[itwasntme]

'Superb' review of the Kodiaq! I'll be hard pressed to find a second vehicle once I retire my stalwart Cruze in 2018.

I will have to hand my 2 year old immaculate Octy TSI AT to a chauffeur if I upgrade to either the Superb or Kodiaq. THAT is the sticky point as resale or exchange values of a petrol Octy are the pits. Hoping that Skoda gets the 190/188 HP Kodiaq as a flagship by then.

Or the Superb 'vRS' TFSI 4X4 or the Octy vRS 245 :-). I don't really have a huge liking for SUVs after driving sedans my whole life. I don't need to bully people; I like to overtake them and vanish.

Not keen to risk an upgrade to the Big 3. My neighbor bought an C220D and is in shock after a bumper repaint due to a minor rear ending. Mercedes BLR repair rates are usurious to say the least. He is now having secret second thoughts about not having bought the Passat or the Superb.

[bharathan]

Originally Posted by Omkar

Exterior

With all the lights in action. The auto headlamps are self-levelling & also have coming home and leaving home functions. They feature what Skoda calls as AFS (Adaptive Frontlight System) which adjusts the light intensity based on the surrounding conditions - for e.g. city, motorway or driving in the rain by changing the light pattern. It's pretty cool - check out the explanation on Skoda's website:

Excellent Review Mr. Omkar.
Had a question about the Adaptive Lights. Has Skoda adjusted the orientation for a Right Hand Drive like in India. The link on the website shows the advantages of the system for a Left Hand Drive system like in Europe.

Thanks
Bharathan

[ach1lles]

Excellent review guys. I've said it before, you could publish these things. Just a little bit of an issue, the low fuel warning option of showing nearby pumps is available in many Hyundai cars since some time, and it certainly is there in the Tucson.

Question: does it cost the company significantly more to up tune the engine? Are there any benefits other than cost to offer a lower tune of essentially the same physical engine?

[Dr.Naren]

Very detailed review, loved reading it

As pointed by many, we should have also got the car in higher state of tune. After Market horses would not be reliable as Factory horses. But in this case, it should be easy for a tuner to study Euro map and implement the same in Indian version.

Code 6 has already remapped Kodiaq . Claimed output is 200 HP / 440 NM
https://www.facebook.com/story.php?s...47039021990924

[invidious]

Thanks for the review - it is as intricate and detailed as always. The car seems to have all the bells and whistles but I've just become more and more disenchanted with Skoda over the years.

They seem to be serious about the Indian market which is a good thing but I am afraid the brand might go the Chevrolet way if they don't have some blockbuster sooner rather than later.

[indusboy]

Brilliant review Omkar. Team-BHP is the benchmark for new car reviews.

Have been looking to change from my 2011 Ford Endeavour 3.0LT 4X4 Auto for sometime now. My needs are : Automatic, SUV (essentially for the seating position, space & ground clearance), AWD for occasional offroading on muddy roads, option to seat 6-7 people "comfortably". Was not really impressed with either the new Fortuner OR the new Endy. Primarily because it is practically embarrassing to ask friends/family to get into the third row and lack of headroom (on the new Endy).

Unfortunately for me nothing seem to match my needs currently, well I do like the GLS (but it is a little expensive for my taste). So really interested in the Kodiaq. Have requested a test drive of the Kodiaq.

[ajmat]

Great review, tremendous value compared to the German competition, the Endeavour is a different animal in my opinion as it is a pickup morphed into an SUV.

Only thing holding the car back is the brand name and power output.. I suggested this to a friend of mine who was selling his GLE250 but he refused and bought....a GLE400. I have already made a few friends consider this over an Audi Q3 as it offers more metal for the money. Having read the recent Autocar review on the Q5, the Kodiaq beats it hands down except on the BHP stakes.

I understand the driveability of the 150BHP is better than the 177 BHP version. Having driven the Passat with the latter engine, a peaky 177PS works better in a car than the SUV.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by naveen.raju

An acquaintance recently bought the new gen superb and in a week it started showing all sorts of error codes in the HU.

Reminds me of Vid6639 & Samurai's experience at the media drive.

