Skoda Kodiaq iV SE L - long-term review

The Kodiaq has been on its best behaviour since having its electrical gremlins named and shamed. Meaning we can move on to talking about the rest of the car.

Which we’re going to do with a little help from another Kodiaq. This one was blue - Race Blue to be exact - which meant it looked oh so much more appealing and could actually be found in a car park by a harried father. On a do-over, it’s the colour I’d be picking – but it didn’t have the optional £1,725 panoramic of the Top Gear long-termer, meaning the monochrome interior felt too drab and dark. There’s no getting away from how expensive that big piece of glazing is, but it makes a massive difference.

The blue car also wasn’t a hybrid, which leaves room in the boot for the seven-seat option. Which I wouldn’t get. Because our kids aren’t old enough to sit back there without a child seat, it’s a squeeze for an adult, and regardless, a pure pain for anyone to clamber through when the middle row is filled with said small-person pews.

Having the pure petrol powertrain was rather eye-opening, too. I couldn’t get the mpg past the low 40s, and having recently covered over a thousand miles in an Octavia with the same turbo’d 1.5 four-pot, the lower and lighter saloon only got into the high 40s after hundreds of miles of motorway cruising. 

Moreover, the Kodiaq feels like it needs, no, feels like it’s been set up for having a big battery in the boot. The blue Kodiaq was floaty, and dived under braking, whereas with an extra 200kg-plus in the back, our big grey barge felt rather more sorted. It’s not perfect, the damping not expensive enough for our crappy Hampshire back-and-beyond roads, but it feels much more together than the non-PHEV.

The hybrid system isn’t perfect, mind. With the e-power only going through one axle, every brisk exit from a junction sees the instant torque spin the inside front wheel. On the few occasions we’ve been all out of electric juice, when flying solo the combustion engine just doesn’t do that.

However, those brief moments of hooliganism aside, given we drive almost everywhere on electricity, relying solely on the 85kW e-motor means you can use the throttle like a switch, keeping it pinned as if you’re on a qualifying lap, and really make very little progress at all. Underpowered school runs have never been so fun. If only I was a blur of blue rather than a drab of grey.