Looks like I'm leaving Ford

[pragmatix]

It wa a toss up between a Focus active X vignal Estate1.5 auto  and  a Skoda Karoq  sel 1.5 dsg, the Skoda has won, the reason for the change was I need an auto now due to disability,My Grand Cmax had been a fantastic car it's done 53k in 3 years and has been totally reliable, great car to drive and still fun on twisty bits but alas it has to go. Great load carrier.

The Skoda won on a couple of points easier to get in then the focus, though not as easy as the Cmax, better ride than the  focus not much in it kit wise, but the Skoda has a much better reversing camera, in fact the best I've seen, not normally a fan of them but this ones good, dash wise just prefer the Skoda and the sat nave is silky smooth and very clear, the new Ford sync seems slower than the the old one and very clunky, though in its defence the Ford voice control is better than the Skoda.

Gear box on the Skoda is better than the Ford and you can change manually.

 

 

[TomsFocus]

I think you've made the best choice there tbh.  I'll also be moving back to VAG for the ride and refinement.  The ride on the Active Vignale is poor at best, I've been so disappointed with mine as it looked ideal on paper but the reality hasn't even come close to the expectation.  I'd go as far as saying it's not a nice place to be even on what I thought were fairly smooth suburban roads.

I've also found Sync 3 to be fairly unreliable.  It keeps 'losing' my USB input at start up, then spends ages looking for a DAB signal that it never finds, then just as I'm about press 'source' to swap back to USB it chucks a warning about locations etc.  It's also got stuck skipping on MP3 tracks twice...haven't had that since I was listening to CDs!  in fairness, the Golfs infotainment is much more conventional than the smartphone style Sync, so maybe they're all rubbish nowadays.  Can't work out whether I like the reversing camera or not...it's good for centre rear distances, but I feel I'm letting rear corners get much closer than before as the gap appears huge on the screen.

What are the seats like on the Karoq out of interest?  Are they firm like the Vignale seats or do they have a bit of give in them?  I'm guessing they're cloth as standard?

[pragmatix]

10 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

 

What are the seats like on the Karoq out of interest?  Are they firm like the Vignale seats or do they have a bit of give in them?  I'm guessing they're cloth as standard?

Yes as standard they are cloth, but on the SE L model they are Alcantara and leather, they are fairly firm but I would say they have more give the vignale, what was nice about the vignale was the extending seat squab, though it's not needed on the Karoq as the seats are a bit bigger and I find them comfortable, I had a good long test drive over an hour on all sorts of roads and for me they are great, I found the vignale pinched my hips.

[Guy Heaton]

Fair play.   Skoda make good cars these days.

Out of interest does the vignale not have manual mode and paddles?

[TomsFocus]

1 hour ago, pragmatix said:

Yes as standard they are cloth, but on the SE L model they are Alcantara and leather, they are fairly firm but I would say they have more give the vignale, what was nice about the vignale was the extending seat squab, though it's not needed on the Karoq as the seats are a bit bigger and I find them comfortable, I had a good long test drive over an hour on all sorts of roads and for me they are great, I found the vignale pinched my hips.

Just had a look on Autotrader, the seats do look quite nice on the SE L.  Shame I can't feel them through the internet.

[pragmatix]

2 hours ago, Guy Heaton said:

Fair play.   Skoda make good cars these days.

Out of interest does the vignale not have manual mode and paddles?

Not any more just a rotary dial on the centre console 

[Eric Bloodaxe]

1 hour ago, TomsFocus said:

 Shame I can't feel them through the internet.

Now, that would  be impressive technology!😀

[Eric Bloodaxe]

6 hours ago, Guy Heaton said:

Fair play.   Skoda make good cars these days.

Indeed. Looking at the latest VW Group cars lately, Skoda seem to me to have more of a "premium" feel than VW and Audi these days. Karoq is a bit big for our needs now, if they'd come up with a closer replacement for the Yeti with a decent engine choice, we could well have been interested. 

I've generally found VW infotainment systems preferable to Ford (not that I use them much, anyway). I have seen a fair few comments (not all favourable!) on the latest MIB 3 infotainment system as fitted to the Karoq on various sites (including www.briskoda.net and www.volkswagenforum.co.uk). 