Originally Posted by Vid6639

After the product briefing, we got into the Kodiaq to drive it. I decided to drive first. Got in, started the Kodiaq and even before leaving the hotel, got a nice "check engine light" on the cluster.

Car was driving fine though, couldn't make out any issues. I wanted to drive so just told the Skoda team that we will start driving because the car drives fine and anyways, we have a support car with us. PR team agreed, so we left.

30 mins into the drive when we reached near the airport, got a call from Skoda saying I need to visit the dealer. Checked on Google and the dealer was 1.5 kms away from us. Drove into Marikar Skoda.

They did the VAS scan and found some sensor issue with cylinder 3 compression. Sent the log files, removed ECU, removed battery, removed sensors and fitted everything back. Went for a drive and the light came back on again. Quality technicians from Skoda had by then reached the dealership and analysed the logs as well. Finally, they realised its a sensor issue - nothing major and agreed when we told them to let us drive. Spent more than 2 hours at the dealership.

In summary, Honey I broke the Skoda.

Originally Posted by Sahil

However, we do need to figure out a way to speed up the review timelines.

Speed, Accuracy & Detail - Pick any 2 . Not just saying - it's a hard fact. Each Official Review entails 7,000 - 10,000 words and shooting 2,000 - 3,000 pictures.

This review has come out about 3 months after the launch, but hey, the Kodiaq is going to be on sale for another 5 - 6 years. Thus, this review will be useful for new car buyers till then, and those looking at pre-owned Kodiaqs after. Net net, each official review is useful for at least 10 years after being published. I'd rather spend a month more & make the review perfect, considering how long it's going to be referred to.

Back to the car, let me begin my saying, I hate Skoda. I have owned two superbs and they have made my life hell.

Sad to hear. Skoda has burned too many bridges with its customers.

Originally Posted by Axe77

my instant impression was that unless the +2 seats are a MUST have, the Tiguan is better value.

Agreed, but the Kodiaq does have advantages over the Tiguan:

- Looks better
- Rides better
- Somehow has a 'wow' factor inside that the Tiguan didn't
- +2 seats are good to have when you need them for kids

Originally Posted by RohanDheman

However, my key disappointment with the Kodiaq has not been the 140bhp diesel that i have in my Octavia or the lack of a cheaper option, but the lack of a petrol option.

Excellent point Rohan! All the monocoques have petrol engines; even the XUV500 recently got one. Skoda should definitely get one for the Kodiaq in 2018. There is a market for petrol monocoque SUVs.

Originally Posted by roby_dk

BTW I am not impressed with the looks of either of them(Read: Tiguan & Kodiaq).

Agreed. Neither of them hit the bull's eye in terms of styling (Tiguan especially). And both look very ordinary from the rear.

SUV should possess the butch and brawny looks combined with rugged construction and good off-road capabilities

Most car buyers actually like their SUVs softer & being easy to drive. That's why Crossovers are now outselling the body-on-frame SUVs.

Originally Posted by itwasntme

'I don't really have a huge liking for SUVs after driving sedans my whole life. I don't need to bully people; I like to overtake them and vanish.

Originally Posted by ach1lles

Question: does it cost the company significantly more to up tune the engine?

No difference to cost for Skoda as everything else is mostly the same. More of a branding / marketing decision, and I got to say = a wrong one. How can a cheaper Skoda Superb have more power?

Are they saving it for the facelift? Did VW / Audi have a problem?

Originally Posted by Dr.Naren

But in this case, it should be easy for a tuner to study Euro map and implement the same in Indian version.

You would need to be an Indian Superman to remap a complex Skoda still in the warranty period:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4PWcXLW-Ok

Originally Posted by indusboy

Primarily because it is practically embarrassing to ask friends/family to get into the third row and lack of headroom (on the new Endy).

If that's your requirement, even the Kodiaq isn't for you.

[Dr.Naren]

Originally Posted by GTO

You would need to be an Indian Superman to remap a complex Skoda still in the warranty period:

Correct! If there are any warranty claims related to powertrain, it's very likely that Skoda dealer would send ECU logging data to the company and remap would be easily detected.

