[SilverSmoke]

Originally Posted by GoBlue

Do share if similar behaviour was observed in the Kodiaq.

Jerks sometimes are there in Kodiaq but because of DSG shift.
Have experienced them frequently during D2-D3 shift.
Overtime, have learnt to predict the DSG behavior & I tend to play & soften the throttle near the shift & I get smoother shifts - especially on steep uphill climbs.

I prefer to fill XP95 from a very reputed bunk only when in city limits & sometimes Power99 whenever I feel like.

Otherwise engine, suspension & transmission is smooth enough.

[Old Dude]

Originally Posted by GoBlue

Chiming in from a perspective of XP95 fuel combined with this 2.0 TSI powertrain on an Octavia 2.0 TSI.

The engine feels noticeably rough with normal petrol. It feels even rougher with older (or perhaps adulterated) XP95 filled from bunks where there’s probably less demand for this category of fuel.

This BS6 2.0 TSI powertrain is sensitive to fuel quality.

While the minimum fuel grade mentioned in the manual is 95 RON, this works out when petrol is filled from bunks where XP95 is of decent quality.

Adulterated or older XP95 fuel is causing fueling jerks at higher RPM’s, as reported by Octavia owners. Do share if similar behaviour was observed in the Kodiaq.

Thanks.

With the normal petrol from the highway side pump, I drove only about 40 km, ( of which 37 kms were in the highway) and I was driving sedately, cruising at 100KMPH - didn’t push to higher rpm’s. While there were no jerks as you mentioned, the engine felt rougher and a bit louder overall. When I filled the tank again with XP95, the tank probably had about 3 -4 litres of the mix ( 5 litres of normal petrol + probably 3 litres of remaining XP95, from which Inhad already run 40km) taking in 56.3Litres of XP95 till auto stop. When I resumed driving, the engine remained feeling rough for another KM or 2, after which it became smooth again - I presume this is as the old petrol in the fuel lines and pump got consumed and the fresh XP95 coming in. Again, I think this is because of poor fuel quality / adulteration than Ron 91 vs 95.

[Karlover]

Hello my dear friends,
We have booked 3 kodiaqs in the family as a replacement to our diesel power houses(fortuner-2, endeavour-1). Since we are from NCR and are done with with daily stress of not able to use our cars.

Few points we are stressed about:
1) next generation is coming soon, is it fine to go for previous generation. We usually keep our cars for 7-8 years.
2) After the second generation launch, will we able to get spares for the current generation?
3) Coming from Toyota, how to rate reliability of Kodiaq.

Thanks in advance and Happy New Year to all my fellow enthusiasts.

[Old Dude]

Originally Posted by Karlover

Hello my dear friends,
We have booked 3 kodiaqs in the family as a replacement to our diesel power houses(fortuner-2, endeavour-1). Since we are from NCR and are done with with daily stress of not able to use our cars.

Few points we are stressed about:
1) next generation is coming soon, is it fine to go for previous generation. We usually keep our cars for 7-8 years.
2) After the second generation launch, will we able to get spares for the current generation?
3) Coming from Toyota, how to rate reliability of Kodiaq.

Thanks in advance and Happy New Year to all my fellow enthusiasts.

IMHO, if you can wait till 2025 Q3 and is OK with a potential 6-10L increase in price, it is better to wait for the next generation given the slightly larger dimensions, more usable 3rd row, more modern gadgetry inside, ADAS features and the hybrid power train not to mention the more updated exterior design.

As for the spares availability of the existing model, I wouldn’t expect that to be a problem for the next 8 years given Škoda has sold a large number of them globally. Also, Škoda does provide extended warranty for 6 years even when you buy now. These may not be as reliable as the Toyotas especially if used roughly, but with proper periodic maintenance should remain largely trouble free for at least 100K Km

[SilverSmoke]

Decided to test the battery - ordered a tester online & got to work.

During the incident year back, battery was replaced (as a good gesture by Brite Skoda) with theoritical new battery - as older one got dead standing idle for 90 days in workshop. Hence, I always had an itch to get it tested - if I got a lemon fitted.
One can't afford to do that when 90% of car is electronically dependent & controlled.

In this tester, there are three parts / phases.
After attaching the electrodes to respective terminals, it draws power & get started up.

In phase 1, battery morphology type is selected - in this it's AGM.


Phase - 2 - Battery subtype is selected - SAE for our Varta.


In 3rd Phase, value for EDC (Estimated Discharge Current) is fed - it's 680 Amperes for this battery. Enter the value mentioned on battery. Don't confuse with DIN Amperes - it's also mentioned & it's different.


