SKODA simply clever

Transport
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We bought a fully optioned Skoda Karoq in 2018. “Skoda simply clever”. My wife and I loved all the simply clever features that came with the vehicle.

Recently we decided to trade it in on another fully optioned Skoda Karoq. Big disappointment.

The new Karoq came without, Luggage Safety nets, Velcro Luggage safety holders and it was fitted with only two shopping hooks in the boot, not four.

Also missing was the personalised key function that adjusted the driver’s front seat and set all the drivers settings for the radio etc. when the driver got into the vehicle. What you get are three buttons on the side of the driver’s seat that you can use to set a seat memory function.

This does not work at night as you cannot see and therefore cannot find the button you need. These buttons were also fitted on the old Karoq but we never had cause to use them

We run a small family business and three family members drive the Karoq each day back and forth between our two business premises and need to change the seat position each time a different driver gets into the driver’s seat. The new Karoq driver’s seat arrangement simply does not work for us.

The old Karoq had DAB or digital radio. That too is gone.

One “feature” that has remained is the “Spotify” function. That is when you operate the traffic indicators the Karoq changes the track on Spotify. Either forward or back depending upon whether you are indicating left or right.

An annoying feature that has been added is when you are using cruise control and go down a hill the vehicles speed will increase slightly. Once you exceed the speed limit by one kilometre per hour the radio is turned down and the car sounds a “Beep” warning. When the cruise control adjusts the speed back to the original setting the whole process can repeat.

We have only had this vehicle for about two weeks so each day can produce a new surprise.

Nowhere in the advertising does Skoda show the functions that have been removed on the latest version.

Skoda simply clever NOT. Skoda simply sneaky. YES

If you are planning to trade in your Skoda on another, check that the features that you use regularly still work on the new vehicle.

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Basically what you are looking at is a manufacturer attempting to keep the vehicle within a certain price range . They do surveys on price points and will often trim features of a vehicle to hold a price point .

I looked at a vehicle recently that until this year had paddle shifters , now gone , blind spot warning , now gone , parking sensors , now gone , Needless to say I was " gone " out of their show room .

Other manufacturers , Toyota is a good example , add features and adjust the price up accordingly . The humble Toyota Yarris now peaks out at $38,000 for the Hybris model and other models in the range with all the kit are in the mid $30,000 's regarding price .

Toyota can do this because of strong sales figures and reputation . Other manufacturers are not so lucky .

The car I looked at that had features stripped back was a Kia Rio GT line DCT turbo .

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After many years of absolutely trouble free motoring in my ‘humble’ Yaris, I would remain loyal because even if a little more costly there’s a lot of savings to be made down the track from a reliable, well made little car: just to mention: the original battery lasted 8 good years, and I only do short trips!

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Skoda reputedly offer good value and engineering, leveraging their VW heritage. This years model of
VW becomes the next years Skoda, with a nod to last years Audi. I’ve the impression that with Skoda many of the development costs have been previously absorbed in Audi and VW marques. This ensured a lower cost base for Skoda and of course the added value of included features. Details that offset getting proven but slightly out of date engineering/technology.

What we may not fully understand is whether the retail cost of a Skoda in Australia is a fair reflection of the price based on retail marketing in Europe etc. An earlier impression of the cost of a sportier European model in Australia is that one first converted the UK price to Aussies before doubling it. Lower Volume, import costs, luxury car tax, minor compliance modifications and at least one extra set of hands between the manufacturer and dealership can all add to the final price.

It was also important to consider that the features provided as standard in the UK might not arrive on the same model in Australia. A trip to a dealer, careful inspection, test drive and assessment of the detailed list of features from the sales brochure have always been informative.

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vax2000.
For the 2021 model Skoda Australia increased the price considerably and removed lots of features.

Mark M the " this years VW is next years Skoda is far from correct you need to do a little research, sorry. Plus you left out the Seat.

One of the popular Australian online car reviewers stated DAB was included in the 2021 model. However it was not included in the latest shipment.
We waited some time for our car to arrive in Australia and our local dealer was caught out as well, as far as features were concerned. They had to go around all the cars/models in their latest shipment to see what features were fitted and what were not, after customers started to complain.
We only discovered our problem when we got the car home and went to program the functions that we use, only to find menu items missing.
These are “delete” firmware changes and removing them will not reduce the product cost. In fact it would be an added cost as someone would have to document the change to remove remove the code from the firmware, arrange for the changes in the factory and inform the dealers etc. Obviously, the inform the dealer part did not happen. When we ordered the car I explained to the salesman that we did not wish to downgrade or loose any of the options that we had. We were all surprised.

Plus the center screen has gone from being very very user friendly to being almost user aggressive.

With hind site had we known what we were getting we would have kept the old vehicle we loved.

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CarAdvice makes comparisons, article from June 2021.

and 4 years prior from the UK, including adding SEAT to the mix.

Back to marketing realities, it appears @trevor3 had a less than expected experience with the brand, that fell short in communicating how it was pulling back (down?) their Australian offering.

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