News

What I hate & love about my Skoda Kodiaq Sportline after a 1200 km trip

With a combination of spirited & sedate driving, the SUV returned 11.8km/l fuel efficiency.

BHPian Jangra recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Recently completed a 1200 km trip to India's cleanest city - Indore. Glad that my sparingly used Kodiaq got the treat of a long trip. And so did I.

Noting a few observations from this trip

What I hate

  • Speed dings. I don't know what MoRTH was smoking when they implemented 80 km speed dings. I do not mind 120, but dings at 80 are annoying on highways. Every overtakes involves speed from 100 to 60 and back to 80+, and a lot of times it likes cruising between 75 and 85. Those dings also bothered my family, waking them from their sleep. I have never modified my cars and I keep their stock, guess I will have to live with this one.
  • Wireless Charger. I got a "Your Phone is Very Hot" warning. My 50% battery stayed at 50% post 3 hours of being on the charging pad with CarPlay on before this warning appeared.

What concerned me

During the onwards journey, with the intention of better mileage, I drove in Eco mode. During about 50 km of driving in this mode, I noticed the drive being jerky between 4-5-6th gear while cruising. Never encountered this issue in city driving but on the highways when you're slowing down for traffic and cruising again, you can feel the jerk between those ratios, and also hear the transmission clank noise. You may not feel and hear anything, should your music system be loud, but when in mute, you can feel it and hear it. Switching to normal mode I did not encounter this issue. But, while returning to Mumbai, this could be felt even in the normal mode. This issue only occurs when you're driving very sedately and gears are changing at a very low RPM (1100-1200). In a sport mode or on a normal mode with normal (not sedate) driving, this issue was not felt. I made peace with this behaviour after 1200 km of driving. This was never felt in my Vento 1.2 TSI. Vento jerkiness is only limited to 1st and 2nd gear.

Could be better

It's summer and 40+ degrees throughout - Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, I would have loved it if AC did a better job of cooling as my Vento does. Understand this is due to the cabin area being significantly larger. Blower from 4th speed starts to get loud to a point that it hinders the lovely acoustics of the music. I do not ever drive on Auto AC mode as it turns the air recirculation off and therefore takes forever to chill the cabin and maintain it.

Like it

  • Mileage. onwards journey was 400 km sedate and 200 spirited got me 11.8 km/l. Return was mostly spirited which gave me 10.4 km/l. My Vento is only slightly higher, which is 14 when sedated and 12 when spirited. Also very happy to report that the car can easily do 600kms (at least) on a full tank.
  • Alcantara seats. The car did not have covered parking in Indore and with temperatures at 42 degrees, suede was warm to the touch, unlike leather which gets very hot.
  • Boot Space. Being a large SUV, boot space with 3rd row folded is only slightly larger than of my Vento. It's still in "like it" as the space is good.

Love it:

  • Fun to drive. All this while I only drove the Kodiaq in the city. It is the highway that makes this purchase worth it. Compared to my Vento, this is much more fun on the straight roads. No matter what speed you are at, there is always a surge of power on tap. 0-100 under 8 seconds feels possible even on the NORMAL mode. You can have some real fun on the ghat section in SPORT mode, this SUV / crossover drives like a sedan.
  • Seat comfort. Usually, all-day driving makes me tired and gives me a backache. This 12-way seat adjustment with lumbar support worked like a charm. No backache and tiredness at the end of the journey
  • Silent cabin. Turn off the AC blower, mute your music, drive it over a pothole, speed bumps, or rumble strips and you will immediately appreciate the build quality. Even the sound of the door shut screams quality.
  • Music system. It's amazing! This is the first thing I flaunt about with my friends and colleagues.
  • Finally the reason I bought it over the Tiguan - the looks. I'm still not tired of drooling over it looks. Makes me very satisfied with the purchase.

Finally, and most importantly, it was the expression of my in-laws when we reached. They greeted the car before they greeted us

Some pictures from the trip

1st break at Starbucks Igatpuri.

Here's what BHPian akshaysehgal had to say on the matter:

Congratulations on the new car. Wishing you many many happy miles on this beauty. Great review and travel updates.

I recently saw a black version of the car overtaking me on a Delhi road and I followed it for a good 10 minutes admiring it all the way! You mentioned the looks of the car as the last point but if it were me, I would put it all the way up. In my opinion, it is one of the finest looking SUVs (not just in the 7-seater category) right now in India!

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.

 
Driven by india