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Skoda Kodiaq review
“Skoda’s most desirable family car enters a bold second generation. New styling tinsel hides an otherwise evolutionary step”
Good stuff
Huge choice of powertrains, hugely practical, hugely spacious
Bad stuff
Prices have risen, new looks might not appeal to all
What is it?
One of the most rounded cars on sale has entered its second generation. It’s fair to say we adored the old Kodiaq, lavishing it with praise and awards. Skoda’s coming-of-age tale probably reached its exciting climax in 2016 when the first-gen car launched, in fact.
Here was a seven-seat SUV that could send shivers down a Land Rover Discovery’s spine at a fraction of the cost, bringing quality trim, sharp dynamics and a nicely chiselled style to a surprisingly niche sector. Sure, five-seat SUVs have long since swarmed our streets. But properly practical seven-seaters are much rarer. This was among the very best.
You wouldn’t blame Skoda for deploying a modest facelift and declaring this a new car, afraid to mess up a good thing. On appearances alone, you might deduce as much: for all the talk of a new ‘Modern Solid’ design language, its bold front lighting strip and a new iteration of the Skoda badge, this keeps the general Kodiaq aesthetic and moves it on a furlong.
While those big wraparound rear lights, silver rear pillars and a lick of fresh Bronx Gold (aka glamorous brown) paint all add a bit of tinsel, anyone who’s traded in the old one ought to feel reasonably at home as they glance out the bedroom window seizing their last moment of peace before school run bedlam commences.
So what is new?
It’s actually a decent overhaul and naturally battery power has reared its head, a first in the Kodiaq. Sharing much beneath the skin with the latest Volkswagen Tiguan (albeit with more distance than the latest-gen Superb and Passat) you’ve a choice of pure petrol and diesels – yes, diesels! – while a plug-in hybrid is primed and ready to hoover up all the company car sales with its low CO2 emissions. Fully electric propulsion continues to be dealt with by the bespoke Enyaq crossover.
The pure petrol is a 148bhp 1.5-litre with mild-hybrid tech (for a little extra efficiency without any additional complication for the driver), while the 2.0-litre diesels are split between a 148bhp tune with front-wheel drive and a 190bhp option with AWD. Skoda claims fuel economy of 47.4mpg with petrol power and 53.2mpg if you’ve gone diesel (those numbers are for five-seaters, the heavier seven-seater is a bit less frugal).
The plug-in hybrid (PHEV) takes the 1.5-litre petrol engine and combines it with an e-motor and 25.7kWh battery for 201bhp and – brace yourself – 75 miles of all-electric range. We’ve yet to test out that claim, but on paper it’s one of the longest-range PHEVs you can buy. It’ll even top up on rapid 50kW DC chargers in under half an hour, as well as from a slower, cheaper AC wallbox at home (up to 11kW).
All powertrains have four cylinders and come with a DSG automatic twin-clutch transmission. More potent 261bhp 2.0-litre petrol and 268bhp PHEV options present in the Tiguan range aren’t yet offered here; Skoda has already confirmed the return of the Kodiaq vRS performance SUV at the end of 2024, so expect at least one (if not both) of those powertrains to sit in the front of that.
No more manuals?
Nope: apparently only three per cent of buyers settled for a stick-shift in the outgoing car. And that’s been used as an opportunity for a spring clean inside. Further proving its leap over the first Skodiaq is a newly airy centre console. Gone is a traditional gear lever or selector, with your flick between park, drive and reverse now done via the right-hand column stalk. The indicators and wipers are combined on the left.
Read More https://www.topgear.com/car-reviews/skoda/kodiaq
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