IF YOU own a Smeg fridge, Roberts radio or Gaggia coffee maker, the chances are the new Skoda Kodiaq isn’t for you. This is a seven-seat SUV for those who shun paying top dollar prices for things when, as they keep telling their other half, alternatives cost half as much and work just as well.
It’s for people who pride themselves on seeing through the glossy veneer and carefully crafted messaging of posh brands. And when it comes to cars, that means names like Audi, BMW and Mercedes.
If you were to walk into any of their expansive glass showrooms and ask a sales person what seven-seat SUV they’ve got for around £24,000, they’d walk you straight back outside, to the selection of second hand cars on the forecourt. The most affordable new Audi Q7, is nearly £48,500.
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At first glance, then, the Kodiaq appears to be the answer to the prayers of countless middle class mums and dads who might be feeling the squeeze, both when it comes to fitting the family in the current car and managing the monthly household budget.
But the clever trick is that it won’t make the neighbours think “The Jones’ have been rummaging through the bargain bin again” when they see it parked outside your house.
If you glued an Audi or Volkswagen badge on the grille, nobody would spot the imposter. There are sharp creases down the flanks, narrow LED headlights that sweep up into the wings and chunky alloy wheels, all of which give the Kodiaq a healthy helping of presence. Yet it’s shorter than a Skoda Superb estate. So parking isn’t the chore you may have expected.
Under the bonnet, there will be a choice of two 1.4-litre petrol engines, with 123bhp and 148bhp respectively, and a 2-litre with 178bhp. Included in the range is a choice of a manual or automatic gearbox and two- or four-wheel drive.
If you glued an Audi or Volkswagen badge on the grille, nobody would spot the imposter
The Volkswagen Group’s 2-litre TDI engine continues to shrug off the controversy over the Dieselgate emissions scandal, and is pressed into service with the Kodiaq. It comes in 113bhp, 148bhp or 188bhp tune, and all but the weedy version come with a choice of two- or four-wheel drive and a manual or automatic gearbox.
The answer to the most obvious question is the 1.4 TSI (123bhp) SE; that being the most affordable model with seven seats, at £23,945. However, load one of those up with people and luggage and it’s likely to wheeze away like Jeremy Clarkson having a go at the parent’s race at school sports day.
The model most buyers are likely to pick is the 2-litre TDI. We tested the 148bhp version, with a manual gearbox, four-wheel drive and seven seats, and for all those badge snobs out there, here’s the bad news: it rarely put a foot wrong.
Yes, there’s a little bit of telltale diesel rattle from the engine when the car’s idling standstill, and no, it won’t rev to 9,000rpm, like a Ferrari. But what it will do is haul eagerly from almost tickover speeds, settle down to an unobtrusive thrum on the motorway and go easy on the fuel bills – with around 52.3mpg achievable.
It’s even possible, when nobody else is aboard or, more likely, when coming perilously close to missing that cross channel ferry for the half term family holiday, to put your foot down and marvel at the way this big car (1,751kg) refuses to get flustered when driven with anything approaching gusto.
At speed, there is an underlying eagerness to respond and stay composed which suggests that the engineers did their best to make the Kodiaq feel, if not exciting, then at least reassuring.
If ever a seven-seat family car needed to play a trump card, it’s for the cabin. The Kodiaq aces it. There’s a thoroughly smart, if unimaginative, dashboard, with most of the touchscreen, connectivity creature comforts that I’d enjoyed only moments earlier in an Audi A4 allroad.
Challenge the back seats to the demands of three children and it won’t hold its hands up and plead for mercy. There are Isofix child seat mounts; the seat backs can tilt, to help passengers get more comfortable; and sliding them forward to gain access to the third row of seats is a simple, single-action movement.
Those rearmost seats are best suited to children, but adults won’t be complaining, especially if you’re giving them a lift home from a dinner party. When not needed, they can be folded into the floor – the seats, not your hitchhiking dinner companions – and that leaves what is best described as a black hole.
The boot offers 720-litres of luggage space – more acreage than the typical front garden of a suburban home – which can be extended to 2,065 litres with the back seats folded down. You’d need to drive a van to get more space than that.
There are other cars that attempt to perform the same party trick as the Kodiaq. The Kia Sorento, Hyundai Santa Fe and Nissan X-Trail, to name a few. But the Kodiaq manages to feel a cut above the other SUVs that are trying to undercut the Audis and BMWs of this world.
It’s the rational choice for people who like nothing better than doing the sensible thing. And who knows… with the savings, perhaps you could splash out on that Smeg fridge and Roberts radio?
The post First Drive review: 2017 Skoda Kodiaq appeared first on Sunday Times Driving.
source http://www.driving.co.uk/car-reviews/first-drive-review-2017-skoda-kodiaq/
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