2025 Skoda Kodiaq 140TSI Sportline review

Skoda’s seven-seat Kodiaq family SUV is bigger and more value-packed with features than ever before, even with a $2500 price bump to show for it.

Skoda claims the new Kodiaq has $5700 worth of additional equipment, including a suite of updated advanced safety systems, to justify the increase.

But is this second generation leaps and bounds ahead of its predecessor?

And how does it stack up against the heavyweights from Mazda, Kia and Hyundai, which all now offer hybrid power in one way or another?

I’ve put one to the test to find out.

There are just two variants of the Skoda Kodiaq available until the RS arrives later this year: the 140TSI Select and the 140TSI Sportline, the latter of which I had on test.

The Select costs $54,990 and the Sportline $58,990, both before on-road costs.

Standard kit on the Sportline includes: a nine-speaker audio system, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, 20-inch wheels, a cargo mat and net, umbrella holder, 13-inch infotainment screen, satellite navigation, 10-inch digital instrument cluster, dual wireless chargers with cooling, tri-zone climate control, a heated steering wheel and front seats, and a powered tailgate.

This test car also has the optional $4000 Ultimate Pack added, which includes: adaptive suspension, a head-up display, heated second-row outboard seats, a surround-view monitor, hands-free powered tailgate, progressive steering, power-adjustment for the front passenger seat, intelligent park assist, and a Canton Premium sound system.

It also had the sliding panoramic sunroof fitted, which costs an additional $1900.

There are seven paint choices on offer, six of which can be had at no extra charge, and they are: Steel Grey, Black Magic pearlescent, and Graphite Grey, Race Blue, Brilliant Silver, and Moon White metallic.

This car, however, wears Velvet Red metallic, which costs $770. It doesn’t look particularly velvety, more reminiscent of fire engine red. My kids liked it, though, as it reminded them of the Big Red Car from The Wiggles.

Under the bonnet of the Kodiaq is a 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine, which is mated to the Volkswagen Group’s seven-speed dual-clutch (DSG) automatic transmission, with power sent to all four wheels. 

In the Select and the Sportline, the engine makes 140kW/320Nm, but the RS turns the wick up to 195kW/400Nm.

The price for the Sportline has gone up by $2500 this year, and with all these options fitted and on-road costs factored in, the overall spend is $68,660 drive-away.

In comparison, high-spec variants with petrol engines from its closest rivals, the Hyundai Santa Fe, Kia Sorento, and Mazda CX-80, are more expensive.

The Hyundai Santa Fe Calligraphy 2.5L 4WD costs $72,500, the Kia Sorento GT-line 3.5L AWD $68,790, and the Mazda CX-80 G40e Azami 3.3L AWD $75,395, all before on-roads.

The Skoda Kodiaq is bigger and more feature-rich than before, but there are some omissions that it really should have for a car that costs almost $70K drive-away.

To access features such as a head-up display, 360-degree camera, and even a powered front passenger seat, you have to add the $4000 Ultimate Pack.

In the CX-80, you can get all of these things on lower-grade variants. To get the head-up display in the Santa Fe, you need to opt for the Calligraphy variant, but for the other features, you can shop much lower down the range. 

The Sorento is the odd one out here, with all features confined to the GT-Line.

There are plenty of great deals on a Skoda Kodiaq that can be found here at Drive Marketplace.

In terms of exterior dimensions, it is one of the smaller large SUVs going, closer to the likes of a medium-sized seven-seater than a large one. All of its key rivals are bigger in every way when it comes to the basic dimensions.

However, the Kodiaq bests them all in terms of inside space.

There is 289 litres to the third row, boosted to 794L with the rearmost seats flat, and 2035L with the second row folded too.

Comparatively, the Mazda CX-80 has 258L to the third row, 566L to the second and 1971L overall, while the Kia Sorento has 179L, 608L and 1996L, and the Hyundai Santa Fe has 642L to the second row and 1963L in total. It doesn’t quote a figure for the boot with all seats up.

In addition to its generous boot space, there’s not one glovebox but two, with a second smaller compartment directly under the dash, and a deep centre console bin.

There’s space in all the doors for large 1.2-litre drink containers, but the slots in the centre console – of which there are two that are permanent and four if you slide across a plastic tray to double up – are very slim, and you can’t even fit two small coffees in them side by side. 

In the back, you can put two drinks in floor-mounted cupholders, or the centre armrest, and in the third row, there are two more.

