Our cars Simply clever (especially in summer)
The Kodiaq’s clever and sometimes hidden details continue to impress, as its warm-weather EV and overall economy improves.
Why we’re running it
To see how if this longer-range plug-in hybrid can make sense for city dwellers without off- street charging
your long-term test car. Either way, it’s another great – and unusual – working example of Skoda’s long-held ‘Simply Clever’ tagline.
Up until recent warmer months, one aspect of this Kodiaq I was less enamoured with was the plug-in hybrid’s weak real-world electric- only range. The official data says 71 electric miles are possible but in the much chillier January and February months we were only gaining between 55-60 (notional) miles of electric-only range on the driver display and in reality running out of electric charge in half as many miles of use. So much so, we stopped charging with electricity from (pricey) public chargers and only filled up with petrol.
Returning to our trusty new Clenergy lamppost in spring, the last few charging missions have yielded 73, 74 and even a high of 81 miles on the driver display after a 100% overnight plug-in.
Guy Bird
The mysterious discovery happened when I was having a clear-out, as these things so often do. With the weather warming up nicely, and spring having fully sprung, I thought it was high time my winter car accessories were shifted back to the garden shed. But while rifling through the Kodiaq’s lidded centre armrest storage compartment and lifting out the windscreen scraper glove and more, I also found something else. The little object looked a little like a chunky robot finger wrapped in faux suede that had lost its hand, or perhaps a well-insulated auxiliary mobile phone battery storage pack. Still puzzled, my better half quickly suggested it was a screen cleaner and so I tentatively gave it a go on the central touchscreen. It worked a treat, because that is exactly what it was designed for, especially in bright light when finger marks can really show up.
Skoda Kodiaq iV SE L (5 seat)
P11D £44,580 Price as tested £47,055 (OTR) Official consumption 578.4mpg Our average consumption 65.2mpg Mileage 3,803 miles
46 | May/June 2025 |
www.businesscar.co.uk
Looking down to the open centre console I then realised this Alcantara- esque clad robot finger had its own recessed resting place ahead of the cupholders and coin slots and behind the diagonal double charging slots for mobile phones. So that’s where it now sits proudly, and it hasn’t moved or
rattled about since, due to the perfect way it fits its recess and because of its absorbent outer material.
In art or design, this type of discovery is often referred to as ‘the second read’ – the thing you spot after the first glance – or in this tester’s case, some five months after you’ve been driving
Better still, driving round the city, outer ring roads and motorways, without particular care to keep a lid on top speeds, the Kodiaq has provided about 55-60 electric miles before the petrol engine kicked in again. Notably, that result was achieved with the aircon working solidly to get the cabin down to about 17.5 degrees C as well, because in 25-degree starting heat outside and probably more inside, driving without A/C is not comfortable for anything more than short-term manoeuvres, unless you want your ‘hair shirt’ to get particularly hot – and you bothered. The last petrol fill-up and separate electric charge gave a hybrid economy figure of 65.2mpg, which is much more like it, although still 513.2mpg off the PHEV’s official 578.4mpg figure, which is a measurement of utter nonsense (and functionally useless as a guide to the car’s economic performance). Of course, its associated 11g/km CO2 rating is very useful for a low 6% BIK band for the 2025/26 tax year just started. By 2028/29 this car’s BIK will jump to 18% though, in the same tax year that zero-emission vehicles will still only attract a 7% BIK rate. But meantime, especially if your employees need to undertake quite a few longer journeys where charging at either end can be sketchy, this PHEV makes good practical and tax sense.
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