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There’s nothing like a large “SNOW” button in your car when there is actually a smattering of the white stuff on the ground. One immediately feels superior, smug and that every SUV cynic out there can eat their nasty little words, while you plough through the white wilderness to rescue sheep in distress. Or, in my case, while you slush your way to Waitrose ‘in case supplies run low’, while the brief snow flurry melts in front of your eyes, and the kids wail that there isn’t enough to build even the smallest of snowmen.
Review: 2019 Škoda Kodiaq vRS Review
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Still, it was exciting while it lasted. Inside the toasty warm Kodiaq vRS, with its heated steering wheel and heated seats, “Snow” is a smart graphic shown on the touchscreen when you press the “drive mode” button, along with “Sports” mode, for the vRS badging denotes Škoda’s racier sub brand. You might well ask yourself why a large SUV needs a sporty version, but everyone is buying SUVs, and where there’s a market, there’s a niche to be exploited. One assumes the hot/warm SUV is for drivers who don’t want to feel as if they’re being forced to give up the ghost where performance is concerned in order to fit their family in the car.
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The Kodiaq vRS is powered by a 2.0-litre diesel engine, which has been given a rorty soundtrack (I liked it; others say it booms too much), and delivers 240PS and 500Nm (370lb ft) of torque. That means 0-62mph in 7.0 seconds, should you ever wish to watch your fuel gauge dive for no good reason.
The performance is reflected in the styling: our test car came in Škoda’s excellent electric blue, with revised bumpers, a dark, smoky grill, red brake calipers and funky 20-inch wheels. Inside you’ll find sports seats with vRS stitching and alcantara padding, and a sports steering wheel.
The practicality quotient remains thankfully high, however. The car has seven seats, with the third row folding easily with the tug of a strap. The tailgate rises automatically, which is handier than you’d imagine with armfuls of kids.
This being a Škoda, there are the familiar brilliant customer touches: umbrellas hidden in both front doors, an ice scraper inside the fuel filler lid and a little waste paper bin, complete with liner, in the driver door pocket. These thoughtful touches are what sell cars, despite what engineers like to think.
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I fully loaded the car up with kids for the school run. The flappy paddles and an extra burst of oomph mean you can overtake most traffic should you be late for assembly, as we normally are. It’s not an extreme lesson in acceleration, but then you don’t want to see the fuel consumption dip much further below the real-world 34mpg figure quoted on the new WLTP cycle, which replaces the traditional “EU Combined” figure, for a more realistic read-out.
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This, then, is a decent choice for those who still subscribe to the Škoda customer-first model. The vRS badging sends the car into £40,000-plus territory, which is out of Škoda and into BMW X3 land, but Škoda really deserves to stand alone these days as a choice based not solely on bargain-bucket pricing, but also on a genuine quirky offering. Those umbrellas are worth it, for a start.
Stat attack
Price from: £42,870
Engine: 2.0-litre, twin-turbo diesel
Transmission: 7-speed DSG, four-wheel-drive
Power/torque: 240PS @ 4,000rpm/500Nm (370lb ft) @ 1,750-2,500rpm
0-62mph: 7.0 seconds
Top speed: 136mph
Economy: 34mpg
Kerbweight: 1,880kg
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