Even after 4 years, all my observations still hold true, with the addition of reliability & quality.
BHPian StarrySky recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
It’s been quite a while since I posted anything in this thread, and the last update on the car was made almost 2 years back!!
Well, no news is good news in this case. The Karoq has been with us for well over 4 years now. Other than normal scheduled maintenance, winter/summer tire changes and a roadworthiness check (mandatory after 4 years), the Karoq hasn’t been to a service station since the last update (or ever, actually). I have been working from home since March 2020, so the daily running has come down quite a bit. However, we had road trips during the summer of 2020 and 2021, totalling to about 6,000 km. Including those, I have covered another 23k kilometres since the last update on this thread. Meanwhile, the second service was done after the completion of 4 years with the odo at 42,500 km. The odo now stands at about 44,400 km.
Normally, after 4 years one should be able to point out the positives and negatives of a car. But I cannot think of any big negatives that I need to highlight. So I went back to my earlier posts on this thread to find some negatives/dislikes I had noted down:
Dislikes:
- Missing rear centre armrest and ski-hatch
- Big step in the boot with the rear seats folded down reduces the practicality
- Auto start/stop cuts in too early
- Some rough edges when different technologies work together with Auto start/stop
Dislikes after completing one year:
- Nothing much really, other than reduced practicality compared to the Octavia Combi. The ski hatch is a definite miss, which means carrying long items when travelling with 4 on board is impossible. It is also not possible to put or get them items in the boot without stopping and opening the trunk lid. Sure, I knew when I booked that the Karoq variant I booked lacked a ski hatch, but I guess I just didn’t realize the extent to which I would miss it.
The missing rear centre armrest is a bother as we experienced during our road trips. It gives the kids a place to rest their hands during long trips and it supports them even when they are sleeping. More importantly, it marks the de-facto border between the kids’ respective areas in the rear seat. Without it, it is a bit like India-Pak over at the rear. Big negative Recently, I also helped a friend move house. The Karoq was fully loaded. Even the front seat was folded forward and some long items were placed there. I wouldn’t complain about the practicality after that and after having been on two long road trips.
If a car on the motorway is already almost parallel to my car when I am trying to join the motorway, the blind spot detection system can miss it.
This is a limitation of the technology. The other aspect of the blind spot monitoring that I’m not a fan of is that the indicator light is quite small and at the outer edge of the RVM. It makes it hard to see in certain lighting conditions. Also, I found that when I look into the RVM, unless I am specifically looking at the blind spot indicator, the indicator is easy to miss (maybe I am getting old). I have always had the habit of turning my head to look for other vehicles before initiating lane changes. Knowing the limitations of the system, I have continued to do so. This is one piece of safety tech on the car which I thought would be very useful, but in actual use don’t rely on very much.
Another tech that I don’t use often is adaptive lane guidance or lane centring. It can keep the car in its lane, even through smooth curves at highway speeds. But, the warning to keep hands on the steering wheel appears quite soon. I use it very rarely. It’s usually when my son demands to see it in action, he is still amazed by the steering wheel turning on its own! Of course, in winter it helps to keep the car in the lane when I am getting my gloves on or off.
The first day of snow also caused the adaptive cruise control to be disabled for certain periods of time, due to the sensor getting sprayed with snow. When adaptive cruise control doesn’t work, any “normal” cruise control function is also unavailable.
This is an area where the tech in Karoq is worse than in Octavia. In Octavia, I very rarely had ACC becoming unavailable due to a blocked sensor. In the Karoq, it happens a few times every winter.
I will add one more. I have found that sometimes the reversing camera display comes on with a noticeable delay (a few seconds) after I have put the car in reverse. This is an irritant. My observation is this happens usually when I have to immediately go into reverse after I start the car. Maybe the infotainment system doesn’t finish initialization by this time.
I had an issue with Android Auto, where it would disconnect at the slightest touch or bump felt inside the car. Thankfully, this has gone away after the service. I am not sure what fixed it, if it was a new Android Auto version or if the A.S.S. updated the firmware of the ICE during the service.
Moving on to the likes, I had put these down when this thread was opened:
Likes:
- Exactly what a city SUV should be, with enough interior space for a nuclear family and a smaller footprint making it easier to park.
- Very European build quality and good interior quality
- Feature-loaded. The feature list can put some luxury cars to shame
- Easy ingress/egress
- Mature ride and safe handling
- 5-star EuroNCAP safety rating. 7 airbags and a host of safety tech included as standard.
After 4 years, all of the above remains true. And I will add more – reliability and build. There are no rattles or squeaks. I remember my old Octavia’s suspension used to be noisier. In the Karoq, it is much quieter still. I am still running on the original set of brake pads. The only thing that doesn’t last very long is the battery in the key.
The interiors have held up very well. In terms of general wear and tear, I can find some signs of use on the steering wheel, but otherwise, it’s as good as new. The high-traffic areas like the DSG lever, front armrest and AC controls have held up quite well.
It’s a shame that Skoda only imported a few units of the Karoq to India. I think it has all the ingredients needed for India and would’ve enjoyed success (at the right price, of course).
Keyword: Skoda Karoq: Revisiting my likes & dislikes after 4 years of ownership