Home News New Compact SUV, the Skoda Karoq Launched

New Compact SUV, the Skoda Karoq Launched

Nobody buys cars anymore; their time has come to an end. Nowadays people buy lifestyles, or at least that’s what the automotive industry seems to think.

In the years that VW Group has owned Skoda, they have gone from joke to great value family transport, but now they are ready to move to the next level – lifestyle vehicles.  The reason for this transition is to avoid the pitfalls of cars becoming just a commodity item that people spend the least amount of money possible on.

To prepare Skoda for the coming decades they are about to release the second of their SUVs, the Karoq, and they chose that coolest of countries, Sweden, to show it off to the world’s motoring press.

With many of the journalists present wondering why Skoda had chosen Sweden, I thought it was a smart move rather than going to a country hotel in South East England or a spa resort in the Czech Republic. While many countries have swathes of luxury hotels, Sweden is always seen as being hip with a great outdoor culture – that’s what Skoda wants to associate itself with.

Travelling by boat through the Stockholm archipelago, you can’t help but be impressed with the surroundings. As well as the parks full of people enjoying the sunshine, Sweden has the highest boat ownership per capita of any country.

As a result of this journey, by the time I saw the Karoq I was hooked; I wanted a place by the sea in Stockholm, a sail boat and a new SUV packed full of technology to take the family on adventures every weekend.

High energy launch event

What about the car? In a nutshell; it’s a smaller Kodiaq, with a year’s extra technology added to it and is around the same size as the SEAT Ateca.

Skoda have completely ditched the previous Yeti design, which was pretty much unique in the VW Group line-up, and went with a more traditional SUV model. This seems a bit of a shame since the Yeti, although classed as an SUV, was a real do it all vehicle with decent handling and a cavernous inside.

What you probably can’t tell from the photos is that the Karoq is actually bigger on the inside than the Yeti . In fact, the Karoq is also bigger than both the SEAT Ateca and the Nissan Qashqai – 521-litres with the seats up and 1,630 litres when folded.

As well as creating more space on the inside, Skoda have kept with their trademark “Simply Clever” and given owners an umbrella under the passenger seat, torch in the boot and ice scraper under the fuel cap.

As if extra space, better looks and clever additions to help you deal with family life weren’t enough, this is the first Skoda to get a fully digital instrument panel like you find in many new VWs and Audis.  If you haven’t tried this before then it’s a much improved way to have your sat nav displayed as well as being able to show media info etc.

Engines? At launch the Karoq will come with a choice of two petrol and two diesel engines. On the petrol side there’s a 1.0l three cylinder unit with 113bhp and a 1.5l four cylinder with 148bhp (as seen in the new Golf). The 1.5 TSI engine is likely to be the most popular in the UK with 119g/km co2 and combined MPG of 55.4.

The diesel choices are 1.6l and the ubiquitous 2.0 TDI with 190BHP. Although most engine combinations can come in manual or DSG, the 2.0l TDI unit comes with all wheel drive and DSG only.

What’s it like to drive and when can I buy one? The car is only just finished being developed and production doesn’t start until July. As such, we’ve not had a chance to drive it yet and probably won’t get to until the autumn.

Word from those who have tried development cars is that the Karoq is a blend between the refinement of the VW Tiguan and the sportiness and car like handling of the SEAT Ateca.

Although final prices haven’t been decided yet, we’ve been told to expect the Skoda Karoq to cost around the same as the outgoing Yeti, and maybe even slightly cheaper. At £17,770 this would make it over a grand cheaper than a Nissan Qashqai which starts at £18,955.

Like it’s big brother, the Kodiaq, expect to see these in every street and car park of the UK soon, as the Karoq is likely to be a massive hit for Skoda.

Here’s a nice overview of the event by our friend Jonathan from drive.co.uk

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