I have a '20 Karoq 1.4. Â Infotainment as stated isn't great. Skoda Connect never really worked and the inbuilt SatNav is terrible. Also Internet radio was a dud as well BUT the screen is fine and it works well with CarPlay 95% of the time. Occasionally it won't connect and it's very flakey on wireless but overall it's fine. Manual heater controls on mine thankfully.
I really like it. Had two Yeti's and it's a far better car. Really comfortable. quiet, easy to drive/park, surprisingly big esp if you take the seats out. Mine is due back in Sept and I'm dithering on getting the EV or another Koraq (or maybe even the smaller one as we don't need the space now). Wife has a 2016 Fabia, 70000 from new, rubbish lights but otherwise another reliable car from Skoda.
2 years in my Arona 1.0 TSI FR Sport (basically the same a Kamiq) and I do like it alot. It rides quite firmly on 18 inch wheels and sports chassis, but overall it handles well, is comfy, economical and good to drive. Don't expect masses of space though compared to an estate. I can't stand my Spur up in it vertically, it just about sits more than half up right with the 60 portion of the back seats folded down, doubt it'd do it on the 40 alone.
Overall a nice car and I love it, but the fact I know my next car will be a Leon/A4/Octavia Estate says it all as far as practicality goes for you OP.
A 2021 Octavia iV here and it is a great car except for two issues mentioned by many others.
I live in a rural location so have to knock off the lane assist at the start of every journey as it is so aggressive, it does its best to pull me into verges and parked cars. The screen blackout has happened three times on one occasion I was trying to leave an unfamiliar city with no satnav and another time I had no music or climate control for a two hour trip. That is a bit shit.
I would have another in a heartbeat though.
I've just got myself a 2020 Octavia as Edinburgh council chucked me cash to scrap my diesel Mazda 6 (low emissions zone coming in). The 1.5 petrol is almost 50% more efficient than the old car. Lane assist is great for when your eyes are off the road fiddling with the infotainment screen 🙂
They obviously think someone in the Rochdale area will buy it.
Got a new 22 Leon FR with the button less dash and touch screen infotainment system a month ago now. Have to admit I was worried about lack of buttons, however its not a deal breaker. First few days seems overload of options but once set up and used to it it just does it thing and you don't worry about it. The lane assist is annoying at times but not so much I feel I need to switch it off.
As other have said lots of new cars are going this way now so ignoring all cars with it will limit your choice. Yes I would prefer the buttons but if you like the rest of the car I wouldn't let it put you off.
For those with the infotainment crashing/locking up issue, and assuming the infotainment system is basically the same as the Seat Leon and you have an SOS button on the ceiling, or similar, then next time it crashes try pressing the SOS button until it causes that module to reset and the infotainment system auto reboots. It can take around 50 seconds. You'll then get a message on the screen and possibly audibly saying it's going to make an emergency call, just press cancel.
The infotainment should hopefully now work (until the next lock up).
Had the same issue on the current model Seat Leon which this used to sort. First signs before it would crash was the GPS location on both built in satnav and android auto would start bouncing about up and down the road I was driving along by about a mile. I told the garage about it at the last service and they replaced various bits under warranty, with no problems since. Definitely worth being persistent with the garage and trying to work out if there is any odd behaviour before it crashes each time to persuade them into investigating.
Sister in law works for VAG in MK and we get a car through the family lease scheme. Basically change for a new car every 6 months. This will be our 4th Karoq and I have to say they are great. Not had any issues with the infotainment except the fairly rubbish sat nav. I found them better than the T roc and seat ateca. I'd give them a big thumbs up. Should be getting an A3 next week (it's all VAG have available) so I'm really hoping the Audi is on par with the skoda.
I guess VAG group are having to cut corners to save money after having to pay out $4.3 billion in fines a few years ago?
Right, final question, hopefully.
Does anyone have any views on the Scala vs Kamiq? It appears to have manual heating buttons, which is a plus...
I would go Scala over the Kamiq unless you wanted a higher driving position. The Scala is kind of half-estate/half-hatchback, it's bigger than a golf/leon hatch but not as big as the estate versions. Looked at the Scala when I got the Arona but they were newer so out of budget.
Are they both based on the Fabia?
