This Skoda's worth every penny.
If you don’t like Asian cars, have a negative predisposition against the Volkswagen badge, or really like Alaskan bears, good news! Skoda’s Kodiaq seven-seater SUV will be making Australian landfall at the end of May, and can be on your drive from $42,990 (before ORCs).
The Kodiaq is Skoda’s first stab at an SUV, but it doesn’t feel it. The Czech bear has garnered critical acclaim the world over, even bagging prestigious awards like the ‘WhatCar? Best Large SUV’ this year and TopGear’s ‘Best Car for Big Families 2016’ title. Sharing a platform with the Volkswagen Tiguan, the Kodiaq packs seven seats, lots of kit, and German engineering (regardless of the badge on the nose).
It’ll make Oz landfall in just one trim at launch, with the 132TSI 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol under the bonnet. No prizes for guessing the power output: It’ll churn out 132kW and 320Nm, all of which going through a seven-speed double-clutch automatic before finding its way to all four wheels.
Despite the sheer size of the thing, the turbo-four claims a fuel consumption rate of just 7.6L/100km. A more powerful 2.0-litre turbodiesel (140TDI, 140kW & 400Nm) will join the lineup later in the year, and will likely sell well among long-distance cruisers and hyper-milers. The Kodiaq will pack an impressive amount of kit as standard, including things like autonomous emergency braking (front-assist, city-speeds only), a ton of airbags, driver drowsiness sensors, tyre pressure monitors, foglights with cornering functionality, adaptive cruise control, advanced keyless entry and go, adaptive LED headlights, dual-zone climate control, electric tailgate, and even two umbrellas (hidden in the doors) among many, many other things.
Techies will be well catered for, too. An 8.0-inch colour touchscreen infotainment system (with sat-nav, smartphone mirroring) will come as standard, along with an eight-speaker sound system, USB inputs, two SD-card slots, a DVD player, leather seat upholstery with Alcantara detailing, LED lighting through the cabin, and a flat-bottom three-spoke steering wheel.
Three option packs will be offered for the Kodiaq, those being Tech, Luxury, and Launch, as well as premium paint (metallic or pearlescent), a panoramic roof, and bigger 19” ‘Triglav’ alloys. The first option pack, Tech (coming in at $2500), throws in ‘Adaptive Chassis Control,’ a 10-speaker sound system from Canton, automatic parking assistance, manoeuvre breaking assist, a ‘vehicle set-up key’ (which memorises certain settings associated with specific drivers), and an ‘off road’ driving mode.
The Luxury pack (for $4900) brings more plush features like electrically-adjustable front seats with memory, lane assist, blind spot monitoring, perforated leather upholstery (in black or beige), ventilated front pews, a surround-view camera system, tri-zone climate control, traffic jam assistance, rear cross-traffic alert, and auto-dimming side mirrors.
The limited-number Launch pack comes in at an additional $5900, which takes all but the tri-zone climate control, leather upholstery, and electrically-adjustable and ventilated front seats from the Luxury pack, but substitutes them for those 19-inch Triglav alloys we mentioned earlier.
The Kodiaq will likely win over plenty of families when it arrives in showrooms, with its spacious and ergonomic interior matched with distinctive styling and quintessentially-German driving dynamics. When it does, Skoda will be offering the big SUV with its five-year, unlimited mileage warranty with roadside assistance as well, rounding off a very compelling and competitive package.
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