Czech mate
Hello Skoda Kodiaq VRS £42,870 OTR/£47,350 as tested
Let’s get straight down to it, shall we? The Kodiaq vRS has caught some flak in the
TopGear office for not being sporty, or fast enough. For promising much with its vRS badge, bodykit and big wheels, and delivering little in the way of actual driving thrills. It’s the kid at school with all the latest cricket kit, who couldn’t hit a long-hop for four if his life depended on it. All the gear, no idea. It’s also quite expensive – £5k more than a Sportline model with the 190bhp diesel.
Good. Now we’ve got that out the way, I can tell you why I’m unreasonably excited about running a seven-seat diesel Skoda SUV. Probably to a degree I shouldn’t confess in petrolhead circles, but, sod it, I can’t stay in the closet forever – the Kodiaq vRS does it for me, and here’s why.
Anyone with children knows, deep down, they should be driving a Skoda Kodiaq. Space for seven, good fuel economy, infotainment that works and a badge that says literally nothing about them, in a good way. The vRS allows you to do the right thing by your family, but to drive something relatively fast and vaguely interesting at the same time. It’s a win-win, even if you have to pay a bit for it. OK, pay a lot for it.
Prices start at £42,870 – which includes most of what you could reasonably need, including 20in wheels, 9.2in ‘Columbus’ touchscreen, Dynamic Chassis Control, Alcantara sports seats and a Dynamic Sound booster that makes the 2.0 bi-turbo diesel sound like something better. But we’ve managed to pump ‘our’ Race Blue Metallic vRS up to £47,350, through some choice additions, such as electric (£450) and heated (£205) front seats, rear-view camera and LED tail-lights (£385), heated windscreen (£340) and a panoramic sunroof (£1,175). So, six months with the vRS. I suspect this could be a case of dodgy first impressions, trumped by the pleasure of day-to-day running. Fingers crossed.