Last Phase 4 is actual testing phase.


SOH - State of Health came 97%. Which is pretty good - depicting new battery was placed in.
Anything below 55% needs immediate replacement.
I.R. - Internal Resistance is 3.7 Mili Ohms - anything below 5 mO is nice.
Ideally it should be zero - meaning current is flowing with almost no resistance within the battery.


SOC - State of charge is 77% - good again but little below my expectations - it should be above 80% in regularly used car.
Volts are 12.5 - pretty much normal.


Actual Discharge Current - Cold Cranking Current is 663 Amperes



Hence, deducted the fact - this battery will keep serving for 2 more years atleast if maintained properly.

[kurups]

Skoda Kodiaq (MY23 Vehicle) – My expectations from the car, competition analysis, accessories, niggles.

Its been 8 months driving the Skoda Kodiaq and hence thought to share my decision making process to select the Kodiaq among other similarly capable or priced cars and my driving experience covering 6000+ Kms on the bear. The inspiration to write has obviously been the numerous auto enthusiast in this TeamBHP forum who have already shared their views on the vehicle which has somewhat helped me shape up my opinions as well. So a big thank you to all of them and I feel few of my thoughts mentioned below might also be useful to someone.
1) Requirements that I sought in the car:
2) Competition Analyzed before selecting the Kodiaq – Fortuner/Jeep Meridian/X1/GLA/Q3 and few others
3) Why I chose the Kodiaq and buying experience from Raja Skoda, Bangalore
4) Accessories added and maintenance items bought
5) Niggles with the Kodiaq

Requirements that I sought in the car

The quest for the perfect ride began with a desire for a powerful petrol SUV, a good-looking car, a monocoque chassis which would be good to be used within city and on highways and the flexibility of a 7-seater. These became the four fundamental requirements. A search which started with a budget of 20-30 Lakhs pre-covid, somehow ended up with the Kodiaq in 2023. Have driven the Hyundai Santro – dad used it mostly since 2006, a Tata Indigo CS that I drove since 2008 and a Nissan Micra – wife’s’ car - driven since 2017. Once the Indigo CS was sold and Micra came home, we decided to drive it for few years before choosing a car for me to replace the Indigo CS. Ours is basically a family of 4 - me, spouse and 2 kids. Occasionally parents/brother with his family/cousins join in. Of course, travelling in two cars has been the norm when we go out as a family, but a 7-seater for occasional travel would be more spacious for people / extra luggage when required or otherwise use it as a 5 seater was the whole thought process.

Competition Analyzed before selecting Kodiaq – Fortuner/X1/GLA/Q3/Jeep Meridian

During the covid days the need of a car drastically reduced with work from home setting in and outstation trips reduced to almost nil and hence the requirement of a new car just died down. The Micra itself clocked lesser kms and served the purpose in those days mainly restricted to city drives. By the end of 2021, the evaluation kickstarted again. Kodiaq was re-launched in India in Jan 2022 and it immediately caught the attention – first for the simple reason that I felt it was designed to look great from all angles and it did meet rest of my requirements as well.

Then the obvious question before deciding to get it, was that if I am spending on a Kodiaq, why not have a serious thought on the 3 German badged cars in that price range (X1, GLA or the Q3). Thought over it for over a long period. The 7-seaters from these brands were more than a crore and clearly out of sight & budget. The closest that came under the radar was Mercs GLB 7-seater which was launched in the US at an awesome price, but post covid as all prices went up, by the time it got launched in India, it was launched on road in Bangalore at 75+. Removing GLB from the radar, went ahead evaluating the Fortuner, Jeep Meridian, X1, GLA, Q3 and the Kodiaq.

The Fortuner from a road presence perspective scores great and had a good high seating position giving great visibility and commanding position, but it looked really bland from inside. The infotainment systems looked pre-historic from what we see today. Its time Toyota spends some time and energy on this. The ladder frame chassis, upon which the Fortuner is constructed, prioritizes off-road capabilities, a feature that may be relevant to may be 5% of a vehicle's overall usage life. Felt a lot of body roll on winding roads (An Innova’s ride quality felt better). The Fortuner lacked the sophistication found in the Kodiaq, both in terms of interior and exterior aspects. Despite its rugged and robust road presence, the Fortuner fell short when compared with the Kodiaq, whose charm overshadowed the Fortuner's tough exterior aesthetics, especially up close. Beauty, however, is subjective and personal preferences may vary and since the macho butch looks weren’t on my priority list, added to the fact that the Fortuner's interiors appeared outdated and lacking in updates along with the ladder frame construction deterred my interest on this vehicle.

