Skoda Kodiaq VRS
The VRS every day, or a lesser Kodiaq and a Boxster?
IS THERE MUCH TO SAY ABOUT our Kodiaq VRS other than it’s a monstrously practical family car? And that it’s blue? Erm, well there needs to be. Otherwise, surely you’d just buy a cheaper version of the Kodiaq and use the spare cash to buy something genuinely fun? Does using a VRS every day provide more enjoyment than running a Kodiaq SE Drive for daily use and, say, a 987 Boxster S for the odd blast into the countryside?
I think the answer is probably a very firm no. However, life isn’t quite as simple as we like to think when imagining fun ways to divide up imaginary money. A VRS may cost from £46,690 but in reality the circa-£13k bump from an entrylevel model is broken down into a much more palatable finance payment upswing. And even if we pretended somebody was paying cash for a Kodiaq and there are all sorts of tasty things you could do with that £13,000 difference, it doesn’t take into account insurance, road tax, servicing and unexpected repairs. Or the simple fact that most of us quite like having something nicer than bog standard to drive around in every day to remind us that life isn’t so bad after all.
And life isn’t so bad in the Kodiaq. I’m a bit surprised how a rather meek-sounding 242bhp propels this thing along at such a lick. It doesn’t have that easy torque of previous-generation diesel-powered fast SUVS, but on the other hand it feels more enthusiastic when you start asking for all the performance it can give. There’s something about the noises a petrol engine makes that feels so much lighter, too. The Kodiaq is not light. At all. But it’s not as hefty as the big-hitting performance SUVS and seeing how entertaining some of those can be, there’s no reason to think the VRS couldn’t be fun(ish).
Sadly, the Kodiaq isn’t really much fun at all. There’s definitely a sense that it’s a trim level rather than a full-on performance variant. The ride is on the firm side, which I don’t mind at all and offers some promise, but ultimately the car feels reluctant to change direction when you push on a bit, the brakes start to feel stretched and overall you’re discouraged from exploring any ‘sporty’ potential. Perhaps not a huge surprise, but just occasionally a car like this can catch you unawares and prove to be a surprising amount of fun. The Kodiaq VRS is a monstrously practical family car. I love it for that. And it’s a nice blue. Boxsters look great value, don’t they?
(@Jethrobovingdon)
Date acquired February 2022 Total mileage 7121 Mileage this month 1001 Costs this month £0 mpg this month 32.1