Road test: Skoda Kodiak (facelift) - Walla! vehicle

2021-10-15T05:39:25.451Z

The Skoda Kodiak is a pretty old 7-seater Jeep, it gets a facelift to maintain relevance in front of its competitors. In the test: the 1.5-liter "Style" version at a price of NIS 216,000

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Road test: Skoda Kodiak (facelift)

More or less since it got here, the Skoda Kodiak has been the "considered" of the 7-seater Jeeps.

But the degree needs to be strengthened, and that is exactly the job of his facelift

Skoda Aniac in Israel: and has a very interesting price

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The headlights are narrower and "space" skirts have been added all around (Photo: Keinan Cohen)

Facelifts and model refreshes in the automotive world are an opportunity for manufacturers to fix, improve, update, be precise and sometimes just make people feel that theirs is no longer "new".

Kodiak which was originally released in 2016 is already fully due for such treatment.

Externally the headlights have shrunk (the magic of the LED), the grille has increased, "tough" skirts have been added and this is more or less what you will notice, especially if you know the model well, or two of these stand next to each other.

So far the cosmetics, the technique has LED matrix lighting here already from the Ambition finish level (the second of five) and this is one of the better matrix systems we have come across, including those of luxury brands.

279 cm at the base of the wheels produce a very spacious second row, and a reasonable third (Photo: Keinan Cohen)

In the cabin, things have been added on the cosmetic side that you will only notice in the high levels of finish (Style, Sportline and L&K), that is, leather seats (like), a digital dashboard, mood lighting and a logo projected from the mirrors on the ground. The cabin with the versatile design and which even at the time of its presentation was not exciting, is not starting to do so now. But to his credit it should be said that avoiding gimmicks works in his favor because he also does not show a look that is subject to fashions and trends. And it also means a well-engineered driver environment, where the air vents where they should be, the air conditioning controls are clear and large and the volume dial.

After all, with the conversion of car systems into Hebrew, it was possible to put a few pennies on a human translator and not Google Translate? Because in individual mode in the driving mode selector the reference is not to "single" and "warning at hour" as a translation to warning at the speed limiter, it "does not make sense" as the Gentiles say ...

It would have been possible to invest more in the Hebrew translation of the multimedia (Photo: Keinan Cohen)

Safety sections include 9 airbags (7 with lower trim levels), distance warning and automatic braking, lane departure correction, reverse camera, adaptive cruise control, "dead zone" vehicle warning, rear cross braking detection and more.

The seams added to the top of the cabin and the new textures "elevate" the look here, the quality of the materials is good, and also the hard plastic that is at the bottom of the cabin is not of the cheap, hollow type. As before, the space remains very good for those sitting in the front and also in the second row moving on a rail to allow entry into the third row of seats or sitting in them if it is not really small children.

Used in the three rows of seats are left with a trunk of 233 liters. Reasonable in his neighborhood, but will not spare you a roof load in case of traveling in a full family composition. From this level of finish onwards there are three climatic zones, in the two lower ones (Business and Ambition) two.

233 liters used in all seven seats (Photo: Keinan Cohen)

In the propulsion wing there is no change, a 1.5-liter engine with an output of 150 hp and 25.4 kg is connected to the front wheels via a 7-speed dual-clutch transmission.

That means he's driving fine, no more than that.

Gets along with any administrative driving task, panting a bit on ascents but not losing pace.

Guess the situation will be different when the rest of the family with too many things to take on vacation is burdened with it.

On the other hand, the name is not exactly the driving in which you are looking for indirect opportunities, you are the one being bypassed.

I remembered his road behavior as good and it is indeed such, predictable, safe enough and more than a grip that if you managed to lose it you would have to be extraordinarily negligent.

The ride comfort is also good overall, it has two small drawbacks, the first is related to the completely unpolished operation of the gearbox in crawling and the second to high-speed road noises.

Beyond that, he does a good job as stated.

Finally, the Kodiak consumed a liter of gasoline for every 10.4 km we covered.

The seat moves on a rail to allow "play" with the place for the third row (Photo: Keinan Cohen)

Finally, even more than 5 years since it was introduced, the Kodiak is one of the better 7-seater Jeeps in its group that includes the new Mitsubishi Outlander and the refreshed Peugeot 5008 as well.

The price range of the Skoda Kodiak starts from 182 for the "business" version that usually goes to the vehicle fleets and is indeed a successful business for them.

The price of the test car in the "Style" finish level is NIS 216,000.

It's cheap enough not to come close to the price of a good minivan and better than a carnival that starts at NIS 250,000.

But it's also not attractive enough for a car whose overall changes are not very big compared to the outgoing generation, however they are not the ones that will really make us tell you that you just have to update to the new version of this device.

Still a strong name in the market (Photo: Keinan Cohen)