[Anduril]

Congratulations Mr.Perera for your new black beauty. Must say the Karoq looks absolutely stunning in black and a very well proportioned design too.
Panoramic sunroof looks very cool.Once the rains come, the view of rain drops on the transparent glass roof will look even better from inside the car.
Awesome photoshoot by your friend btw !! especially the panning shots, no less than any car magazine or brochure quality...super.

Wish you many many happy miles.

[Mr.Perera]

Originally Posted by drmohitg

Congratulations on your new ride. That was an amazing review with pictures matching the official review standards. The car indeed looks great but sadly I feel is tad overpriced specially with the likes of Seltos and Creta into the play. Their top end variants are priced a cool 4L less. Nevertheless wishing you many happy miles with it.

Thanks DrMohit. I really dont think the Karoq falls on the Creta/Seltos segment. The Karoq is definitely a higher segment compared to them. If you ask me I definitely would say that the Karoq sits right in between the Creta/Seltos and the X1/Q3 category.

Originally Posted by slayer23

Mr. Perera - thanks for the great review! I must say this car is a treat to the eyes and oozes elegance! The proportions looks great and the interiors are absolutely stunning.

How's the space in the back? I am 6'4 and hence asking.

Hi slayer23. The space in the car is very generous. I am around the 6'1 mark and never I have felt cramped in the car. But for the safer side I would recommend you to check out the car in person and see if you are comfortable.

Originally Posted by 123.rishabh

Many Congratulations on your new prized possession, wishing you many happy miles with it.
Was curious to know, how effective is the rear camera washer ? Is it able to successfully clean the cam after a drive on our dirty wet roads ?

Thanks Rishab. Oh yeah , the rear camera washer is a boon for our weather and roads. It is very effective, the jet is very strong and clears all mud and dirt from the camera.

Originally Posted by Gixxy.danger

Hello Mr. Perera!
Congratulations on acquiring a new garage buddy for the Octy v-RS. Skoda has a small yet a salivating line up in India currently. The CBU quality is exuberant and evident in the pictures. Never have I such a brilliant finish on black paint in India! Speaks volume about the international quality standards.

Kudos to your and father for listening to your instincts and heart and going for it even after they priced it pretty steeply.

Happy miles to you and your folks!

Thanks a ton Gixxy.danger !

Originally Posted by Anduril

Congratulations Mr.Perera for your new black beauty. Must say the Karoq looks absolutely stunning in black and a very well proportioned design too.
Panoramic sunroof looks very cool.Once the rains come, the view of rain drops on the transparent glass roof will look even better from inside the car.
Awesome photoshoot by your friend btw !! especially the panning shots, no less than any car magazine or brochure quality...super.

Wish you many many happy miles.

Thanks Anduril. Like you said that panoramic sunroof puts the airiness inside to a whole new level ! It is definitely on of my favourite feature !

[Mr.Perera]

1 MONTH and 1000 KMS UPDATE




It was a very slow climb to 1000 kms due to the pandemic since we tried to avoid getting out most of the time. The Karoq was taken out in most instances, while the other cars were mostly in the hibernation mode. The super quality interior is undoubtedly whats impressing everyone !
The registration process was done in the third week of June. We had booked a registration number of our choice and once the number was allotted, we had to take the car for inspection at the RTO facility. It was very surprising to see very less number of vehicles that came for registration than usual. Normally we used to wait in long queues of cars, but this time, there was no queue, we went there, the RTO inspector just came, checked the VIN and asked us to go. Everything was over in under a minute. It was very evident that the pandemic has affected the auto industry really badly.
We got the HSRP too earlier than expected from the dealer and got it fitted from outside.

• Picking the car in the Magic Black shade was indeed a good decision. It look striking in every pose and every time we park the car and walk away, a second look was accompanied.

• Another good decision was to get the Ceramic Coating done. It is very evident when I wash both the black cars the Ecosport and Karoq together. The Ecosport has no ceramic coating done on it. The Karoq takes just half the time taken to wash the Ecosport. Especially the initial jet of water removes most of the mud and dirt, also the drying process is much easier.

• The all weather mats that come as part of the ‘Essential Pack’ is of superior quality. Perfect fit and very easy to clean as well.

• One of my biggest gripes in the beginning was the gearbox being a bit slow to respond. But after few weeks of use the gearbox has become very smooth and quick to respond. Almost as fast as the DQ250 in my vRS. Initially there was a slight rubber band effect while shifting at higher rpms. But now I can feel a very big change in the way the gear shifts. Even few of my friends who drove the car noticed the same.

• The car is just a breeze on smooth roads and minor broken roads. The suspension does a great job in soaking minor undulations. The same undulations which are felt in my Ecosport and vRS are surprisingly not felt in the Karoq.

