Skoda Kodiaq RS 2020 review

I'm Tom Baker, this is Chasing Cars, and this is the Skoda Kodiaq RS. This week in Australia, the Kodiaq RS has finally landed on our shores, so if what you've been waiting for is a seven-seat Skoda with a properly quick engine under the bonnet, here it is. And it's a really interesting powertrain at that, one that neither Skoda nor its cousins in the Volkswagen group have ever managed to bring to Australia before, because it's a bi-turbo diesel four-cylinder producing 176 kilowatts of power and 500 newton meters of torque. So that's a big way that the Kodiaq differs from the Octavia RS wagon, which uses the Golf GTI's petrol turbo powertrain, so this is kind of a unique offer. Performance diesel SUVs used to be a big thing in Australia, from the Audi Q7 V12 diesel, to the SQ5 diesel, to the BMW M50d powertrain, which is sadly no longer available. So is a diesel SUV, a fast diesel SUV, still the way to go? Can this thing offer a really good combination of frugality and fun? Well, we're going to find out in today's video, but first let's check out the interior, which is very Skoda Kodiaq, but that's no bad thing because we rate the Kodiaq very, very highly. When it came out, it basically felt like a better version of the Volkswagen Tiguan, which is what it is. The interior is nicer, it feels better made with softer materials, and all of those virtues extend to the RS. It's just that the RS is a lot more expensive, so it has to be all around a lot better than a normal Kodiaq. So let's start with the basics. We've got an attractive, simple interior, there's nothing, you know, really flashy to catch your eye, but we have tightly integrated tech, 9-inch touchscreen here, digital gauges for the driver, which is kind of like a slightly smaller version of Volkswagen's ActiveInfo display, but it's nice and crisp. You can put a full map and performance gauges in front of you, which is cool. Lovely little steering wheel, same steering wheel as the normal Kodiaq, but we have red stitching in it here, these cool perforations and little plastic paddle shifters behind it, but it feels great in the hand, and the driving position is good too, superior to a Tiguan, doesn't feel quite as minivan-like. Now the seats. Beautiful seats, but we've kind of seen this all before in the Kodiaq Sportline, which is an option pack on the much more modest engines that you can get with this car in the regular range, but they're super comfortable, really supportive, nice quilting, red stitching. I just think the carbon effect on the seats and up on the dash is a bit naff. I don't really think we need that, especially in a heavy sports SUV. It's not really reducing any weight, that's for sure. In terms of other stuff, the materials are lovely. Down here where your leg rests, up on the dash, on the doors, Alcantara in the doors is good. Just the cheap plastic door grab is a bit of a letdown, but everything else is very nice. Similarly, this is a Skoda, you know it's going to be practical, and it is. We've got rubberised cup holders so you can put your drink in there and open the lid without it moving, always nice. Decent-sized bin for bits and bobs, tray ahead of the shifter with wireless smartphone charging, massive Flockline door bins with an integrated rubbish bin and space for three water bottles, big glove box, oh sorry, a top glove box and a secondary glove box, and also lovely little touches like umbrellas in the doors and little door guards so that your kids don't dent the car next to you in the car park, and there's even one on your driver's door just in case you're so prone to doing that. So up front, this is a nice place to be. Let's check out that second row. Behind these massive doors that maybe are the reason for the door guards to exist is the Kodiaq second row. Now it's the second of three rows because one of our favourite things about the Kodiaq is it is a standard three-row SUV here in Australia. Every Kodiaq is a seven-seater and a generous seven-seater, surprisingly generous. Adults will fit back there for a bit more suited to kids, but everybody will be comfortable here in this second row which is really spacious. So for me, it's six foot, I've got just enough headroom underneath this panoramic sunroof, but it's enough. Legroom is really generous and toe room is unlimited, plus you can get three people across because this middle seat's very wide, the hump in the floor is low, so that's happy days. We also have air vents, separate temperature zone, heated outboard rear seats, and a 12-volt socket. There's sadly no dedicated USB ports, that feels like a bit of a missed opportunity to me. Plus, this row slides, mainly to give people in the third row more space, so if I slide it right forward, it's not comfortable, but it would work and it would give an adult sitting behind me enough room, so that's cool. We also have integrated sun blinds, so you don't have to have those hideous aftermarket ones. Sadly, hard materials on these back doors, which is a bit cheap for a $72,000 car in my opinion, but all in all, it's a good back seat and a good third row, so that's good news. Let's check out the boot space. The Kodiaq is an easy car to get in and out of as well, which is one reason people will consider it over an Octavia RS Wagon, and of course, that third row is a further reason. Now, behind this rear door, which is electrically operated, there is an okay-sized boot, even with all three rows extended, so you can still get the school bags back here or a weekly shop at the grocer's and be able to seat everybody in the car. Now, of course, the amount of space expands when you put the third row down, naturally, and then you get a nice flat load bay that's really long, fairly wide, totally flat floor, so you can just slide stuff straight in and out. Also, a bit of underfloor storage and somewhere to put the cargo cover as well, so, you know, this is Skoda. They really think about this stuff. We also have remote releases for the second row. We have shopping bag hooks, so it's a very, very well thought-out boot indeed, and putting this rear door down, there's also a couple of design flourishes. Skoda have ditched their rear badge and replaced it with spaced lettering. Now, I don't know if I love it. I do like spaced out model names, but for the manufacturer, eh, I'm still coming around, and we have this full-length reflector