Team-BHP (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/)

-   Test-Drives & Initial Ownership Reports (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-drives-initial-ownership-reports/)

-   -   Skoda Karoq : Ownership Review (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-drives-initial-ownership-reports/223428-skoda-karoq-ownership-review-17.html)

Lovely pics.... congrats & good wishes for a long n fun ride...
Price seems very decent to me, considering a 30L on road approx cost.

Hi folks,

Finally took the plunge & got home a pre owned Karoq in Lava Blue Color.
Had sold my Superb (2010, MT) about 15 months back & was managing because of WFH. With offices set to open soon, had been on a look out for my next car.
Having a budget of 18-20L, evaluated a multitude of cars, from Astor, Kushaq / Taigun, among the new ones, to waiting for Slavia/Vurtus to searching for used Octavias.
With the chip shortage continuing, used cars still commanding an unusually high resale value, i wanted to evaluate a new car & be sorted for a min of 5 years.
Having driven a Skoda, no one apart from VAG cars came close to the build quality, drive quality, safety & driving pleasure.
Was super disappointed at how the Kushaq/ Taigun turned out in terms of interior quality & pricing equation.
Chanced upon this scratch less, only 6K run, Aug 2020 beauty & decided to stretch the budget to 23L, at which i finalised the deal. Direct from the previous owner (though including a 1% finders fee/ brokerage)
Lockdowns & Covid ensuring that the car has very limited KMs on it, which worked to my advantage.
Took a test drive, loved the interiors & how well maintained the car was & i was sold (even though the engine is not as punchy as what it was on my Superb/ on Octavias), there was no time that i felt a lack of power.

The car has 2.5 yrs of warranty left (i will extend by another 2 years, for approx 75K, in a few months) for my peace of mind & the Skoda notoriety. The car has a service package till the 4th service, which is a sweet deal for me, as that means no spends till mid 2024.

Had done the basic due diligence of visiting & checking with the Skoda workshop on past service/ work/ visits to clear up apprehensions around any faults/ accidents. Also checked on the Vahan website for pending challans etc.

A very tiresome process was securing a loan for a used car, when there was a loan running in the name of the previous owner.
It took about 14 days from the time i paid the initial amount to block the car & started the loan process to finally get the car home.
Checked with multiple PSU banks as they had the best rates even on pre owned cars, however they refused when they got to know that there is an existing loan.
Finally went ahead with ICICI, but with their weird conditions/ procedures & extra cost.
ICICI process is to not release the loan in borrower's account or the seller's account, but rather they have a set of empanelled vendors who get the money on behalf of the borrower. It is the vendor who pays the bank of the seller to close the seller's loan. For this & the RC transfer process they (vendor) charge anything between 6K-12K, however depending on the car/ case complexity, the vendor holds back 10K-2L (approx numbers) of the amount as escrow/ security till the time the seller's loan is closed & seller's bank has issued an NOC for the RC transfer (close of hypotheciation).
In my case about 3% of the loan value is still with the vendor (as security), which will be paid to me once the seller shares the NOC from his bank post loan closure (hopefully in the next 3-4 days). I wasn't aware of this process, nor the timelines & couldnt find it anywhere on how this works.

Any how, things got sorted & was able to finally the the car home yesterday.
Now on to the process of Bank NOC (seller's loan), Insurance transfer, RC transfer & updation in Skoda system.

Will get back after a few days on my initial ownership thoughts, though am positively biased :)

Cheers & thanks to members like Mr Perera on their great threads for keeping the interest alive & ensuring the car is top of mind (something that helped me when i was evaluating pre owned cars)

Congratulations! The condition looks excellent and a sweet deal overall. The lava blue colour is a stunner and easily the best shade to don for the Karoq.

Driven about 250kms till now since i got the car & it car continues to grow on me.

Got the car detailed today....
Looks as good as new now, with the micro scratches & swirls all gone & a good gloss & shine visible.
Sharing some pics :)

Hot stuff!
Can you share what all and from where have you gotten the detailing done from? I have been long considering it myself.

Detailing bull, Gurgaon.
Basic hi gloss treatment, including foam wash, interiors, dash, tyres polishing & buffing, swirl correction on the body, followed by buffing, using Rupes.
7k rack rate, slight negotiation possible, over all pretty vfm & decent job done. About 6 hours overall.

I am wanting to add some chrome on the rear around the ubiquitous fake exhausts. According to my understanding, the rear bumpers are two separate parts attached to each other. In the Sportline model, the lower part comes with Chrome finish.

I think finding a chrome replacement for the lower part will be difficult, is there any other way this can be done? Has anyone else gotten it done or looked for it?

Import it from Milotec or Superskoda directly. Plug and play fitting.

Congratulations and welcome to the club! It is a lovely car indeed and I'm sure you'll have many happy miles with it. Enjoy.

Just did a late night run from Delhi to Gurgaon (just 1 traffic stop) & got some fantastic mileage….
Actually surprised to see such numbers, even though was driving at a leisurely pace.

Yeah, stick to 100kph and it'll return such numbers. I think the ACT tech actually works well.

I got this on the ALE.

Congratulations on your car. World class product oozing with quality.

Off topic - What’s up with the Jeep besides standing besides your Karoq. Is that your other car. If so, quite unique combo:thumbs up

Thanks… it’s a fab car indeed.
Jeep’s not mine, though it’s in the extend family. 😄

Had a couple of questions-

• What’s the engine oil in the Karoq, in case I want to carry some during a highway drive? Last service was at Skoda, though done by prev owner. Would it harm the engine if brands are mixed (same specs)?
• The car seems to downshift to a lower gear while going over potholes, noticed this Esp when it is in 2nd/ 3rd gear, it shifts to 1st gear. Something specific to the DSG? Anyone else observers this?

Yes indeed, it downshifts to 1st gear on broken roads. My Polo GT doesn't do this at all. It clings to 2nd come what may. So it is not common to all DSGs. Maybe the tuning on this one. However, I have seen that this behaviour has toned down quite a bit over time. I hardly see it doing this downshift, nowadays.