• There is a hint of road noise in the cabin. The engine is super silent, but the road noise creeps in. I think it is from the tyres and gets annoying at times. Normally I do not listen to radio or music while driving, but because of the road noise, I switch on the radio to cover up the road noise.

• The handling and grip level is too good. There is no body roll at all and the car just grips so well when driven hard in corners.

• The car is very easy to drive. The compact dimensions and huge glass area ensures that visibility all around is very good.

• The interiors is what makes the entire experience so special. A friend of mine who owns an Audi Q3 can’t believe this car costs 15 lakhs less and still the interiors and fit and finish is much better than his Q3. Every person who gets in the cabin seems to be flabbergasted by the feeling of luxury in this compact SUV.

• The Fuel efficiency figures also has been improving. City mileage is floating around 8-10 kmpl and the best we got during a 150 km highway drive was 17 kmpl. Also one thing that we noticed while coasting around 80kmph in the highway was a message in the MID Screen saying “ 2 Cylinders in the Engine has been deactivated for better efficiency”. Nothing was felt in the cabin and the switching was super silent. Had it not been for the message shown in the MID we wouldn’t even have noticed this.

• Skoda says the first service needs to be done only at 1 year or 15,000kms. But we thought of doing an oil change in the coming week since doing an oil change after the first 1000 km has been a habit we have been following for all our cars.

Other good features we like are
1. Driver seat + ORVMs with memory function - A great feature when there are multiple people driving the car at home !
2. Auto hold feature for both incline and decline too
3. Tons of storage spaces everywhere ! There is space for everything you bring along
4. The stock LED headlights impresses us during every night drive.

Things we wish was included in the car
1. Powered tail gate- Every time we close the boot we wish the car had this feature.
2. A bigger glovebox- The glovebox is surprisingly small, even though it has a cooling feature you cannot keep anything bigger than one small 200ml juice carton and few packets of chocolates.

I see many people comparing the Karoq with Seltos and the new Creta. One thing I can surely say is the Karoq is way superior to those cars and definitely sits a higher segment than them. Only similarity being the overall dimensions.
Hoping that the current pandemic leaves the planet soon and we get to cover more happy miles in the Karoq.

[msync73]

A great review and the update too Mr. Perera! I'd been scouting the www to get a detailed user review of this beauty, and then I got inducted into team-bhp last week and read this! I have been evaluating numerous mid level SUVs for the past few months, as I plan to upgrade soon. After considering and evaluating the likes of Hector, Seltos, and Compass, I got totally swayed by Karoq, when I saw the images at the unveil and read up about it. Your review is a validation of that! Karoq is now. pretty string contender in my mind.

However, the dealership here - Skoda Navi Mumbai, doesn't seem too prompt. I filled in their online lead form and got a call from their central number a week later, who took my details and promised that the dealership would contact me. I asked them for a brochure and they said they'll whatsapp it to me. But its been a month and neither has happened since. Surprising for a premium brand like Skoda to not get back to an interested lead!

By the way, did you take the 5 year maintenance package? How much do you think would the annual service set you back by?

[Mr.Perera]

Originally Posted by msync73

A great review and the update too Mr. Perera! I'd been scouting the www to get a detailed user review of this beauty, and then I got inducted into team-bhp last week and read this! I have been evaluating numerous mid level SUVs for the past few months, as I plan to upgrade soon. After considering and evaluating the likes of Hector, Seltos, and Compass, I got totally swayed by Karoq, when I saw the images at the unveil and read up about it. Your review is a validation of that! Karoq is now. pretty string contender in my mind.

However, the dealership here - Skoda Navi Mumbai, doesn't seem too prompt. I filled in their online lead form and got a call from their central number a week later, who took my details and promised that the dealership would contact me. I asked them for a brochure and they said they'll whatsapp it to me. But its been a month and neither has happened since. Surprising for a premium brand like Skoda to not get back to an interested lead!

By the way, did you take the 5 year maintenance package? How much do you think would the annual service set you back by?

Thanks msync73.
Well thats surprising that Skoda didnt give a positive response. I would definitely recommend that you check out the Karoq. I am sure you will like it.

Also yes, we took the maintenance package. It costed Rs 49,999 and covers all yearly services for 4 years. As per the sales team, each service would cost around 10-15K.

[tristis2008]

Dear Mr.Perera,
Refer to T Roc drive experience that Harneet.S is having in the link below. Are you not facing this issue?

Originally Posted by Harneet.S

Kangarooing has been felt a total of 3 times now and I'm very scrutinizing

For TBhp App users:
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...ml#post4843185 (The Volkswagen T-Roc, now launched @ Rs 19.99 lakhs)

[Mr.Perera]

Originally Posted by tristis2008

Dear Mr.Perera,
Refer to T Roc drive experience that Harneet.S is having in the link below. Are you not facing this issue?



