No Kamiq relief from Skoda’s sameness

IT’S a shame Skoda stopped building the Yeti. It was an interesting car with a fun name that did things a bit differently.

It was also a very well-liked, practical motor. But it was killed off presumably because the cost of building a new Yeti on an all-new Volkswagen Group platform couldn’t be justified.

Instead Skoda has focused its attention on creating a range of SUVS and crossovers pretty similar to everyone else’s and which lack the out-of-the-box thinking that gave us the Yeti. Cue the Kamiq Skoda has announced prices for the plug-in hybrid version of its Superb saloon and estate.

The Superb uses a conventional 1.4 TSI petrol engine widely used across VW brands and an 85kw electric motor that between them produce 218PS.

Skoda claims an electric-only – the latest addition to VW’S Czech maker’s line-up of SUVS and crossovers, starting from the top with Kodiaq, through Karoq, to this ‘city SUV’.

The Kamiq doesn’t look like a crossover – more a hatchback on stilts, like the recently launched Skoda Scala with more ground clearance.

The Kamiq is the same width as the Scala but is 120mm shorter bumper to bumper. It’s built on VW’S MQB AO platform with the usual hardware from the VW warehouse. There’s a choice of three 1.0 TSI three-cylinder range of up to 35 miles and a range on petrol and electric of 578 miles.

Charging takes three hours 30 minutes from a 3.6kw wall box.

The Superb plug-in hybrid is available in all normal Skoda trim levels. Cars will be arriving in January. Skoda Kamiq SE-L 1.0 five-door crossover

1.0-litre three-cylinder petrol, 115bhp

9.9sec 42.8-55mpg

petrol engines in 95, 115 and 150bhp guises. We drove the first two at the launch.

The 95bhp motor comes with a five-speed manual gearbox only. Volkswagen has a couple of special editions of its Amarok pick-up. They’re called Black Editions but one is based on the posher Amarok Aventura.

The latter is powered only by the 258bhp version of the truck’s 3.0-litre V6 diesel and the other has a choice of this motor or the 204bhp version.

Extras include 20in Talca alloys, black styling bar, black rear bumpers and a polished strip on the grille in… black. It’s a surprisingly spacious car with plenty of legroom for adults in the rear, even with a tall driver.

The boot is typically Skoda – generous. But make use of all this