Skoda Kodiaq Driving, Engines & Performance

Top Gear

19-05-2025

The steering lacks feel, and while roll through turns is predictable enough, take too much speed and the Kodiaq bobs up and down in tight corners which leads to understeer. Again... do you really care about that? Sacrificing handling for comfort is totally worth it here.
Its Tiguan cousin proves that making a tall, heavy SUV handle keenly comes with consequences. Thus Skoda has taken the Kodiaq in a different direction, allowing it to roll and lean more. This makes it much comfier, and while the trade-off is a car that isn't quite as sharp, we suspect this won't be even slightly a concern when every one of those seats is filled with kids Haribo'd up to the nines.
Kodiaq Mk2 has a 10 per cent slipperier aero profile than before (a drag coefficient of 0.28 vs 0.32) but this has been used to improve refinement inside rather than carve out blockbuster acceleration times. And it's worked: this is a serene and placid place to be during a motorway cruise. Each of its engines make themselves known quite vocally when pushed harder, mind, encouraging the smoother, more considered driving style more appropriate to family shuttling.
Ride quality does drop as you climb up towards 20in wheels (which naturally fill the arches best from an aesthetic point of view) but on the whole, this is a car that smoothes out urban roads better than most rivals.
Don't spec DCC+ and you can't adjust anything at all – a cost-saving measure, or Skoda appreciating most people don't bother – but the Kodiaq still steers with clarity and rides as well as you need it to. Our inner car nerd would still like the option to fiddle, though...
You can! DCC+ chassis control lies on the options list and Skoda expects around a third of buyers to go for it. It brings 15-stage adaptive suspension as well as a mixture of different drive modes for steering weight and engine response, which you'll adjust neatly with the new central 'smart dials' (see the Interior tab). Crucially it tightens up the body roll, making the handling that bit more predictable. Happy days.
Which of those engines should I go for?
The entry-level 1.5-litre petrol and the less powerful diesel feel strong enough if you aren't frequently five (or seven) up inside. They achieve 0-62mph in 9.7 and 9.6 seconds apiece - acceleration that feels adequate, but no more than that - though expect their flexibility to be stretched with heavier loads. Both work with their seven-speed DSG transmission well, and while there's a bit of kickdown lag when you decide to get a shift on (pun intended), you can take manual control with the paddles behind the wheel.
Upgrading to the punchier petrol and diesel with 4x4 capability cuts around 1.5-2.0s from the 0-62mph times (7.5s and 8.0s respectively) while adding another 400-550kg of towing capacity (for 2,350kg and 2,400kg maximums).
What about the PHEV?
The plug-in hybrid is your go to if you're on a company car scheme. The petrol and e-motor feel very neatly integrated and the handover between them is broadly very smooth. The engine makes a din when you stamp your foot all the way to the throttle stop, but it's simply a clue you're driving it wrong.
Smoother driving (and the Eco and Comfort modes if you've specced DCC+) keep the petrol unit schtum for longer and with prudent acceleration you can get comfortably up to motorway speeds on EV power alone. You'll get around 3.0mi/kWh out of the Kodiaq, which is reasonable for a PHEV, but you'll get massively more value out of it if you can charge at home rather than using the fast charging station. We love that you can now do 50 miles plus on electric power alone, though.
There are three levels of brake regen adjusted through the touchscreen, albeit via a handy shortcut, so it's not too distracting. It's best in High, when it assertively slows the car almost to a halt, and less convincing in Low or Auto. It's a shame this can't be adjusted via those new central smart dials, but no biggie. A software update or future facelift might fix that.
And the vRS?
Ah yes. Beneath the bonnet it gets the VW Group's familiar 'EA888' 262bhp 2.0-litre turbocharged four pot petrol, with its 295bhp of torque the highest of any combustion powered production Skoda to date.
That results in a zero to 62mph time of 6.4 seconds and a Vmax of 143mph, not that you'll get anywhere near that. Bigger brakes help keep everything under control, but otherwise changes over the standard Kodiaq are seemingly kept to surface level only.
And so it proves. Sure it's slightly quicker, but the progressive steering, steering wheel paddles (which allow you to manually control gearshifts, though it'll still auto upshift once you hit the redline) and the 15-stage adaptive suspension are as per the regular car. And the brake pedal still lacks any kind of feel too.
In fact, faux engine noise aside – far from the worst we've heard – it's barely any more engaging and no more rewarding to drive, giving little reason to buy. You can read our full thoughts by clicking these blue words here.
How's fuel economy?
Decent for a car this big. We got 45mpg from the 1.5 petrol and 42mpg from the littlest 2.0 diesel: the caveat for the latter was that we were a) on stop-start country roads, and b) not going out of our way to be gentle with the throttle. At a motorway cruise, we'd expect something closer to the claimed figure.
We saw just 32mpg in the performance focused vRS. Another reason to steer clear.