Long-term report: What are the first few miles like with the Skoda Karoq?
The Karoq is Skoda’s mid-size SUV, but does that mean it’s the best of all worlds? Jack Evans has been finding out.
Alright, I’ll admit it – I’m not the greatest fan of SUVs. Whereas most of the current car-buying population prefers to sit in a higher, confidence-inspiring seating position that SUVs deliver, I much prefer sitting lower down which is why I’ve always leant towards estate cars and hatches.
But that doesn’t mean I’m just here to discount SUVs and the Karoq – Skoda’s middle-size high-riding model – seems to be an immensely popular model on the market today. It’s one of our newest long-termers here and during my initial time with the car, I’ve just been noticing how many are on the UK’s roads at the moment.
It’s quite a compelling package, in truth. In classic Skoda fashion, it’s packed full of features and has an uber-large boot but isn’t a car which is so large that you’ll worry every time you go within a 20-mile radius of a multi-storey car park. It’s around 300mm shorter than the Octavia – Skoda’s smallest estate car – yet it has that upright presence which does, in fairness, give you a very commanding view of the road ahead.
Many have called the Karoq the natural replacement for the iconic Yeti. I, like so many other people, absolutely adored the Yeti for its no-nonsense approach and clever, pseudo-Mercedes G-Wagen styling and while the Karoq has a distinctly more rounded design to its spiritual stablemate, I can kind of see the relation. As with the Yeti, you can get the Karoq with both two- and four-wheel-drive but in keeping with what is more popular within the current buying community, ours is the former.
