Hello fellow bhpians. This is my first ever ownership report of my just purchased Skoda Kodiaq Style in black. The
official review (Skoda Kodiaq : Official Review) is so detailed for the exact same model (Style) that too in same colour (Black) that there is no point repeating the same stuff. This is just my journey to owning the Kodiaq and will be updating my experiences with it.
Background:
I learned to drive at a very young age watching my father drive us all over India and unbeknownst to my parents used to switch places with our driver all the time. Finally after my studies abroad I got my very own car which was the 1st gen Swift vdi. I was wowed by the performance of diesel and loved it to bits. Eventually when Dzire was launched switched over to its vdi trim because of the boot space it offered over the Swift. Within a year again changed it to another Dzire but in zdi trim as my father wanted a safer car for me (airbags and abs iirc). Dad was driving City (2nd gen)/Ciaz during that time. We both love to self-drive rather than being driven around.
It was 2011, Santa Fe had recently launched and father and I liked its looks and features it offered. A friend of his had bought it and father asked to me test drive it. I was floored by it as i had never driven such a powerful car with 195 horses and 420nm of torque on tap. What was also amazing was its car-like characteristics. We never had a car in this price range but both of our hearts were set on it. Black has always been my dad's favorite colour and i feel the same. It makes any car with beautiful design stand out much more. It was Sep 2011; the Hyundai showroom owner here also owns Tata's hcv showroom and dad had relations and dealings with him for years. We inquired for Santa 4wd in black but it would take a couple of months to get it. During the visit we saw the owner was using a black Santa Fe and it was gorgeous. We went back in and offered to purchase it immediately in cash. He was reluctant at first but we pushed and finalized a deal. We also were buying tata hcv's at the same time so were able to convince him. A new one was approx 27 lac OTR at the time and we bought his for 19.5. It was just 8 months old and 15k driven. From that day until yesterday, it has been my daily driver and have loved driving it every single time.
My Santa Fe in 2012
Recent years:
During the past 8 years prices of cars have jumped up more than a segment. As GTO said in one of the threads buying a premium car does last longer as it has been for me with the Santa Fe. To get an upgrade from it, a new one would cost 30-35+ so we have been reluctant. My dad changed his Ciaz to an Octavia Tsi L&K. It's a stonker of a car but having been driving an car-like SUV, Octavia feels lightweight and driving on our roads is much easier when sitting high in an SUV. As such i still enjoy the Santa Fe more to drive because of its stability. But features and our change in preference to automatics-only started to make it feel dated now.
Impending BS6 regulations along with slowdown in auto-sector makes it a good time to purchase a car if you can afford one. Slowdown affected us too and maybe this change had had happened a year or two before. I kept inquiring for offers since Nov but didn't feel like splashing unless some very good offer came along.
Cars considered: Vento/Rapid TDi DSG - Ever since driving the DSG of Octavia, no other automatic feels as good. Due to ban incoming Skoda/VW have been clearing their diesel stock. I had even made payment for Rapid but stopped it next day as i couldn't step down a segment and that too a sedan.
Tucson CRDi - Like the Santa Fe, this Hyundai R-series diesel engine is amazing and in its price range no other car can match it. But like the 2nd gen Santa Fe, the fluidic design improved the exterior looks but made the interior feel compact, something like Ecosport which is a good car in its class but i never liked the compact feel inside. My 1st gen Santa Fe felt much more spacious and comfortable. I might have bought it 2 years back when it was new but now except for the engine and good front looks, everything feels dated compared to other options.
Endeavour 3.2 - Really really like this and very much wanted the 3.2. But zero discounts and lack of interest by Ford sales people. I had to contact him twice but each time he just said he doesn't have a demo car and he will contact once it arrives which never happened, no interest to even lure a customer regardless. Would probably be out of much budget in the end and dad wasn't very keen on it.
Tiguan - Great discounts and was offered Highline for 30 lacs with exchange. But we feel bland design philosophy of VW cars don't make it exciting and it was smaller in size too.
Alturas G4 - Massive car with decent power, gearbox and kit. They were offering great discounts this month (27-28 OTR for G4 with exchange) but driving it was a different experience and didn't get the road manners I am used to of the Santa Fe. I believe this will always be the case with a body-on-frame chassis.