[petrolveins]

My brother got the car on 23rd December in Black colour.

Approximate on road was 38.2 lakhs in Punjab. Black looked smashing. No discounts whatsoever.

He is currently in honeymoon period and can't get enough of it given that he currently drives a Nissan Sunny, so quite an upgrade.

I have discussed with him about the Skoda's notoriety but the features of the car finally did it. Compared to Endeavour, Fortuner, the features and the build quality are miles ahead. So, basically the pull of the Skoda cars is very high and with proper customer service the Skoda would easily take away market share from its competitors.

Evaluated increasing the budget for BMW X3 etc. but except for the badge and horses he did not find much rationale.

[StarrySky]

Originally Posted by GTO

Speed, Accuracy & Detail - Pick any 2 .

Could we have a phased approach to the reviews, where in Phase-1 we have Speed + Accuracy and Phase-2 adds detail.

For eg: Phase-1 could concentrate on only most important aspects of exterior, interior (eg: space, ergonomics, seat comfort, boot space) and ride and handling aspects. Phase-2 could add details to each aspect above, plus have detailed review of infotainment system etc.

[Moto_Hill]

Thanks for the amazingly detailed review. The reading took so much effort, wondering how difficult it was to review and pen down. The attention to detail in review is on par with that of the SUV .

I can't help but praise Skoda for this offering. The safety features, solid built, long list of comfort features, nifty small additions, adequate power with DSG. No corners have been cut, you name it and you get it.

I just hope that the engineer's at Skoda haven't made it too complex for their A.S.S. technicians.

[petrolveins]

Originally Posted by StarrySky

Could we have a phased approach to the reviews, where in Phase-1 we have Speed + Accuracy and Phase-2 adds detail.

While the question is directed towards GTO, allow me to chip in with my opinion.

No phased approach, absolutely no. Quality content needs time otherwise why would I come here rather go to autocar etc. The USP of the site itself is quality content and unbiased as well and so this must not be compromised in any manner.

More over, the explanation by GTO hits the bulls eye in every aspect and also it is not that the review comes along with the first face lift .

[Axe77]

Originally Posted by petrolveins

While the question is directed towards GTO, allow me to chip in with my opinion.

No phased approach, absolutely no. Quality content needs time otherwise why would I come here rather go to autocar etc. The USP of the site itself is quality content and unbiased as well and so this must not be compromised in any manner.

More over, the explanation by GTO hits the bulls eye in every aspect and also it is not that the review comes along with the first face lift .

Depends on how you see it. Personally I am all for "take your time" for "detail and accuracy".

One thing to consider however could be just a brief single post captioned "First Impressions" giving a 30,000 feet view of just that - first impressions - nothing more nothing less. Like a single post. With the detailed review to follow. But the current approach works perfectly too for me frankly. Cars have a LONG life span and Id really like to get my T - BHP reviews exactly as they currently come.

[StarrySky]

Originally Posted by petrolveins

No phased approach, absolutely no.

Originally Posted by Axe77

Depends on how you see it. Personally I am all for "take your time" for "detail and accuracy".

This is OT for this thread, so I will stop posting on this topic in this thread after this.

There are a lot of instances, especially with new launches, where people book the car without having even seen it, let alone test drive it. Even after launch, cars may initially be available only in bigger cities and then when people get a chance to test drive, it might be just a hurried 10 minutes TD for in-demand cars. I think this is where a phased review approach can really help those that are genuinely in the market for a car when it is launched. For the rest of us (which is most people most of the time), the delay doesn't really matter.

I am not suggesting to cut down any of the details of a T-BHP offical review. As GTO said, the review thread will be a reference for the next few years, not just for those looking to buy the car, but also for owners themselves. For eg: the infotainment system review. As an owner I might find the section on infotainment system to be even more informative than the owner's manual itself, but it is probably not my immediate priority when I am in the decision-making phase. I might then only be interested in certain properties of the infotainment system - the sound quality, if it supports Android Auto / Apple Carplay / Navigation, whether it is easy to use, whether touchscreen is responsive or too slow etc.