For TBhp App users:
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...ml#post4843185 (The Volkswagen T-Roc, now launched @ Rs 19.99 lakhs)

Well I haven't faced any such issues with the Karoq. Initially while doing my research about the 1.5 TSi I too read about the infamous 'Kangaroo effect'. But luckily no such issues in our car.

[TokyoDrifter]

Originally Posted by tristis2008

Dear Mr.Perera,
Refer to T Roc drive experience that Harneet.S is having in the link below. Are you not facing this issue?

Isn’t the “Kangaroo” effect seen only in the MT + 1.5 TSI combo, at least in Europe? But yes, Harneet did say his 1.5 TSI T-Roc with DSG has the same issue. Some horrible stories to read on google about the same!

[tristis2008]

Originally Posted by Mr.Perera

But luckily no such issues in our car.

Very relieving in fact. I am wondering now, for the T Roc, while VW got busy in disabling features, they forgot to take this important fix. Or may be Skoda took its own path to fix this issue.

Originally Posted by TokyoDrifter

Isn’t the “Kangaroo” effect seen only in the MT + 1.5 TSI combo, at least in Europe? But yes, Harneet did say his 1.5 TSI T-RCO with DSG has the same issue. Some horrible stories to read on google about the same!

As I understand from the troc forum uk, the issue has been prevalent in cars with manual gearbox. But there have been complaints from DSG folks as well. Good thing is 2020 models seem not to have these issues, unless I am outdated with the information. Less such stories are also coming out due to covid situation in many counties, I believe.

I had posted about it in T roc thread long time back. Interestingly it was my first post on team bhp ! Subsequently during test drive, I felt the jerkiness during slow driving conditions. And I could repeat this behavior and make a video record. I have posted a link to video in T-Roc thread. Of course I am not sure if it is the same "Kangaroo" issue, but the effect in the cabin was similar.

Originally Posted by tristis2008

"Kangaroo Effect".

In fact I had contacted Zac Hollis for the same and some fellow BHPians also did. And he had this to say:
"In the previous years 1.5 TSI had problems with jerking especially with cold conditions. .....“

Please see this post for full transcription:

Originally Posted by tristis2008

Indeed, I had a similar interaction with Zac.

I have put my T Roc purchase on hold until I get clarity on this issue. Very disappointing.

Sorry Mr. Perera, may be we have digressed here in this thread.

[TokyoDrifter]

Originally Posted by tristis2008

I have put my T Roc purchase on hold until I get clarity on this issue. Very disappointing.

Tilting towards the Karoq, are you?

[Mr.Perera]

Skoda Connect App
Was casually going through few Skoda Apps in the Appstore (since there is so much free time due to the newly imposed Lockdown in Trivandrum) and found this app called Skoda Connect. While connecting the phone with the car, the phone app shows lots of details like service reminders, any active errors etc

Note that the car shown in the phone app is of same colour and has the same alloys as the car itself.





The best part is when you are on Apple Car play and you select Skoda Connect in the MID Screen, you get Nissan GTR like widgets on the screen Details like real time Turbo Pressure, G force meter, amount of power and torque currently put down, throttle and brake meters etc are shown. Some might find this gimmicky but I like to see this on the screen rather than the list of radio stations !
The Apple Car play Screen with the list of apps



The Skoda Connect App has 3 displays a user customisable display, dynamic and sport




Also one very sad part is it works only on Apple Car play and not on Android Auto

[busydrive]

Thank you for the wonderfully detailed review and the stunning pictures. Amazing color as well. Looks very very nice. Happy motoring.

[tristis2008]

Is USB playback supported or is it just SD cards and dvds?

[Mr.Perera]

Originally Posted by busydrive

Thank you for the wonderfully detailed review and the stunning pictures. Amazing color as well. Looks very very nice. Happy motoring.

Thanks !

Originally Posted by tristis2008

Is USB playback supported or is it just SD cards and dvds?

Yes, USB playback is supported. The Karoq doesnt have a CD drive though. Media inputs are only available via Bluetooth, SD card, USB and Aux.

[Vishnu Shaji]

Originally Posted by Mr.Perera

Introduction
The hunt for a compact SUV/Crossover started in 2018. We were on the lookout for a replacement for my father's 2010 Honda City. The City covered around one and a half lakh kilometres in the last 10 years and all these years it turned out to be a very reliable and well made car. The only gripe we had was its low ground clearance and soft suspension. The car rubbed its belly and front mud flaps on almost all speed breakers and the situation was much worse when there were 4 people on board. After driving around my Ford Ecosport, my father started developing a liking towards compact SUVs due to the high ground clearance and the better view ahead.

Well Congragulations Mr. Perera. Hope to see you around soon

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