Seltos - Talk about instant impact. Enough has already been discussed about it but I have never been keen on it because it's just a better looking Creta which i don't like in the first place. Felt a step down in segment from Santa Fe although it offers more kit than the Kodiaq and probably all the new cars considered.
Used BMW X5 - Imo starter models like X1, GLA, Q3 are just not worth it and even they would have been over my budget let alone next segment models like GLC/X3. Since i had been holding onto my Santa Fe, I always wanted to experience something next level to it. 6-cylinder diesel's felt like the natural jump and i experienced it for the first time when i test drove 530d. Just

, what an engine. New 6-cylinder options were well over my budget. So i started looking at used cars. 530d's are few to find and being a sedan didn't consider it for long. But my mind was now set on X5. Few decent options on OLX and my local BMW dealer had a 4 year old X5 DPE with 40k km on odo. I test drove it and was floored again like the 530d. The dealer was asking around 38 for it (exchange not possible for used car), still over the budget. And my dad would not be keen on a used car that to expensive to maintain luxury cars when a new ones can be had for less.
So after 2 months of thinking, decided to wait for next year and see if prices drop for the X5. But Christmas had other plans for us.
Kodiaq
We like the design philosophy Skoda is going with and their cars look beautiful and classy. To me all their cars Rapid, Octavia, Superb, Kodiaq are best looking in their respective segments. Even the incoming Kamiq is a looker. Always had an eye on Kodiaq but felt very overpriced. As mentioned before we had purchased Octavia in 2018 and had good relations with the dealer. We had the Rapid deal cancelled mid-Nov and said we were interested in Kodiaq. We had the offer of 32 with exchange since Nov but dad stuck to 30 as our max budget. A couple of weeks pass and the sales person contacts us informing that a black Kodiaq had arrived and if we were interested. Dad again said 30 is the budget and Alturas can be had for 27-28 so no deal. He persists almost daily but we don't budge. On Christmas we visit the showroom to see if deal can be struck and the manager reduces to 31.5. We again didn't budge and left. The owner called after 2 hours and tries to convince dad but dad doesn't budge but counter-convinces him to finalize for 30.21

Thus in a matter of hours deal was done and we even received the car same evening. The deal was very hard to ignore considering my Santa Fe is now 9 years old and with year change price would have reduced even more.
Final breakdown:
Ex-showroom - 33 lacs
OTR (with insurance and accessories but no EW) - approx 38 lacs
Deal price with Santa Fe exchange - 30.21 lac
Extended Warranty - 92k additional.
Like the Octavia we would have preferred L&K but it had no discounts and compared to this offer it would have cost way more just for additions like 360 cam, virtual cockpit and tpms.
Initial Experience:- Feels classy and elegant. To me black/dark interiors reduce the luxurious feel of any car. That's why we never considered Scout.
- Black on Kodiaq looks just so so good. One of the reason i am making this post is to show it off hehe.
- Very spacious in front and second row. Third row is suitable for kids but of very rare use to us. Massive luggage space when second and third rows are folded.
- Memory seats on driver and passenger is nice.
- Smooth to drive with car like characteristics making it worthy upgrade. You never feel like its a big suv.
- What is left to say about DSG. It makes the engine feel more powerful than it is.
- I only felt the compromise of lesser horses when above 120kmph. Santa Fe never ran out of power even when it reached 160+. As I have grown older my driving has become sedate so an easily acceptable compromise.
- There is some noticeable engine noise. Not annoying or loud but noticeable at lower speeds.
- Not acceptable is missing of TPMS. For its price this should have been available on all variants. With Seltos many cars segments above feel overpriced feature-wise.
- Decoding the VIN showed it as April manufactured but dealer shared his billing which showed he only received it Nov end. Luckily it also means it doesn't have the annoying mandatory speed beeps.
- Next day after we received the car went to correct the tyre pressure to the recommended 34psi. Surprisingly and counter to what is supposed to happen the road and bumps were felt more afterwards. Today changed it 40 and ride-quality improved??? Don't get it.
Finally pics of my new black beaut.
Old and New
D-Day
Randoms
Will try to update this thread whenever possible. Expect the car to last long like the Santa Fe unless EV revolution happens sooner.
Thank you for reading.