New Skoda Kodiaq review: simply the BEST?!

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The Skoda Kodiaq has been a standout in the family SUV market since its debut, offering a blend of practicality, style, and impressive value. In this video, we take a closer look at the latest version of the Kodiaq, and see whether it is worth choosing over competitors like the VW Tiguan or the Peugeot 5008.

The Kodiaq’s design is bold and modern, with sharp lines and a strong road presence that gives it a premium look. The front features Skoda’s signature grille, flanked by sleek headlights, while the sculpted sides and wide stance emphasize its SUV character. Whether you opt for the more rugged Scout model or the sporty RS, the Kodiaq manages to look sophisticated and practical all at once.

Inside, the Kodiaq offers an impressive level of space, with seating for up to seven passengers across three rows. The cabin is both functional and comfortable, with high-quality materials, intuitive tech, and ample legroom throughout. The boot is also generously sized, unless you have the three rows of seats all in use.

Under the bonnet, the Kodiaq offers a range of engine choices to suit different driving needs. From efficient petrol and diesel engines to a punchy plug-in hybrid option, there’s something for everyone. Performance is solid across the board, with a smooth and composed ride, while the four-wheel-drive versions provide added grip for off-road adventures or challenging weather conditions.

So is the Kodiaq the best SUV money can buy without splashing the cash on a fancy German rival? Stick with Mat to see for yourself!

