Review: Skoda Kodiaq

This car will further fuel that thought. Skoda's Kodiaq is a family-sized sport utility, confidently launched into a crowded market place including such vehicles as Land Rover's Discovery Sport, Volkswagen's Tiguan, Audi's Q5 and BMW's X3. It's on sale now, with first deliveries in April, priced between £21,495 for a petrol two-wheel-drive base-spec model, to £34,895 for the fully loaded, turbodiesel 4x4, automatic.

Standard specification is pretty good, with the base S spec having 17-in wheels, air con, electrically heated and adjustable mirrors, a touch screen, DAB radio and city emergency braking. The next level adds 18in wheels, cruise control, rear parking sensors and a better class of sounds. SE L gets 19in wheels, powered tailgate, seven seats, sat nav and Alcantara upholstery with heated front seats. The Edition spec tested here adds leather upholstery, roof rails, lane assist, automatic headlamp dipping and wireless phone charging.

Kodiaq is a size above the Yeti, over half a metre longer and 40mm longer than the Octavia family hatchback. Nominally a five seater, it has an optional two additional seats in a third row, which fold out from the boot floor. That gives it more just-in-case appeal than much of the opposition, which is in keeping with Skoda's aim of providing thoughtful practicality. So Kodiaq's doors, for example, have automatically deployable edge guards, which protect the paintwork when they are flung open by careless children. There are lots of USB charge slots front and rear and even a 240 volt inverter charging plug in the back.

Accommodation in the front two rows of seats is generous in the bright and spacious cabin. The rear-most seats are for occasional use only and suitable really for small children. With a fully adjustable seat and steering, the driving position is good and visibility out is excellent bar the fact that like all SUVs, it's impossible to work out where the front is. Actually the cabin feels quite grand, with sturdy switches and steering column stalks and an excellent touch screen on the top models with attractive graphics.

As befits a family vehicle, there's a fair bit of space, with up to 2,005 litres available if you cram it to the roof with all the seats folded, but just 270 if you've filled all seven. Folding is supposed to be one-touch, but it's a mighty touch that is required. The middle seats split 60/40 to create a not-quite flat and not-quite continuous load bed, but the unreachable gaps between those seats will be repositories of dust and lost toys.

Engines include a 1.4-litre turbo petrol, and VW's two-litre turbodiesel. We drove the latter in its 148bhp form, which offers a top speed of 122mph, 0-62mph in 9.6sec, EU Combined fuel consumption of 53.3mpg (we managed 31.8mpg) and CO₂ emissions of 139g/km. It's brisk rather than fast, but does its best work in the middle of the rev counter and the manual gearbox is light and easy to use with well-spaced ratios which make you wonder if the, admittedly excellent, twin-clutch, semi-automatic transmission is worth the extra £1,300.

This is a big and heavy (1,752kg) vehicle and while the ride on long undulations is gentle, small bumps resound through the frame and that was on the 18-inch wheels and tyres of the test car. The marketing lead UK spec mandates 19-inch items for the top tier of models, which are unlikely to ride our roads any more restfully.

That said, the steering is light and accurate, the engine relaxed and the body control is generally good. No one roars around in a family SUV with their hair on fire, but you can drive Kodiaq with some spirit without penalty.

It's easy to over praise Skoda for its prices, designs and ride quality, the gap these days is small. But if Kodiaq has its shortcomings, not least that washboard ride, the company's confidence is well placed. All in all, this is a practical and attractive proposition and deserves the success that it will no doubt have.