X1/Q3/GLA - A comparison with the 3 badged cars in the same price range – these were not 7 seaters, but still costs almost similar, if not more. The truth is also that none of the top end variants of these German entry level cars comes under 50 lakhs, neither did the top end variants of these cars had features as the Kodiaq L&K had. In summary I felt shopping for less space & lesser features at a higher price and only for an aspirational badge value associated with these models.

Anyway, here are some other observations:- The X1 looked good from an exterior design perspective and was fun to drive, but comfort wise Kodiaq wins any day as the X1 I found was tuned to be on the stiffer side. It felt a bit outdated and lacked the features that BMW offers on its X3/X5. The drive with all these 3 cars were peppy and not much to complain, they were quick on the road and maneuvering felt great – courtesy the almost similar torque figures and the smaller size of the car compared to other full size SUVs. The BMW X1 back then was at the end of its life and was the final release for its generation. The latest X1 as we speak has now come with only 150bhp. Among the 3 German cars, the BMW X1 looks appealing to the eyes.

GLA looked very premium from inside, again a very peppy driving machine, but the exterior dimensions and a glorified hatch back look with just the logo to feel proud about, didn’t enthuse me to take that aspirational plunge.

Q3 drives a bit better among all the three but didn't find the premium it demands worth for that few moments in time when I would really feel that difference in drive and didn't feel going for a 5 seater vehicle paying a premium compared to the plushness, space & DCC offered by Skoda's premium 7 seater. The Kodiaq practically has 2nd row space similar to a Q7, much more than the space in a Q5, leave alone the comparison with Q3. No wireless android auto on Audis, I felt was a big disappointment.

The 3 German entry level cars are basically the respective company’s entry level products, lacks equipment comparatively and feels overpriced to what they offer. I did not pursue the Jeep Meridian much as it was available only in the diesel variant. The Jeep’s Compass to me was well built & looked much better in its proportions and was a nimble sporty vehicle, the Meridian felt like a stretched out Compass with the exact same engine spec as the Compass. Wished Meridian was given a bit more curves than the boxy feeling that it has today.

If 7-seater was not a requirement, the Tiguan was an extremely good choice. Outside of India, there is not much difference in the Tiguan pricing and these German cars. For some reason, the Indian variants of X1/GLA/Q3 post covid have been crazily overprized compared to a Tiguan. A Tiguan has more internal space and is plush inside and is comparable to some of these German cars, having similar engine & gearbox specs.

Why I chose the Kodiaq and buying experience from Raja Skoda, Bangalore

Now, coming to the Kodiaq. Air Suspension is not a feature that the Kodiaq has, but if you don’t want to spend on a BMW 7 series, Audi Q7 or a Mercedes GLE, and still want to get close to an air suspension drive quality then the best possible option is to get a Kodiaq at half the price and experience a glide-like feeling in its comfort mode.

This was January 2022 when the test drive was requested and Raja Skoda team at Bangalore readily came up for the test drive in just one call. Had told them that I will have to drive it on some long stretches and I need to evaluate all possible driving conditions, seating positions and will test out every other nuance of the Kodiaq. The sales team got approvals for an extended test drive.

The Euro cars like the Kodiaq I felt are mostly designed with a focus on drive comfort, internal dimensions, giving more space inside giving a roomy feeling and not focused much on the yesteryear American external butch and macho looks. The monocoque chassis of the Kodiaq gave a feeling of a sturdy well-built machine, was able to contain the body roll on curvy roads, giving excellent drive comfort as I took it for a spin. The (DCC) Dynamic Chassis Control - basically adaptive suspensions, and the drive modes – sports/comfort etc – really made a difference on the road. I initially had a feeling that this would be more of a software gimmick and felt that I may not be able to see much difference on the road. But unlike my belief, a shift from the comfort mode to sports mode for example hardened the steering movements and the car was quicker to accelerate. I feel this must have been the default mode of the Kodiaq. The comfort mode on the other hand, cushioned the drive on the Bangalore potholes like a charm. A three-zone climate control – separate adjustable temperatures for the driver seat, the co-passenger and the rear seat passengers, features like ventilated - heated & cooled seats and hands-free parking adds to the feature list of the Kodiaq. There were too many features to evaluate or understand in a test drive.

