New Skoda Kodiaq is a comfy, clever SUV with loads of space – but it's let down by an ugly detail
They're likely to be covered with dark grey 'aero inserts' that look like the old hubcaps from your Austin Montego back in '88.
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The seven-seat Skoda Kodiaq pulls off a sleek estate-style shape despite its jumbo SUV size
Credit: Supplied
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The tail has a slightly pinched look, which I'm sure is for aerodynamic purposes, but also gives it a sportier vibe
Credit: Supplied
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The tech is decent – although the two screens are a little smaller than I was expecting, especially the dash display
Credit: Supplied
'Attractive from every angle' is how Skoda describes the latest
Well, it would be without those dreary discs.
For a jumbo SUV – the Kodiaq also comes as a seven-seat version – it manages to have the kind of sleek silhouette you get with a top-end estate, borrowing heavily from the popular Superb.
The tail has a slightly pinched look, which I'm sure is for aerodynamic purposes, but also gives it a sportier vibe.
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It's a chunky beast, tipping the scales at over two tonnes, so the 1.5-litre
Horsepower is a smidge over 200hp and maximum torque is only 250Nm, so you can do the math.
But this isn't a car designed for acceleration. It's built for ferrying about a lot of people and their stuff in comfort.
And it manages that well.
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The boot is also HUGE. You can fill it with 745 litres of luggage (1,945 litres with the seats down), which, as I can attest, is comfortably a week's worth of French supermarket produce for eight people.
And it's a very efficient ride. Far from as thirsty as you would expect from something so big.
5 Things you need to know about the new Skoda Elroq
After I'd run the battery down, a full 47-litre tank of petrol was giving me comfortably over 400 miles, so roughly 45mpg.
Way off the ridiculous official 565mpg. The tech is decent – although the two screens are a little smaller than I was expecting, especially the dash display.
And it has more charging points than you've probably got devices, including a wireless phone dock which there is no excuse to leave out any more.
Ultimately, whatever bells and whistles and 'SportLine' badges they stick on this car, it is a family car, and by that measure it is a very good car.
Just swap the naff wheels.
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Love or hate - what do you think of the wheels
Credit: Supplied
KEY FACTS: SKODA KODIAQ iV SPORTLINE
Price:
£47,245
Engine:
1.5-litre petrol hybrid
Power:
204hp
0-62mph:
8.4 secs
Top speed:
130mph
Economy:
45mpg
Co2:
11g/km
Out:
Now
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