Test Car Specifications
Model: 2025 Skoda Kodiaq vRS 2.0 TSI 265 4x4 DSG
Price: From £53,690
Engine: 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol
Transmission: seven-speed automatic, all-wheel drive
Power: 265hp
Torque: 400Nm
Emissions: 190-192g/km
Fuel economy: 33.3-33.8mpg
0-62mph: 6.4 seconds
Top speed: 143mph
Boot space: 340-2,035 litres
Styling
Skoda has grafted some of the vRS hallmarks onto the Kodiaq, and it has done so with varying levels of success. The vRS badging, big wheels and red brake callipers all work fine, as does the full-width rear reflector, but the whole look is slightly spoiled by the ground clearance. Even those big 20-inch alloys get a little lost in the arches, and they look quite skinny when viewed directly from the front. Although that may just be because the car is so tall. That said, the Kodiaq has always been attractive enough, and the vRS version does nothing to spoil a perfectly acceptable image.
Interior
As with the exterior, Skoda has taken the standard Kodiaq cabin and jazzed it up with some vRS touches. The seats are, in essence, stolen from the Kodiaq SportLine, but they’re livened up with red stitching, microsuede upholstery and some vRS badges in the head restraints. The microsuede makes further appearances on the dash and doors, too, along with the red stitching, while there’s another vRS logo in the sporty steering wheel.
Despite all the red stitching and the two screens, it is a bit dark in there thanks to the black upholstery and black roof lining, which mean a panoramic sunroof would be well worth specifying, but otherwise it’s the same as any other Kodiaq. You get the same massive digital instrument display and an even bigger touchscreen, complete with Skoda’s latest software. It’s a vast improvement on what has gone before, and it has made the new-generation Kodiaq much easier to live with.
The same also goes for the climate control switchgear, which lives low down in the dashboard and comprises three rotary dials, plus a few buttons. The outer dials control temperature for the driver and passenger, and pressing them controls the heated seats, while the central dial can be switched between four different functions, including media volume, fan speed and even driving modes. It’s a really good solution, and one that’s much more intuitive than using touchscreen controls.
The tech, then, is very good, but it isn’t quite as good as the build quality. Yes, the aforementioned rotary controls feel a little on the lightweight side, but the Kodiaq is generally very well made, with everything feeling solid and nicely engineered. The materials are pretty good, too. But that isn’t unique to the vRS – all Kodiaq variants are robust, solid and tactile.
Practicality
The Kodiaq is all about practicality, and that’s still true of this more performance-orientated vRS model. While it may have some sporty touches inside and out, it’s still offered solely in seven-seat guise, and it’s still every bit as spacious as any other seven-seat Kodiaq.
Admittedly, the back row of seats isn’t the easiest to access, and it isn’t especially roomy, so tall adults won’t want to spend much time back there. But kids will be perfectly happy, as will anyone under about 5ft 10in. The middle row of seats, meanwhile, is more than spacious enough, and even tall passengers should be perfectly happy with the amount of head- and legroom on offer.
And even with the third row of seats, boot space is ample, with 340 litres of luggage space (that’s almost as much as you get in a VW Polo) when all seven seats are in use. Fold down the two rearmost seats and that grows to a cavernous 845 litres of luggage capacity, and that’s only measured to the window line. Fold the middle row away and measure to the roof, on the other hand, you get a frankly ridiculous 2,035 litres of cargo space – the sort of numbers you expect from a small van, not a sporty SUV.
Performance
Although the vRS is supposed to be the sporty Kodiaq, don't be fooled into thinking there's some massive fire-breathing engine under the bonnet. It's a 2.0-litre, four-cylinder petrol engine just like so many others in the Skoda range, although this one is lifted from the Octavia vRS, which means it is turbocharged to produce 265hp. That's about 60hp more than you get from a 2.0-litre petrol Kodiaq SE L 4x4, and working in tandem with a seven-speed automatic gearbox, it allows for a small but noticeable uplift in performance.
Where the SE L takes 7.5 seconds to get from 0-62mph, the vRS takes 6.4 seconds, and its 143mph top speed is a whole 6mph higher. Will that make a difference in the real world? Not very often, but it's nice to have bragging rights in the pub, right?
In fairness, the vRS manages to achieve that improvement without completely ruining the fuel economy, which drops from 36.7mpg in the SE L to 33.8mpg in the vRS. The only problem comes when you compare the vRS with the 193hp 2.0-litre diesel SE L 4x4, which manages 45.5mpg and still only takes eight seconds to get from 0-62mph.
Actually, there is another problem with the vRS. Skoda has decided to fit a synthesised engine noise generator both inside the cabin and outside, which gives the car this deep rumble that doesn't fit at all with the 2.0-litre engine. In truth, it's quite well executed, but it does make you feel a little ridiculous when you're crawling around the car park with a clearly fake V8 'exhaust' note.
Ride & Handling
Sporty products – SUVs or otherwise – will often live and die on the strength of their ride and handling, so Skoda has clearly put some effort into making the Kodiaq vRS feel more lively. Not only does it get sporty styling, but it comes with the Dynamic Chassis Control (DCC) that includes sporty settings for the suspension, and it comes with sportier rear shock absorbers.
But all this stuff is just fighting physics, and though it withstands mother nature manfully, it doesn’t quite win out. The Kodiaq is a big, tall car, so there’s a fair bit of body roll even in Sport mode, and though it isn’t alarming at all, it doesn’t necessarily make the car feel that nimble. The steering does a better job of that, though – it’s pretty good, all things considered – and though the vRS never feels that sporty, it does at least feel controlled and easy to drive.
The catch is that those sporty shock absorbers will make their presence felt regardless of whether you’re in Sport or Comfort mode, and the vRS doesn’t ride with the subtlety of a more conventional 2.0-litre petrol or diesel Kodiaq. It isn’t uncomfortable in any way, but it doesn’t cosset you in the same way, or leave you feeling quite as relaxed after a motorway slog. Especially with that ridiculous artificial exhaust note.
We will give the vRS credit for keeping some of the Kodiaq’s off-road capability intact, though. We’ve already sampled a Kodiaq on the rough stuff, and come away impressed, so it is nice to see the vRS retain the off-road mode, plenty of ground clearance and some axle articulation, despite its sporty looks.
Value
The Kodiaq vRS comes in at a chunky £53,690 before options, which makes it about £3,000 more expensive than a top-of-the-range 2.0-litre diesel Kodiaq, and more than £15,000 more expensive than a base model. It's hardly cheap, then, but you do get plenty of standard kit.
The vRS styling, of course, is a standard feature, along with 20-inch alloy wheels, red brake callipers and the black perforated microsuede upholstery. There's a sports steering wheel, too, plus a Canton sound system and sporty shock absorbers, as well as a standard spare wheel, power seat adjustment and all the stuff you expect from a more conventional Kodiaq Sportline. That means the digital instrument display, climate control and reversing camera are all included, along with adaptive cruise control, Dynamic Chassis Control and wireless phone charging.
Verdict
While the Kodiaq vRS is quite impressive in its way, it doesn't seem to have all that much use in the real world. Sure, it's reasonably quick and it has seven seats, but is that the combination customers have been hankering after? If you want a family car that has seating for seven, the 2.0-litre diesel Kodiaq was hardly short of performance, and it certainly isn't bad to drive, but it's much more efficient and more comfortable than the vRS. And if you absolutely must have a sporty Skoda, the Octavia vRS is much more fun to drive.