The questionable aspect of this 7-seater were the rear seats. Me, my wife could get on the rear seat, and we drove with each of us sitting in the 3rd row for more than 20-30 minutes and to be frank I did not have any great concerns to point out. Just to give some reference - I am for example 5 ft 9 and around 75 kgs. Getting in/coming out of the 3rd row - you might need to be a bit flexible – that’s one negative I felt, but this is across the industry with no cars having thought of any genius idea to overcome this entry/exit to the 3rd row seating. I had come across many reviews of the Kodiaq where the 3rd row seating was repeatedly called out as “only for kids”. This, I feel is purely subjective on who is reviewing or trying to sit at the rear seat. In my case, the plan was to put kids who were 11 and 6 back then to the 3rd rows. But then when I and my wife tried sitting, it was not bad and can’t be classified as only for kids. For those who are still in a deciding phase, I would recommend that you try this out and make people sit & experience it while driving and then take a call. A frank suggestion for someone similar in a body frame as mine - it’s good to go. More on the 3rd row with our recent trip on the Kodiaq– Bangalore to Goa with two families – the 4x4 taking 4 adults + 4 Kids - detailed in the next post below.

The internal quality of leather, choice of colors, soft plastics, space for water bottles, mobile wireless charging, adaptive suspensions, adequate luggage space 270 liters (or call it 320 liters with some modifications) with all three row up, 12 way adjustable seating adjustments, sliding 2nd rows, ability to fold both 3rd row and 2nd row parallel to the ground creating 2000+ liters space with optimal use of chrome gives the interiors a pretty luxurious feeling. Pen holder, parking slip holder, cup holder in the rear seat, the nap package, sufficient hooks inside the cabin and in the boot, 2nd row rear seatbelt holders – to avoid unnecessary sound while its dangling free, well though through 3rd row seat belt holders, power sources in all three rows, external door protectors in MY23 model and so many more simple & clever additions in the Kodiaq makes it a feel good vehicle.

So compared to the other vehicles test driven the Kodiaq was coming out as a clear winner ticking the basic requirements – 7-seater, Petrol SUV with monocoque chassis and it drove well in the city and the drive quality where I tried – the Hebbal-Bangalore Airport Road was just awesome. It definitely looked like a proper SUV with a sedan like driving comfort. Overall, to get these features that are present in the Kodiaq, I feel one will have to pay atleast 10-15 lakhs extra to get a comparable car.

The back of the mind requirement of a 7-seater, being less keen to have ownership of one of the 3 badged German cars and looking for value and more practicality finally ended up with me siding with the Kodiaq.

After all the test drives in Jan 2022, by the time I decided to go for the Kodiaq (Feb end, 2022), even the test drive vehicles were sold out by all Skoda dealers in Bangalore, much so that they stopped taking bookings across India. Had to wait for another 6 months for Skoda India for re-introducing the Kodiaq and in August 2022 booked the Kodiaq L&K lava blue as soon as it was made available to book. A long wait time and come March 2023, the dealer shared the VIN details, payment done and took delivery of this beauty in April 2023, a MY23 vehicle and come December 2023, ended up clocking 6000+Kms.

Accessories that I ended up adding and the maintenance items bought.

1) A Dashcam – 70mai A800S with a 128GB SD giving almost 12-14 Hrs of recording.
2) Ceramic Coating – Ceramic/PPF confusion ended with Ceramic. Before taking the deliver, got WURTH ceramic coating done from the Skoda Service Center itself with a contract with Skoda that they will do a touchup treatment every 6 months for the next 3 years. This to me now looks like a good decision as the car is swanky shiny at most times and its easy to dust off as it accumulates lesser dust.
3) Jopasu Duster – This duster with waxed microfiber lining + the ceramic coating has ensured the car is kept neat and shining throughout. This duster does not involve to & fro rubbing as the duster picks up dust as we slide it once over the body. Bought a duster rejuvenator from Amazon after 6 months of using this duster and the now its back in action.



4) 3M CR70 film on the windshield, all window glasses & the 3M CR90 for the sunroof – Had taken the Kodiaq for a drive in the summer of April month and felt that a heat protective film would be a good addition and having done the CR70 coating on my Nissan Micra, I felt a remarkable change with reduction of heat on hot sunny days. This addition has made a sea change in the Kodiaq as well, keeping the AC Temp nominal, especially with 7 members in the car, its better to get this done for AC to be effectively till the last rows. Its advisable to switch ON the internal circulation for the AC to be effective in the Kodiaq as the by-default setting is it to be kept OFF. 3M Koramangala guys were courteous enough and give a free PPF covering for the side view mirrors, the door handles and the B & C pillars.