 

 

[pragmatix]

4 hours ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

Indeed. Looking at the latest VW Group cars lately, Skoda seem to me to have more of a "premium" feel than VW and Audi these days. Karoq is a bit big for our needs now, if they'd come up with a closer replacement for the Yeti with a decent engine choice, we could well have been interested. 

I've generally found VW infotainment systems preferable to Ford (not that I use them much, anyway). I have seen a fair few comments (not all favourable!) on the latest MIB 3 infotainment system as fitted to the Karoq on various sites (including www.briskoda.net and www.volkswagenforum.co.uk). 

 

 

The Karoq is marketed as the Yeti replacement, if you want soling smaller then the Kamiq  fits the bill,has a good range of engines and trim.

I do think you're right about Skoda feeling more premium than the rest of the group.

[Nismex]

Did you by any chance spec the heated windscreen, it's just so useful for my personal use so I'm always interested in hearing how other manufacturer offerings are?

[Eric Bloodaxe]

1 hour ago, pragmatix said:

The Karoq is marketed as the Yeti replacement, if you want soling smaller then the Kamiq  fits the bill,has a good range of engines and trim.

Yes, I suppose so. Just lacks that quirky appeal that the Yeti had, plus there's no 4x4 option for anyone wanting that.

[pragmatix]

2 hours ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

Yes, I suppose so. Just lacks that quirky appeal that the Yeti had, plus there's no 4x4 option for anyone wanting that.

You can get a 4x4 Karoq 2ltr diesel diesel the Monte Carlo is great fun wish I could afford one.

[pragmatix]

3 hours ago, Nismex said:

Did you by any chance spec the heated windscreen, it's just so useful for my personal use so I'm always interested in hearing how other manufacturer offerings are?

No I didn't can't afford the extras just the base SEL I very rarely use it on the Ford anyway.

[Eric Bloodaxe]

1 hour ago, pragmatix said:

You can get a 4x4 Karoq 2ltr diesel diesel the Monte Carlo is great fun wish I could afford one.

Yeah, you can indeed,  but you were talking about the Kamiq as an alternative to the Yeti (which did have a 4x4 option) - the Kamiq doesn't.😀

[TomsFocus]

Windscreens are frozen this morning, mid April!  The heated screen was on of the reasons I was going back to Ford, seems to be pretty rare as an option on VAG stuff.   

[Wino]

1 hour ago, TomsFocus said:

Windscreens are frozen this morning, mid April!  The heated screen was on of the reasons I was going back to Ford, seems to be pretty rare as an option on VAG stuff.   

I used our heated screen yesterday morning to clear the frost. Can't do with scraping the windscreen first thing in a morning 👍

[pragmatix]

1 hour ago, TomsFocus said:

Windscreens are frozen this morning, mid April!  The heated screen was on of the reasons I was going back to Ford, seems to be pretty rare as an option on VAG stuff.   

I'm lucky I have a garage 😀

[Wino]

14 minutes ago, pragmatix said:

I'm lucky I have a garage 😀

Our last garage had room for the Focus and some more important things 😮

[TomsFocus]

1 hour ago, pragmatix said:

I'm lucky I have a garage 😀

Ah, well that explains it then!  

[pragmatix]

2 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

Ah, well that explains it then!  

Can't afford the extra I'm pushing myself with the AP as it stands.

[TomsFocus]

3 hours ago, pragmatix said:

Can't afford the extra I'm pushing myself with the AP as it stands.

If you park in a garage overnight then it's probably not worth it anyway.  I hadn't considered that, that may be the reason not many get specced from new on VWs even outside of MB/company cars.

Have you gone for any options at all?  Are they in stock or waiting for a factory order?

[Guy Heaton]

My wife loves hers as she works at a school in the countryside and her car will often get frozen by the end of the day

[pragmatix]

3 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

If you park in a garage overnight then it's probably not worth it anyway.  I hadn't considered that, that may be the reason not many get specced from new on VWs even outside of MB/company cars.

Have you gone for any options at all?  Are they in stock or waiting for a factory order?

Not got any extras don't need them, dual climate ac, reversing camera sat nav, privacy glass,  varifold seats, multi adjust seat , keyless entry, auto braking, intelegent cruise control with speed limiter, roof rails leather and alcantara seats, and auto led headlights may have missed something but nothing I need and in stock.

https://www.skoda.co.uk/new-cars/karoq/se-l