powerful models shouldn’t be available. The comfort throttle makes it even worse, all MQB cars seem to require more pressure on the throttle to get them moving and can take quite a while to get used to, this can be changed to normal for those handy with VW systems with a computer but I think it’s something VW should put in its array of driving menus. All Aussie Kodiaq’s are fitted with a 7 speed wet clutch DSG which really left me wanting to be honest, as some with a love for DSG’S I had high hopes for this gearbox and found it worse than the dry clutch 7 speed. Full throttle take offs were met with instant high revving and then a sharp engage from the clutch providing a decent shove in the back, keep holding the throttle down and the engine meets the rev limiter before the gearbox has shifted, rating back power then shifting also with a decent thud. Around town it worked almost flawlesslyI thought shifting very quick and completely imperceptibly. I truely hope a lot of this comes down to it being a hire car with many different people driving it. But then a full throttle shift is a full throttle shift which should have a permanent parameter that should not be affected by gearbox learning. The auto start/stop still has to be one of my most hated features in a car, it kicks in way to early and being Canberra and having almost every road as a dual carriageway it means you have to stop twice to turn right, sometimes only an extremely brief hurried stop is required for the sake of a stop sign and the engine still tried to turn off, sometimes that brief it almost feels like it’s trying to start before it’s even turned off with a not so nice sound a long with it. Most of the time I just left it turned off because I wanted the AC to stay on. But when it was on I thought it was cool that the radar for the cruise control would restart the car when the car in front of you took off when in traffic. The radar cruise control is exemplary specially when compared to the only other system I tried in a new i30 I drove. It’s extremely smooth an precise and informative, even when allowing the system to come to a complete stop behind a stationary car. There’s selectable distances and different modes to tailor it to your driving style. Ride quality was a bit too firm for a family car in my opinion. It’s handling was pretty good but I don’t think that’s it’s target market. The slightest decrease in handling would more than likely have a much larger positive effect on ride quality and Without adjustable suspension and now that there is a sportline version, the standard kodiaq could do with a more supple suspension tune and smaller wheels with larger tyres. The Octavia RS I drove a week before with a lot less rubber on 19’s rode a hell of a lot nicer. Lastly the AWD system worked flawlessly even with hard take-offs on loose surfaces, launch control on an up hill saw not even a hint of wheel spin or a flicker of the ESP light. Very intuitive. Overall if this was just a vertically stretched version of a 162tsi superb with AWD I would buy one in a heartbeat. But a kodiaq as it is I would not buy for a number of reasons. A number of things that could easily be rectified if VW specced their cars better in Australia.