5) Kagu 3D Mats – This has been a life saver compared to the mats that came default with the Kodiaq. It’s pretty easy to clean and maintain. Did not take the rubber mats that was offered by Skoda as accessories. Kagu 3D mats were not available online but could find a dealer in Chennai who delivered the Mats at Bangalore. Some pics of the mat:







Some pics with Kagu 3D Mats laid in the Kodiaq









6) Cleaning and Maintenance Accessories



The Wruth Plastic & Rubber care spray is extremely useful to maintain the black color of the rubber parts especially the front rubber & plastic parts and the rear hexagonal plastic mesh type structure. The spray ensures the liquid enters the places where its difficult to maintain manually.
Added up a fire extinguisher and a car shampoo to be used with a Water Jet spray machine to clean up the car occasionally, 3M Tyre dresser and 3M Dashboard dresser and a Leather cleaning solution from ShineXPro to keep the light color leather seats intact.

Found a Storage Bag on Amazon that takes up all of maintenance items and fits it exactly in the rear left of the Kodiaqs boot such that the grey boot cover can be opened without disturbing the storage bag. Pic below:





A wireless and sleek designed vacuum cleaner from ShineXPro, that lasts almost 25-30 minutes on full charge with a suction power of 5500 Pa to 7000 Pa. That’s sufficient suction power and the wireless nature enables it to be brought home for re-charging or using for household suction requirements too. This neatly tucks into its carry bag and the unit stays in the left side of the boot bottom, adjacent to the spare wheel.





A Tyre inflator from TUSA and a puncture kit combo takes the extreme left side of the boot.

A car dustbin that goes into the 2nd row door bottle holder space, separate Microfiber cloth – for exterior, interiors and the alloys, a palm size Duster to push out dust that gets settled into some of the crevices of the Kodiaq which can’t be accessed otherwise is useful at times.







Tissue Papers cum Card Holder, Sun Glasses Holder & an Air Pressure Gauge – Got a neat tissue paper box & a sunglasses holder that gets clipped behind the visor mirror base as shown below. Added a Stanley Air Pressure Gauge and had an interesting observation. When I fill the tyres with my TUSA tyre Inflator and cross check that with the Stanley gauge it exactly matches the PSI reading. Any time I fill air from Petrol Pumps, the Stanley Gauge always gives a lesser value, shaking my confidence on these Petrol Pump Air pressure values.





Added a Tyre stone remover bought from Amazon recently with a DIY pouch for it and this pouch gets tucked into the front left door – umbrella holder and the faux leather pouch ensures no unnecessary bouncing sounds while the vehicle is on the move.







From practicality to aesthetics, these additions have become an integral part of the Kodiaq's narrative.

Niggles with the Kodiaq

No love story is without its quirks, and the Kodiaq has a few:

1) “Hi Laura” command – found it of not much use. If anyone has got some useful stuff done with her, please share.
2) The maps provided by Skoda does not having traffic updates in India, making it redundant and it all comes back to google maps. Hence a facility should have been provided to show google maps view in the screen behind the steering, not only on the central touchscreen.
3) Nets provided with the Kodiaq – In the seven-seater mode, am just trying to see how to make use of these nets. If someone has found a real use, please do share.
4) The wireless charging space for mobiles must have been a tad bigger.
5) Along with the 12V socket provided, the two USB – C Ports in the front is useful, but once you put any type of cable or a USB C to A convertor, the glossy lid covering the wireless charging space cannot be closed. This could have been designed better to accommodate the use of USB ports and a closeable cover.
6) A USB port on the internal rear-view mirror is available in Euro specs Kodiaq and is given a miss in India. A must have for powering the dashcams, else it leads to routing the dashcam cables all the way from the top where the Dashcam is fitted to the USB ports at the bottom.
7) An additional rear AC vent in the 3rd row could have helped.
8) Do we have any regulations regarding the vehicle headlight power - lumens restrictions or so in India? On a completely dark roads (say with no streetlights) or incoming vehicles, the headlights of the Kodiaq seem lighting the road extremely well – no doubt on this. But when you have vehicles coming from the opposite directions, call it the glare or whatever you wanna call it, the path ahead somehow doesn’t seem getting lit well. I have seen forum members citing Kodiaq’s headlights as one of the best. Not sure if I am expecting too much about the path visibility or some regulations are keeping this light power lesser to my liking or is it time to change my glasses .
9) A bit more space and thigh support on the 3rd row would have added better comfort.
10) Once or twice the windshield wipers jarred making some noise and it became fine after that without any intervention. Never experienced those disturbing noises again.