strip, which is a constant of Skoda's RS vehicles, so you'll recognise that from the Octavia RS, and I think it looks reasonably cool compared to this race blue paintwork. Well, how racy is the Kodiaq RS? Let's jump in and find out. So, what is the Kodiaq RS like to drive? Well, we'll start by talking about what's under the bonnet, because if you've watched our review of the regular Kodiaq, you'll know that this is actually one of our favourite three-row crossovers, you know, for reasonable money. The standard petrol and diesel versions, which cost sort of $50,000 to $55,000 by the time the wheels hit the road, are really, really accomplished. They're actually better than their Volkswagen Tiguan cousins that cost more spec for spec. So, does that goodness extend to the bigger engine RS, which costs a lot more, because given this is a $72,000 car before on-road costs, it's really starting to compete with the lower echelons of proper luxury SUVs like the BMW X3 and Mercedes GLC, so it's a little bit harder for the Kodiaq RS to compete initially. That said, on paper, this is a tempting proposition, because, of course, the Kodiaq RS gives you the promise of a proper European sports SUV experience for much less than something like an Audi SQ5, in fact, you know, $30,000 less or so. So, does it kind of live up to that kind of promise? Well, let's find out. Firstly, let's talk about what is under the bonnet of the Kodiaq RS. What we have here is a two-litre, four-cylinder turbo diesel, so, you know, initially you might be thinking, hmm, all right, where do we go from here? Well, the point is, is that its turbo is big. In fact, it has two turbos. This is the twin-turbo, bi-turbo diesel that is common in Europe on Volkswagen Group MQB vehicles, but this is the first time we've seen it in Australia, and it produces 176 kilowatts of power and 500 newton metres of torque. So, these are figures that hark back to, you know, the high-powered four-cylinder diesels offered in Australia at the peak of the boom in petrol prices at the start of the 2010s. Since that point, we've seen diesel alternatives wane and wane in the market. There hasn't really been this prestigious four-cylinder diesel offered. Usually, we get sort of the bogo Europe four-cylinder diesel, but this one is something special. It starts with a pretty substantial lift in outputs over the normal Kodiaq 140 TDI, which has been on again, off again in the Australian market due to WLTP delays. That car made 140 kilowatts and 400 newton metres, and the result is a meaningfully quicker vehicle. The Kodiaq RS is not rapid, rapid, you know, something like an SQ5 is much faster, which has a three-litre turbocharged V6, but it is quick. It'll do a zero to 100 by the seat of my pants in sort of the high six-second range pretty realistically. It tends up well to the all-wheel drive system that is standard on every Kodiaq in Australia, but including this RS, it gets that torque to the road really, really easily, and as you would expect from a diesel, that meatiness is really evident when overtaking. It just feels effortless climbing hills in the country. It's a really sorted powertrain. That being said, it doesn't offer that sort of petrol alacrity that you might get from a Volkswagen Tiguan 162 TSI, and I wonder whether or not the most appropriate engine for the Kodiaq RS might have actually been that Golf R powerplant that, you know, two-litre turbo petrol with about 213 kilowatts of power, you know, 400-ish newton metres of torque. I think that might have been slightly more fun, but this recipe with a high-performance diesel is still very interesting. It promises to be fast and frugal, and that's what it is. The consumption's pretty good, about 8.5 litres per 100 Ks in the real world, which for a seven-seat sporty crossover is pretty good, I reckon. So, I think the best thing to do is test drive it, see if it kind of suits your idea of a sports SUV, but for me, I think it works pretty well. Thankfully, that sweet chassis, which is a, you know, on the normal Kodiaq, is all retained here in spades. It's a really good SUV to drive, really planted on the road, communicative handling, you know where the car is beneath you, and it helps that it isn't massive. It may have seven seats, but it's actually pretty compact, under 4.7 metres long, it's not too heavy, it's a really, really good sort of driver's SUV for the money. The steering, I think, is lovely, it's relatively light, but I like that. Delivered through a nice, small, perforated wheel, good grip from the Continental SportContact tyres as well, it's fun to drive. And then there's the ride, which, just like the normal Kodiaq, manages to be a really good blend of comfort and compliance. The 20-inch wheels on the RS, they are big, they look big, and you do feel expansion joints in the road, but the adaptive dampers do a really good job of ironing out bad bumps. It sort of delivers a really nice, long, loping ride quality. In a sport damping setting, I think it is too harsh for Australian roads, but in normal, it's perfect. They're three-stage dampers, the normal stage is good, comfort's too wallowy, sport's too harsh. In terms of safety features, there's plenty. We have a good 360-degree camera, we've got adaptive cruise control, lane keep assist, high-speed AEB and board collision warning, pretty much the works, and your visibility out is good. We've got big mirrors, big glass house, and as I mentioned, it isn't too big, so it doesn't feel like you're driving the family bus. So, those are our detailed opinions on the Skoda Kodiaq RS. This is a cool piece of automotive exotica, really, because of how rare fast diesel SUVs are becoming in Australia, and it's a mix that still works well. It's pretty fuel-efficient, it's reasonably quick, and it sounds interesting from inside the cabin as well. It's comfy, it's usable for seven, we like all those things about it, but quite a few of those virtues are shared with the underlying Kodiaq, which is much cheaper, so you do have to question whether you need that RS powertrain, and of course, if you don't need seven seats, an Octavia RS wagon is even better to drive and much, much more affordable. Now, let me know all your thoughts about the Kodiaq below this video. While you're down there, make sure to subscribe and hit the notification bell, and as always, thanks for watching Chasing Cars.