Skoda Kamiq drive by Steve Rogers
Remember
the Yeti, Skoda's ground breaking family SUV with the Tonka toy looks?
This
is its replacement, the Kamiq, and instead of chunky toy think Dr Who's tardis.
Kamiq
is the smallest in Skoda's trio of SUVs coming under Karoq and the big seven
seat Kodiaq, and shares much of what you will find in a Seat Arona and
Volkswagen T-Cross which are all part of the VW family.
It
might be classed as small but is anything but once inside hence the tardis
reference. This is a spacious package all round with a healthy amount of
legroom for back seat passengers. Plenty of space for adult legs here and it
has not been achieved by slicing into boot capacity, which is a handy 400
litres and not far off best in the class.
It
is family practical too with a wide opening tailgate and a few hooks and
tethering points to stop things rolling around. The double sided boot mat is
really useful but is a 75 quid extra. Come on Skoda that should be buckshee.
Skoda
always tries to throw in some 'simply clever' touches so here are four things
to make you smile: a mini sized umbrella slotted into the driver's door frame, just
like a Rolls Royce; an ice scraper tucked into the fuel filler cap; a seat belt
slot to stop them disappearing when the split back seats are lifted back into
place; and a funnel on the windscreen washer bottle. Now isn't that thoughtful
but I put on my glum face at the sight of a hand brake rather than an
electronic parking brake. That is so 20th century, just like an ignition key.
Thankfully this Kamiq has a starter button.
Does
Kamiq catch the eye of onlookers? Hardly, it is a plain Jane up against Renault
Captur, Nissan Juke, Peugeot 2008 or Ford Puma and it is the same inside, not
much character and lots of black although there should be no complaints with
trim and build quality, and isn't space the key here anyway.
What
I do like about the dashboard is the simplicity whether it is the driver's
binnacle where you can toggle between the various menus, or the centre console
which retains physical switches for heating and that is a bonus these days.
The
standard central touchscreen is eight inches but you can spec up to the 9.2in version
that includes navigation and voice control. It will set you back £930 and is
tempting because it is a super clear, fast reacting system and so easy to use.
I
was in it all the time switching off lane assist which is annoying on anything
other than motorways. Trouble is the default setting is 'on' when the engine is
fired up, so it is tap this, tap that, five annoying times to turn it off. Why
can't we have a simple switch?
On
the petrol engine front the choice is three-cylinder one litre with 94 or
114bhp and a 148bhp 1.5 four cylinder. I was glad to have the 114bhp version because
it is a cracking engine with lively pick up and fuss free cruising thanks to
the six speed gearbox. The lower output makes do with a five speed.
The
delivery driver set the economy bar high with 51mpg for his 160 mile mainly
motorway journey, too high for me as I ended the week on 45.2 some way off
Skoda's 52.3mpg average, but I could live with that as Kamiq is a no nonsense
fun car to drive on any road and is pretty comfortable into the bargain.
Kamiq's
spec sheet is reasonable from the start but the next along the line SE is the
favoured model and has just about all that is needed including wireless
smartlink, two USB-C ports, one touch front and rear electric windows, LED
headlights, a range of safety features and rear parking sensors. No reversing
camera on SE is a disappointment and the low slung front passenger seat needs a
height adjuster.
A
fair question is why bother with a traditional family hatchback when you can
pay less for a small SUV with just as much space? Kamiq is good value with only
the Dacia Duster beating it on price.
Kamiq
will never enjoy the cult following of the Yeti but when wading through the long
list of small SUVs it has to be a contender.
Fast
facts
Kamiq
SE 6sp manual
£20,985
(starts £19,095)
1-litre
TSI 108bhp
0-62mph
10.2secs; 120mph
52.3mpg
combined
124g/km.
1st VED £175
Insurance
group 13
Boot
400-1395 litres
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