These are some of the poetic imperfections that I wished the Kodiaq had refined which is otherwise a finely crafted vehicle. Wish it continues adding character to the saga and enable all of us cover miles and miles.

[SilverSmoke]

Originally Posted by kurups

But when you have vehicles coming from the opposite directions, call it the glare or whatever you wanna call it, the path ahead somehow doesn’t seem getting lit well. I have seen forum members citing Kodiaq’s headlights as one of the best. Not sure if I am expecting too much about the path visibility or some regulations are keeping this light power lesser to my liking or is it time to change my glasses.

Good to hear from you that you are having great time. Kodiaq is definitely having one of the finest headlights.
What you have experienced is auto dimming of some headlight LED modules when an oncoming object is detected.
It can also be observed when some individual crosses in front of high-beamed headlights.

[troika]

Originally Posted by kurups

Skoda Kodiaq (MY23 Vehicle) – My expectations from the car, competition analysis, accessories, niggles.

Its been 8 months driving the Skoda Kodiaq

5) Kagu 3D Mats – This has been a life saver compared to the mats that came default with the Kodiaq. It’s pretty easy to clean and maintain. Did not take the rubber mats that was offered by Skoda as accessories. Kagu 3D mats were not available online but could find a dealer in Chennai who delivered the Mats at Bangalore. Some pics of the mat:

[

Congratulations on great car. I have been trying to get the Kagu mats for my Tiguan with no luck. Could you please share via PM the contact details of the person who sold you the mats. Thanks

[Old Dude]

Confused whether to feel relieved or concerned

I was alarmed to see quite a few paw marks on my engine cover when I opened my hood two weeks back - horror stories of rats chewing up wires resulting in expensive repairs flashed in front of my eyes. Quickly checked the dash for any warning lights - nothing, and all operations were normal - Whew! Cleaned up the paw marks, and closed the hood, hoping this was a stray incident.



A week later, opened the hood to find fresh paw marks much to my dismay - no errors or signs of bitten down wires though. Cleaned up again, and left couple of sticky pads near the wheels. No rats landed on the pads, but paw marks reappeared.

Twist in the story

Today morning, opened the hood to check and lo behold to my surprise, the culprit was there in front of me, curled up snugly on the engine cover, raising its head and giving me the same look my kids give me when I wake them up in the morning for going to school. Except that the green eyes looking me in annoyance was a young black stray cat that frequents our apartment community. Annoyed at being woken up, it slipped down the engine compartment and exited through some opening below, and bolted away!

Now I’m confused whether to be worried of the cat causing some damage or be relieved that my Kodiaq now had a black cat security guarding against rats!

[kurups]

Originally Posted by troika

I have been trying to get the Kagu mats for my Tiguan with no luck. Could you please share via PM the contact details of the person who sold you the mats. Thanks

PMed you, but the guy is out of Stock for Kagu Mats for Tiguan. You can also check for similar ones from Pharaoh brand.

[troika]

Originally Posted by kurups

PMed you, but the guy is out of Stock for Kagu Mats for Tiguan. You can also check for similar ones from Pharaoh brand.

Unfortunately , no stock in pharaoh either for Tiguan.
Thanks

[sridhar-v]

Originally Posted by Old Dude

Confused whether to feel relieved or concerned
Now I’m confused whether to be worried of the cat causing some damage or be relieved that my Kodiaq now had a black cat security guarding against rats!

You now have the best anti-rat solution. Leave some milk in a bowl for your watchman!!

[kurups]

Bangalore - Goa Road trip on the Skoda Kodiaq - 4 Adults & 4 Kids and how the 4 x 4 aced the trip

This is a post on one of my trips from Bangalore to Goa. A friend of mine & family together with ours decided on a Goa trip last Christmas (Dec 2023), travel starting from Bangalore. One week trip taking the route - starting from Bangalore – Haveri (1 Night stop), Hubli - Belagavi – Goa (4 nights) – and while return Goa - Karwar - Murudeshwar (1 night) - Jog Falls – Shimoga - Bangalore.

With kids aging 7, 9, 12 & 14, the question in mind before start was two cars or one? Though we intended to have kids sit in the 3rd row, the rest of the adults too tried occupying the 3rd row seats and we took a short trip in Bangalore itself and all felt fine - for all of us. Then the concerning question moved from people to accommodating the luggage of the two families. We did a trail again - stuffing pillows into the our luggage bags making it look full to see how many bags could be accommodated in the 270 liters of the Kodiaq’s boot with 3 rows up. We could accommodate 4 medium to large size bags in the Kodiaq’s existing boot and we were confident to accommodate few smaller shoulder bags more. This was actually good enough for us and we took a call and decided to do the Tour-de-Goa on the Kodiaq. A few days prior to the trip, one more idea stuck exploring the Kodiaq’s boot.

