Experienced the 2025 Kodiaq as a driver & passenger: First impressions

As soon I sat in the front seat, I can easily understand where the owners of the new Kodiaq would be spending their time in the car.

BHPian tanmay1904 recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

So, I have been following Team-BHP since the past 12 years and have been a member for the past ~4.5 years. Team-Bhp has been my go to guide ever since I chanced upon it when browsing for the Murcielago SV. So, when the Skoda Team-Bhp event was announced, I applied, without much thinking and to my happiness, I was Selected!!
So, took a start from Pune at around 9:30 am and reached the Taj at around 12:30. I met Aditya outside the hall, who guided me through the paperwork and I finally got to meet GTO and other esteemed members of our community (Vigsom, sachin_cs, NairV8 and others). Took a selfie with GTO too.

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After meeting some more BHPians, we finally sat down for the Kodiaq presentation and lunch. The lunch was absolutely delicious, especially the soup and the main dish (the name of which I can't remember).

During the presentation, we were given a walk through of the route which we were taking after which we walked down to the test vehicle. So, the plan was that there will be three bhpians in the car who will each get to drive roughly 45 mins to an hour, on the Sealink, the coastal road and the Atal Setu as well.

Accompanying me was iliketurtles and StrykerEV05 and a representative from Skoda with iliketurtles driving first through the coastal road.

First things first, I was pleasantly surprised with the design of the new Kodiaq. I used to think that the older one was the better looker, however, one look at the new generation and I changed my mind. The new gen looks more matured and butch, unlike the previous one which had more straight lines and was more stationwagon-ish. Although the side profile looks more station wagon than SUV.

The side profile of the car

Sitting inside, again was a pleasant affair as everything from the Cognac interior, the knurled knobs for A/C vents, the door handle, the ambient lightning as well as the massive panoramic sunroof was top notch. Small details such as the touch activated reading lights over the window side in the middle row, umbrella in the front driver side door shows how much thought Skoda puts into designing and developing their cars.

The Panoramic Sunroof.

The knurled A/C vent adjuster.

The reading light mentioned above.

The classy interior door handle.

The dashboard. Looks very premium and upmarket. This image was taken when iliketurtles was behind the wheel.

The car was adequately spacious in the middle row with the front seats pushed all the way back, though I cannot comment on the third row, as we three didn't get a chance to sit in them.

Finally after iliketurtles got to drive, it was my turn. as soon I sat in the front seat, I can easily understand where the owners of the new Kodiaq would be spending their time in the car. The front seats are very supportive and the massage system is sublime, its not a gimmicky feature as one would expect. It works brilliantly, and as iliketurtles said when I was driving, it might just save you a couple of trips to Thailand

So first of all, the car felt very sedan like to drive, it wasn't a truck like experience at all, which is a huge plus to me IMHO. The Engine was tractable and the DSG was butter smooth. I never felt any jerks when the gearbox was shifting.

Now, while the steering was a joy to hold, I just couldn't get a hold of the column mounted gear lever, it was complicated for me to use. I really wish that Skoda would have given a conventional gear knob in the center console.

Also, a lot of the car's functions, like the drive modes have to selected from the center screen, which put me off, as I would have to take my eyes of the road to use them. I really prefer having dedicated physical AND non-haptic buttons for such functions.

Coming back to the drive, the car was stable, the steering was light in the city and weighed up perfectly as you picked up speed.

My route was mainly driving on the Atal Setu and back and man, what a memorable drive it was. The car masked high speeds very well. To be honest, staying under the 100 kmph speed limit on Atal Setu was a real test of my discipline. One point that me and StrykerEV05 noticed was that at lower speeds the car felt slightly faster, while at speeds of around 100 kmph, it felt like someone is driving at 80 kmph. The car was stable. However, on the undulating roads on some sections in Mumbai, it was evident to me that the car's suspension was set up with a slight softer bias. There was a bit of vertical movement on the undulations and I felt that the addition of DCC would have helped here. But again to be honest, I don't think any owner will miss it as the car's ride was comfortable and stable at high speeds.

Humongous boot space with the third row folded up. I personally feel Skoda should have deleted the third row and might as well added some more features to the middle row, like the massagers, ventilation as well as the thigh support extenders.

I just loved the sound system. StrykerEV05 had connected his phone to Android Auto wirelessly and played some songs. Even with the volume turned up, the bass and clarity was something else. It blows the sound system of the competition out of the water. Its seriously that good.

I hate the wheel design. They are wheel covers on alloy wheels!!

One more point. Although the car comes in the "Sportline" variant too I would actually skip it and go for the top of the line "Selection L&K" as I felt that, at least in the pictures, the all black interior does not go well with the design of the dashboard. Also, the Sportline misses on some features. I personally feel that the all black interior suits the previous generation Kodiaq Sportline much better. Here is a pic of the previous gen facelift Kodiaq in Sportline trim taken from Jangra's beautiful ownership report

Pros and Cons of Kodiaq:

Pros:

• Brilliant interior design.
• Excellent powertrain combo. The 2.0 TSI as well as the gearbox is a match made in heaven.
• Front seats are supreme. Massagers, ventilation, thigh support extenders add to the appeal of the car.
• The feature list is endless. Panoramic sunroof, 360 degree camera and what not.
• Standard warranty of 5 years/ 125000 kms, which is extendable up to the car's 8th year.

Cons:

• Price. As mentioned many times, both on and off the forum, the car is priced higher, at nearly 60 lakhs on road for corporate registration. Although I feel people will still buy it.
• Side profile is more station wagon than SUV.
• Skoda's after sales. Everybody knows about it and I think this is killing the brand in India.
• DCC deletion is unacceptable IMHO. Sure, one can live without it, but nevertheless it is good to have.
• Not a fan of the digital instrument cluster.

I feel the Kodiaq is a superb package and anyone shopping for a car in the 50-60 lakh bracket should go for it.

So to sum it up, I had a blast. And as GTO says, Each and everyone has gone home with a mind full of memories.

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