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How a Honda Civic owner ended up with a Skoda Kodiaq out of the blue

22nd July 2024, 13:31 by Kanad Kalasur

As soon as that came out of my mouth, I too realized that I never even thought of checking out the Kodiaq. How could this car not appear in my radar all this while.

BHPian sarathlal recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

My beloved White Tiger, the Honda Civic has pampered me so much that I never really felt the need to get a new car at any point of time. Also, since I had to baby sit the Civic throughout due to its low stance and scraping over undulations, I wanted my next car to take care of me and not the other way round.

Having said that, I never missed any chance to go around and test drive newer ones that I thought I might like though.

Most of the sedans could not match the spacious interiors of the Civic which we were so much used to. So the A4’s, S60’s and the 3ers couldn’t win the heart over. Despite the age, Civic still is an amazingly fun car to drive, so the margin of advantage these new age sedans have over the Civic appeared marginal to me. Especially given the insane price points of these cars.

Never liked any of the SUV’s also, primarily because of the body roll. XC40 Recharge changed that opinion and we even went ahead with the booking. But the long wait played spoilsport, and was ruined by the XC60 actually. Compared to the XC60 realized how small of a vehicle the XC40 was, so appeared to be not future proof.

I was smitten by the XC60 though. A very well proportioned car, very practical and could do anything we wanted. Somehow the drive didn't really connect. and felt like I was trying to force fit into liking it at times. So let that also go and continue to wait and hope for the Honda CR-V to come back (Yea, big time Honda fan).

Out of the blue, one of my colleague asked my opinion about the Skoda Kodiaq. I told him, beautiful car, but it’s a Skoda.

As soon as that came out of my mouth, I too realized that I never even thought of checking out the Kodiaq. How could this car not appear in my radar all this while.

And on that same day, a Lava Blue Kodiaq came in and parked right in front of our office. Kodiaq being not so popular car is not a common sight in Trivandrum. So, all these appear to be someone giving the hint.

Mid day, with sun at its peak, oh man, what a sight it was! Glowing up in all its glory lies a huge beautiful beast! Love at first sight ha?

Went home and talked about the Kodiaq, and I was met with the ‘ah another car, another test drive drama’ vibe.

But still, the very next day, me and my wife drove up to the Skoda showroom and took a test drive. We went with zero expectations, more like a customary check to be done and nothing more. Over the past few years of our testing out cars, there were lots of discussions that happens before and after, but this one Both of us fell for it immediately! I cannot single out what it was, but we both knew that this was the car we wanted. The Kodiaq had everything that we wished for and more. All the gizmos that came with it, the huge panoramic sunroof, the luxurious seats, ease of ingress etc. And what an engine transmission combo! Bliss to drive! Anybody who is on the fence should really drive this car and see how great a drivers car it is.

The Dynamic Chassis Control works like a charm. You can drive it sedately and float around in comfort mode, or give the chunky accelerator (Love the pedals) a nice tap, and the beast sprints off! The whole character of the car changes when driven aggressively. I experienced first hand, what it means when people says its hard to light tap the DSG’s. It’s an amazingly (and surprisingly) fun crossover to drive and very very easy for the driver to fall in love with it!

Next was for the kids to give their opinion. Second round of TD with the kids and they wanted the car then itself! The back row was an instant hit with them (Only they could get in and out of that third row like that though)

Went in with my parents and uncles for their opinion and even they too loved the car!

Booked the car right away, and within 4 weeks, we were able to get the White Bear home!

The dealership experience was exemplary and I hope the same continues with the service.

The stuff that I liked are;

Butter smooth engine and gear shifts.
Noise insulation. It’s like turning ON the ANC of Bose headsets.
Beautiful Canton sound system.
Dynamic Chassis Control - Very minimal body rolls. Even the third row seats have super comfy ride quality
Ease of Ingress and Egress for my parents
Great driving position, with excellent visibility across
Tech is good, 360 camera, sunroof, trim zone climate control etc
Interior material quality is top notch.
Physical buttons for all essentials.
Loads of simply clever items like the door protectors, ticket holders, centre cup holders, clamps for luggage etc.
I can go anywhere without having to worry about my cars bottom getting scraped!
Multiple driving characters. Can relax and cruise or do some spirited sprints without throwing everybody around.

What I miss in this car;

Seats are getting dirty pretty easily. They clean off easily also, but still.
Straight up windshield needs getting used to. Being used to Civic’s aerodynamics, minor things like water not wearing off easily etc are bit annoying.
The auto start/stop and AC intake mode getting reset every time the car is switched off.
12V socket powered ON always. Had to connect the dash cam in a non perfect way due to this.
Of course poor mileage for City drives.
The connected car features looks ordinary.