Increasing the Kodiaq’s boot space from 270 Liters to 320 Liters.

Step 1 – Remove the i) Grey Boot cover and ii) The Retractable Boot Load Cover.





Step 2 – Once you remove these two items from the boot, the only delicate thing that u find is a set of taped wires going to the subwoofer. To avoid keeping luggage straight on top of this and to ensure nothing bothers this cable I gave it a flexible but strong cable cover protection. Pic below: -



Step 3 – The luggage could be placed straight on this area, but yet, I discovered a spare white plastic sheet in the DIY area of my house, which I cut out as per the boot shape - as shown below. This was a sturdy sheet, not so flimsy and bent only if you force bend it.



Once in position, it looked as shown below – giving you a flat surface, neatly tucked in making the spare tyre and the subwoofer cable protected and invisible. We are ready to load our luggage, started off with some soft duffle bags with clothes to start on top of the plastic sheet.



You realize that the dimensions of this hidden space (below the grey hard covering and above the spare tyre) is on an average around 100 cms in length, 42 cms wide and almost 12 cms deep. Note that we are not tampering with any electronics or touching any delicate part of the vehicle that can cause any electrical issues to the vehicle. We are making use of the space that Skoda had left vacant above the spare tyre.





We get an additional 50000 cubic cms of space. That’s 50 liters additional space added, increasing the boot space of the Kodiaq from 270 liters to 320 liters.

This is just a jugadu arrangement and use it only if required. I decided to anyway give it a try on our 1500Kms Goa trip, with luggage loaded starting from top of this white plastic. Once the luggage was loaded, the rear view was still visible and the boot from outside looked somewhat like this – ready to cruise, the 4 x 4 carrying 4 + 4 + 4 (Adults, Kids, Luggage)



The trip started with the Front tyres at 36.5 PSI and rear tyres at 38.5 PSI. The 1500 Kms round trip ended with hardly 0 to 0.5 drop in tyre pressure. Somehow, I am not convinced with the Kodiaq’s default suggested tyre pressure ratings (39 PSI & 45 PSI with 5 adults & fully loaded luggage) which I feel makes it a lot bouncy on roads with undulations and don’t feel this as apt for Indian Road conditions. Our entire trip went on well with 3 kids easily enjoying the 3rd row seat, sometimes elder kids and sometime adults taking up that space and as expected the spare & hidden space of the Kodiaq was well utilized too. Whether it was the highway stretches or the ghat section roads we experienced, we felt no dearth of power. Once or twice heard the grunt sound when it was a continuous upward climb for some stretch and this was when I tried experimenting with the paddle shifters. Felt I should have avoided that and the DSG do its work automatically. Once the tour was over, the grey lid was placed back in its place and is good to be removed if such a need arise at any later day. That was the latest trip that we made with some space modifications done in the car and allowing two family to be accommodated in one car. Kodiaq – bringing families together.

Overall experience driving the Kodiaq for 6000+ Kms and some pics

Some of the previous drives undertaken on the Kodiaq and the feedback:
1) Bangalore – Mysore – Bangalore
2) Bangalore – Mysore – Wayanad – Bangalore
3) Bangalore – Mysore - Bangalore
4) Bangalore – Kochi – Trivandrum – Bangalore
5) Bangalore – Goa – Murudeshwar - Bangalore

With completion of many such out of city drives, I can only say that the Kodiaq has been a fine performer, exceeding expectations and has given no issues so far. The hunt for XP95 is one thing that bothers and the IOCL app which allows search for specific pumps with XP95 helps. The drives have been extremely comfortable and even after a single stretch drive of 3-4 hours, when you step out of it, you don’t feel exhausted as I have experienced in my earlier vehicles. Experienced maneuver breaking twice and thanks to members of this forum, I didn’t bother much as we should not and thanks to this beautiful technology.

Be it the Monocoque chassis or the DCC that is at work, the end result – Driving comfort have been awesome with the Kodiaq. Have used XP95 from IOCL throughout or HP Power95 once or twice on highways. Once when the vehicle was new (around 1000+ Kms) added Shell V Power (assuming it to be 95 octane), only to realize later that it was 91 Octane. Kodiaq with the 2-litre TSI Turbo engine with the DSG DQ 381 gearbox combination pulled it off like a charm. After that one episode, I try to stick on consistently with XP95 only.