There are map pockets on both sides, as well as some helpful storage spaces on the floor in the middle above the transmission tunnel, but this robs space from anyone wanting to sit in the middle.

There are two USB-C ports in total, two in the front, two in the second row and one at the top of the windscreen for a dashcam, and phone holders on the back of the front seats for rear occupants.

Leg and head room in the second row are good, but move to the third row and the space is very restricted. My legs couldn’t fit, and I’m around 167cm, so average height for an adult female. If you slide the second row forward, it opens up enough space to fit, but it’s still cramped.

For young children, there are rear sunblinds to help protect eyes from harsh sun, ISOFIX anchors on the outboard seats of the second row, and three top-tether points, but none of the above for the third row, which is disappointing for a seven-seat family SUV. 

Another disappointment is the quality of some aspects of the finish of the Kodiaq.

While the suede-look trim on the dash, doors and seats feels soft and lush, and the metal detailing on the doors is attractive, the sports seats aren’t very comfortable, the folding mirrors creak when opening, and sometimes the hands-free powered tailgate wouldn’t open for no apparent reason.

There are also some unique Skoda touches that seem fun at first sight, but aren’t made that well, such as the little bins in the front doors, which are made from cheap plastic that would likely break quickly.

The heating and cooling controls are separate from the infotainment with three rotary dials mounted below the vents on the centre stack. This is great in theory, but you have to push them in or twist them to operate multiple functions, such as fan speed, drive modes, or volume, etc.

As they also feel quite cheap and plasticky, I can see them not wearing very well over time.

The Skoda Kodiaq now has a larger 13-inch infotainment screen, up from 9.2 inches, through which you can access wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

The layout of the infotainment system, however, isn’t straightforward. 

There are handy customisable quick access controls for things like climate functions, drive modes, safety and parking assistance, but there’s no clear main menu, as such, to find everything you need in one place.

I also found during my time with the car that the touchscreen would drop out or get stuck, which was frustrating, and it would go black momentarily when changing a heating function, such as temperature, which seems unnecessary given the system has separate controls.

The premium Canton speakers were also not up to snuff, and crackled even when the volume was not turned up loud or playing anything bassy.

In contrast, the 10-inch driver’s cluster is laid out nicely, showing all the basics you need to know at a glance, such as fuel range, speed, revs, and has some customisation too.

There’s no smartphone app for the Kodiaq, though.

The Skoda Kodiaq has a five-star ANCAP rating from 2024, putting it on par with the CX-80 and Santa Fe, which also boast five stars dating back to 2024, while the Sorento’s five-star rating is older, coming from 2020.

ANCAP’s sister organisation Euro NCAP gave the Kodiaq an 89 per cent pass mark for its adult occupant protection, 87 per cent for children, 82 per cent for vulnerable road users and 81 per cent for its safety assist technology.

The Kodiaq Select and Sportline are just as well equipped as each other when it comes to safety, with the former gaining more tech with the new model generation.

The only addition my test car had was a 360-degree camera, which is part of the optional Ultimate Pack.

Traffic sign recognition is new for the Kodiaq, as the Volkswagen Group has held back on introducing it in Australia until recently because it didn’t feel the technology was good enough. Over recent months, the company has been steadily rolling it out, with most new models getting it.

Where there were school zones, the warning symbol was displayed next to the regular limit, for example, 60km/h and 40km/h, instead of replacing it, showing that it knows that there will be times the lower speed is not in effect.

Both the autonomous emergency braking (AEB) and lane-keep assist have been upgraded for this new generation, too, but while they’ve improved things somewhat, they still don’t quite hit the mark.

During my time with the car, the AEB regularly cut in when it shouldn’t have. 

Sometimes this was in heavy freeway traffic, when it would misjudge whether you’d have time to stop before hitting the car in front, and other times on local roads.

For example, on a two-lane road I travel every day, a car ahead was about to turn off down a side road. Because there was plenty of room in front of me – at least two or three car lengths – I came off the accelerator but didn’t feel it necessary to hit the brakes, and the AEB cut in very aggressively. 

I’m lucky I didn’t end up with someone hitting me from behind because they, like me, weren’t expecting it.

The lane-keep, on the other hand, has the opposite effect; it doesn’t interject when you expect it to. The icon on the driver’s cluster just changes from green to orange to let you know you’re going astray. 

And when indicating to change lanes to the left, I found I had to fight the lane-centring to get the car to move, but if merging right, nothing happened at all.