this is the new second generation version of the lovely scoda Kodiak and in this video I’m going to tell you everything you need to know about it I’m at Watson and you’re watching carwow let’s start this video with the design of the Kodiak so it has been redesigned but it’s still very familiar as a scoda Kodiak but it’s just got this new look light bar there’s some sharper creases no sign of fake exhaust anywhere moving down the side nice A little bit of a bootlip spoiler there strong creases alloy wheels start at 18 in but you can get up to 20 in W we’ve got shiny roof bars here on this particular car and then at the front you can see quite a big change over the previous generation car just looks a bit more modern but still once again very recognizable as a scoda Kodiak I do like these creases in the Bonnet just give it some added presence now obviously the trim does change depending on which model you go for it all looks rather nice well for a 7 seater SUV anyway there is one problem though the choices little bit Bland these are the only paintt schemes you can get this car in and that’s a lot anyway let’s check it out on the inside the interior design of the Kodiak is all neat and tidy not overly done it’s quite conservative but still rather nice I mean some people might not like the fact you basically got an iPad stuck on the dash but it’s EAS bright running Apple carplay wirelessly at the moment but obviously have inbuilt Navi and all that kind of stuff and it’s quite logically laid out it’s not the most responsive but it’s fine digital driers display once again it’s fine and you can scroll through different views and stuff like that with it one thing I really like though proper physical controls for the climate so turn it up and by pressing on these I can actually cycle through different things and I can choose what it does between various parameters so look I can like change that I can change that that even operate the volume for the main stereo system as well we can also control the seat Heating and the temperature over here as well like that a lot like the overall design as well and the material quality generally is really quite good soft and Y in for your arms and your elbows it’s only when you go a bit lower down do things get a bit scratchy and this is a bit wobbly but I don’t mind because once again it’s lined with soft touch material so if you rest your knee on it doesn’t hurt it seats yeah they’re quite big but they’re nice they fit me well and there’s plenty of adjustment in the driving position as well I also like the fact that the drive select is here on the steering column it’s just so much easier when you’re maneuvering really lot out there’s lots of storage as well in this car so we’ve got huge door bins lined with felt so things don’t rattle about in there underneath here there’s some more storage we’ve got some more storage here I’ll update you on these bits later don’t look too much right now in here you have two wireless charging stations and then there’s two USB C’s there as well glove box is a reasonable size and learn behold there’s another one up there as well looking up here we have big sun visors large vanity mirror and the all important padded sunglasses holder oh don’t forget this I fix anchor points on the front passenger seat so you can have your child next to you if you desire 12vt battery low please consult owner’s manual I’m not looking at a manual here in the back the first thing to note is that things have got a little bit cheaper so oh we got scratchy Plastics here now and no felt lining in the doorbin door bins are still huge look I can fit a big bottle here in the back just like you can fit one in the front door bin that’s good does this go the way down I think will I think it will yeah look at that see this is a practical family car and yes there’s room for your family in this loads of head room knee room is pretty decent you got the facility to be able to slide the chairs forwards and backwards oh there the battery warning again wonder if I’m actually going to be able to drive this car anyhow yeah lots of adjustment there and you can recline the seats as well also because the front seats have raised up you can really stretch your feet out underneath them because the kodiak’s body is reasonably wide and there’s plenty of foot space it’s reasonably okay with three adults in the middle of row at once I wish there were three individual chairs but there’s not so this one is linked can you see give a shame you do have oh look three cup holders there the armrest and come on you can fold down this part separately as well for through loading speaking of which look you got isix hle points here and here very easy to get to there’s loads of space with it in a child seat you can tell there’s loads of room we got some Pockets here on the seat backs we’ve got some USB C’s there we’ve got a 12v socket there we’ve got climate control for this section of the car as well all very good but let’s go into the final back the very end the third row okay so right I’m just going to go like this and clumber a board see what it’s like right okay what I’m going to do is move this one out the way okay so okay right let’s get someone sat there Jack let’s just get you in there now Jack is how tall are you jack 6′ three okay so 6’3 quite large can you move your chair any way forward there we go so it’s a little bit snug for me um head rooms pretty tight as well these are really only occasional chairs for adults I mean you could fit small children back here but I think the new hyai Canta Fe is just more roomy in the third run if you want to see my full inp video review of that car click on the pop out B up there for the link in the description below alternatively if you’re watch on smart TV just scan the QR code on screen now using your mobile phone oh look there are a few places where you can store things and there’s cup holdy thing there that’s not the same as that side why the asymmetry is annoying me anyway let’s check out the boot check it out this car has keyless entry for the boot it actually works this is nice with all 7 seats in place you have 340 L of space which is about the same as a Volkswagen Polo’s boot which is quite good isn’t it look you got some storage areas under here look space over spare wheel yes and this is a place where you can store the Low cover that’s good more about the Low cover a bit later on there which isn’t so good now if you fold down the third row oh this is one annoying thing about it yeah you can’t fall them down unless you have the front seats forward lot up I’ll go to the other side right now I can fold them down and then put them back F right now I have over 800 L of space however if I had the fire version of this I’d have over 900 L of space in the boot so very big practical useful boot which is good and then if I want to fold the middle row down or the back row if You’ got the five seater I can pull on this here ohh oh but but now I’m going to go around again to lock it in place and then you have a reasonably flat low bed which is quite large isn’t it very useful the only problem is is if you go for the hybrid version then the overall boot capacity is reduced because you got like batteries and stuff under here and that brings me on to five annoying things about the scoda Kodiak this particular car has done just over 6,000 Mi and already it’s developed a few faults if you look over in the door you’ll see the ambient lighting there here on the Des Dash and it should match up here on the passenger door but for some reason this lighting strip has ceased to work and then there’s the stereo so the driver side front speaker seems to vibrate especially when people are talking on the radio have listened to this I would always well I mean firstly I would always raise the consent about the money spent in American politics because I think because of the design of the wind no no no no no yeah