With better highways coming our ways, the urge to push her hard has always been there. The need for additional power has never been a question with the Kodiaqs’ 2 Lit TSI engine in any of my drives with all 7 seven seats occupied & with loaded luggage to the brim.

Mileage - Sedate driving at around 75-85 KM/hr on highways has given me a mileage upto 14.4 Km/Lit, an aggressive drive taking speeds in the range of 120+ Km/Hr has dropped the mileage to 10 Km/lit on highways and Bangalore city drives with heavy traffic have restricted it to 7-8 Km/Lit as well. As you press the accelerator, so you reap the mileage would be the best way to put it as far as the mileage goes.

Overall, apart from the niggles covered in my previous post (Post#1581), this is a beautiful beast. The exterior design of the Kodiaq is such that it will age with grace. Sharing some pics taken on these trips:-







At Karwar beach, Karnataka






Back home @ Tiruvalla, Kerala, a Phantom?










Bangalore Home - after a wash & ready for the next voyage.

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[Old Dude]

Originally Posted by kurups

Skoda Kodiaq (MY23 Vehicle) – My expectations from the car, competition analysis, accessories, niggles.

Its been 8 months driving the Skoda Kodiaq and hence thought to share my decision making process to select the Kodiaq among other similarly capable or priced cars and my driving experience covering 6000+ Kms on the bear.

Thank you for beautifully summarising your selection process and ownership so far. One of my friends recently asked me about my choice for going for a Kodiaq and why not one of the entry level German triad - just forwarded link to your post, that explains why Kodiaq offers a lot more for the same price or marginally less. My ownership experience has been similarly delightful.
Your ceramic coating seem to have held up well over the 8 months and the deep wet paint look is drool worthy. Curious to know about your regular cleaning routine.
Also impressed by the Kagu mats ( I went for Škoda standard issue rubber mat, with beige fibre mats on top as Kagu was unavailable). The black rubber mats become dirty from footsteps and the beige masks that until the weekly brush and vacuum cleaning. Are the Kagu being black, susceptible to the same issue?

[kurups]

Originally Posted by Old Dude

Your ceramic coating seem to have held up well over the 8 months and the deep wet paint look is drool worthy.
Curious to know about your regular cleaning routine.

Few things that I did/do for the up keep:-

1) Be available at the shop floor while the entire ceramic coating process is happening - not by invite, but by demand, as a condition while taking their ceramic coating offer. These are things that's impossible to check (whether done or not @ evening 6PM when they report the car is ready after ceramic coating). Heard of many places where they get your car shine and not do too much of ceramic application. Didn't want to take that risk. Just to ensure they do the sponge application with ceramic drops, not leaving any part of the vehicle.

2) Otherwise, it's mainly Jopasu duster cleaning - once every two/three days.

3) A Microfiber wet cloth cleaning for the exteriors - Every alternate Weekend. Floor-mats cleaned every weekend.

4) Haven't handed over the car to Apartment cleaning staff or outside.

5) Jet Spray Shampoo wash - Our apartment has a Jet Spray machine and I end up using it for my car washes. Have done it 3/4 times so far. So it's average once in 2 months. This I guess is important as many places I have seen the dust settles, which is impossible for a microfiber cloth to pull out as its physically unreachable, only forced water pressure gets it cleaned.

6) Wruth Rubber & Plastic spray helps keep the front grills, side rubber paddings, mud flaps and all such places dark in appearance. This is what the Skoda service center guys use too.

7) Not allow bird dropping or any such marks to be left un-wiped for more than 24/48 hrs.

Originally Posted by Old Dude

Also impressed by the Kagu mats ( I went for Škoda standard issue rubber mat, with beige fibre mats on top as Kagu was unavailable). The black rubber mats become dirty from footsteps and the beige masks that until the weekly brush and vacuum cleaning. Are the Kagu being black, susceptible to the same issue?

Yes the black Kagu do get the footmarks. When it's me alone driving - home - office - home, the issue is with the driver seat only and mostly I ignore it. The easiest way cleaning is a weekly wet microfiber cloth wipe and a vacuum if there are solid sand particles. Good thing about Kagu mats is that it is completely water washable and just gets back to the original finish in a minute when it's the usual foot marks that's bothering. When a lot of mud spoils the mat, a water wash is the best solution. Went with black mats seeing the finish it was giving. For a finer finish for black Kagu mats, a 3M dashboard spray can be used & wiped off on the Kagu Mats.