The speed-limit warning chime is quite annoying too, and will go off even if you’re going only one kilometre per hour over the posted limit momentarily.

The Skoda Kodiaq comes with a seven-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty, with service intervals set at every 12 months/15,000km, whichever comes first. 

If you choose to pay-as-you-go, the cost of servicing adds up to $1854 for the first three years, $3632 for five, and $5021 for seven. 

However, Skoda does offer special packages to make things cheaper, bringing the costs down to $3000 for five years and $3700 for seven years.

It’s still expensive, though, as the non-hybrid Hyundai Santa Fe AWD, for instance, will cost $2425 over five years.

Like Skoda, Kia offers a seven-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty, while Hyundai and Mazda both have five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranties. All have the same servicing intervals.

The Skoda will cost $2254.07 to comprehensively insure based on a comparative quote for a 35-year-old male living in Chatswood, NSW. Insurance estimates may vary based on your location, driving history, and personal circumstances.

One thing the Skoda Kodiaq range does not offer is electrification in any form.

The new generation, as mentioned, has just two variants at present and both of those are powered by turbo-petrol engines with no hybrid assistance. 

And the next grade to join the line-up will be the sportier RS, so better fuel economy is not on its way just yet. 

The Santa Fe, meanwhile, comes with hybrid power on multiple grades, the Sorento with both hybrid and plug-in hybrid choices across its line-up, and the CX-80 has plug-in variants too.

On paper, the Kodiaq Sportline is claimed to sip 9.2 litres per 100 kilometres of premium 95RON petrol.

On test, I found that at worst this figure rose to 9.5L/100km; however, my average was a much more impressive 7.5L/100km, which was achieved through mostly freeway driving, with a little running around town thrown in too.

All variants of the Skoda Kodiaq are powered by the same 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine mated to VW’s seven-speed DSG dual-clutch automatic transmission.

In the Sportline, the engine outputs 140kW/320Nm – up from 132kW/320Nm in the last generation, whereas when the RS arrives, it will be more potent making 195kW/400Nm. 

The engine is quite revvy on start-up, but generally is well behaved, having the punch needed for everyday driving situations with no major noise or fuss, moving the Kodiaq around easily in a way that belies its 1885kg (tare) weight.

Transitions from the DSG are smooth, too, helping it get where it needs to be with no major hesitation.

Wind noise is kept to a minimum, but on rough surfaces, the din kicked up from the grippy Hankook Ventus Evo rubber is more than noticeable.

The steering is nice and snappy, and the wheel offers excellent grip; however, the disconnect between the body and the chassis is pronounced, with a lot of roll in corners or around bends making it feel very lurchy. 

The biggest letdown for what is essentially marketed as a sporty SUV is the uncomfortable ride.

As well as being incredibly firm, hitting every bump, pothole, ridge, crack with an awkward crash that sends shocks through the cabin, the ride is also very wallowy at times over even small changes in the road camber. 

Your best bet is to put it in Comfort, which helps absorb some of the bigger impacts, but it doesn’t help the undulations that come with natural variations in the road.

I also found the angle of the brake pedal to be too steep, causing pain up my leg on longer commutes.

Yes, the Skoda Kodiaq has a braked towing capacity of 2300kg and an unbraked capacity of 750kg.

In a lot of ways, the Skoda offers a quirky personality unseen in many modern SUVs, which can be like carbon cut-outs of each other, helping it stand out from the pack.

But the quality of some of the materials should be better for the money. The third row is basically unusable because it’s not big enough for adults, and children under the age of seven can’t sit there because there are no top tethers. And the ride is not good.

The extra touches, like the bins and rotary dials for the heating controls, are a nice idea, but unfortunately, they are poorly executed.

The Skoda Kodiaq is bigger and more feature-rich than before, but there are some omissions that it really should have for a car that costs almost $70K drive-away.

And all of the Kodiaq’s three closest rivals have hybrid power of some kind on their side as well, which is perhaps the biggest omission of all, one that could leave it struggling to keep up.

A born-and-bred newshound, Kathryn has worked her way up through the ranks reporting for, and later editing, two renowned UK regional newspapers and websites, before moving on to join the digital newsdesk of one of the world’s most popular newspapers – The Sun. More recently, she’s done a short stint in PR in the not-for-profit sector, and led the news team at Wheels Media.

Read more about Kathryn Fisk