the design of the Bonnet the windscreen wipers sit underneath it so if you have someone who’s going to clean your car they might just grab the wind screen while have to pull it up to do underneath them on the Wind screen and you can scratch all the paintwork on your Bonnet what you have to do is press a button on here go into vehicle where is it now or is it here God see what I mean it’s vehicle H service no winter wiper position there we go that’s what you do and now you can wash the screen or mess around with the wind screen wipers but you get the idea this is the kind of car you do lots of miles in so obviously it gets adaptive cruise controller standard oh wait a minute it doesn’t does it it’s an 800 option let’s say you’re using your Apple carplay or Android auto for navigation and you think I know I want to change the temperature so you go ahead and do that you then lose your Apple car player or Android auto when it comes back now in that period of time you could have just missed an all important Junction and be very frustrating for these Goods I’m just going to run you through Scot’s simply clever features that you get on the Kodiak so here we have an i scraper in the fuel filler cover then you have this little thing in here look it’s got a nozzle on it and I can use that to oh helps if you take it out the case anyway you can spray the screen and then this is a cloth likee material and then you can use it to clean the screen to get rid of The Grubby fingerprint look at that lovely lovely lovely there’s the umbrella in the door look at that yeah don’t know I have to illustrate putting it up but I feel like I have to then there’s the parking ticket holder there so I just slot my ticket in there it’s not mine actually seems that somebody has been late night shopping at Palace Gardens lovely there’s an inbuilt funnel on the cap for the windscreen washer fluid look at that funnel Edge it’s not quite big enough there’s little grippers in that cup holder which grip onto the bottom of the bottle so you should be able to open it onehanded that’s the theory and yes it works look plus you can double up on cup holders by just doing this what was two is now four you can get the scoda Kodiak with a choice of these engines there is a 1.5 L Turbo petrol with this much horsepower but you can get a plug-in hybrid version of that car which has this much horsepower and can drive this far on electric power alone then there is a 2 L Diesel with this much horsepower or you can get a 2 L Diesel with four-wheel drive and that car has this much horsepower all versions of the Kodiak come with an automatic gearbox there are no manuals available so what’s my favorite version of the scoda Kodiak well I’ve configured it doesn’t feel intimidating to drive around narrow British Village streets so you’ll be fine like commuting in town with it and stuff like that that because the visibility is good so quite a low Dash you sit reasonably high so the view forward is good that pillar is quite thick so a bit of a blind spot but you can look around it because the door Mir is mounted on the door door and the mirrors are quite big you out the back window is good and there’s not much of a blind spot in the corter panel either cuz you got like lots of Windows back there does that make sense hope it does it’s also easy to drive because the steering is nice and light that helps the brakes they’re not grabby they’re smooth but strong what you want and the suspension is generally pretty comfortable it does have a slightly firmer Edge than something from Pue or Citron but it’s by no means uncomfortable though be warned the larger the wheels the less Comfort but there is a way to improve things more on that in a bit and I’m going to tell you about something actually that does annoy me when driving this car around town but it’s not the Turning Circle because it’s 11.2 M which is very good for this class of vehicle I don’t think it’s good enough to get me around this Gap here because this is super tight but you know I’m always want for a challenge let’s give it a go have I got the surround view cameras where are they where are they where’s the where’s the cameras no well I’ll whack it in reverse quickly there we go can I get round this is not going to happen this car here but the surround view cameras are helping super close and I love having the gear selector here that you have on Mercedes it’s just so much easier when it’s there rather than pulling a lever down there so hard to fault in town apart from this right the gearbox can be a little bit sluggish when you put your foot down when you suddenly want to pull away so let’s say oh I need to get out the way this person here I’m going to throw the throttle I mean that like took ages like you heard the pedal slap into the floor mat and there was a delay of like a second or two and then and that means you can just be left floundering at Junctions you know when you’re pulling out a roundabout and there’s car’s coming is a little bit frightening I need to sort that out now I’m going to see if the gearbox is also sluggish when you suddenly need to accelerate so to join a Motorway so I’m cruising Up 4 40 I’m going to floor it in 3 2 1 go okay that wasn’t so bad there and this 2 L diesel pulls pretty nicely you do get a bit of a Grumble from it there like and if you have the 1.5 petrol that’s really not any quieter that’s quite noisy as well when you thrash it which is a bit of a shame because otherwise the car is reasonably quiet there’s not too much road noise or wind noise it’s good at cruising as well yeah feel solid at speed I like it and economy look this 2 L diesel four-wheel drive 45 mil to the gallon I do like a diesel for this kind of thing I really do that’s thing to test is how well the scoda Kodiak handles some Corners so it’s a bit damp and slippery but you know it’s all right this I’m at the speed limit went around the corner it was fuss free it’s all you really need it leans a little bit going really quickly I think a Volkswagen TIR has a slightly sportier Edge but do you care if you want to see my for video review of that car click on the pop out banner up there or follow the QR code on screen now and this brings me up to that point I mentioned earlier you can actually get this with optional adaptive dampers and that allows you to stiffen up the suspension so if you need it to be a little bit sharper you can do that the Press of a button but the main reason for getting it is that it actually improves the Comfort levels further and it’s well worth the extra ,000 now most people won’t fit it they just don’t but trust me on this I drive loads of cars those adaptive damper are definitely worth the money so get them I’ve just noticed I’m changing gears myself using the paddles I wonder if any scoda Kodiak drivers will do that I think I’m only doing it cuz I’m a motoring journalist right I’m going to stop that nonsense now and just drive like every other Kodiak driver will one thing that is a bit Bonkers about this car is the fact that scod has given it launch control why anyway let’s Let’s test it right let’s see what the N 60 time is no problem with traction there thanks to the four-wheel drive system of this model and we are there 7 and 1/2 seconds that’s actually pretty good isn’t it now it’s got to quote 8 seconds to 62 mph so I’m pleased with that launch control though you got admire them haven’t you so then what’s my final verdict on the new scoda Kodiak should you avoid it consider it short list it or just go right ahead and buy it well I reckon you should short list it it really is a good all round spacious family car just a shame it’s a little bit cramped in the third row anyway I hope you enjoyed the video if you did give it a like you want to watch some other videos click on the video windows and if you want to see how much money you can save on your next car then click on the car wire logo thanks for watching