2017 Skoda Kodiaq review, test drive

What is it?

It’s an all-new, seven-seat premium SUV all set to enter a segment that’s recently sparked back to life. With the launch of the new Ford Endeavour, Toyota Fortuner and even the Hyundai Tucson in 2016, buyers looking for a premium SUV, but one that also doesn’t cost luxury-car money are spoilt for choice. And come Diwali 2017, they will have one more to complicate their decision. The Kodiaq will be Skoda’s new flagship, overlapping with and sitting slightly above the Superb sedan. It promises the same characteristic traits as the Superb, and indeed most Skodas, of space, comfort, tech and luxury at a very competitive price. 

What Skodas lately have also delivered is knockout exterior design – starting with the Superb – and you wouldn’t argue, the Kodiaq continues that trend. It’s a 4.7m long SUV, but the sharp angles, strong lines and tight surfacing mean it looks a lot more compact than it actually is; until you are standing right next to it. There’s a strong resemblance to the Superb – a car it shares its basic underpinnings with, thanks to the modular MQB platform – and that’s a good thing indeed. There are the slit-like full-LED headlamps, encrusted with LED accents meant to evoke Czech crystal, the fog lamps sit just below them in the front bumper, Skoda’s ‘butterfly’ grille looks chunkier than ever now, and at the chin is a really wide air dam. There’s more of that crystalline effect in the sharp, wraparound tail-lamps too and the neatly surfaced tailgate makes the rear look nice and taut. For something so big, it’s really impressive that it manages to look almost athletic.