Skoda is on a roll with SUVs that start with a K. The new Skoda Kamiq follows that trend and even has an umbrella built into the door - just like a Rolls-Royce. Paul Maric reviews the 2021 Skoda Kamiq 110 TSI to see if it's any good!
Hardness tester results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/121Auf6HGvaBqRToYcuAz94alin7Sw55SpOPECBDlnKE
More Skoda content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/skoda
More Skoda Kamiq content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/skoda/kamiq
Skip Ahead:
Intro: 00:00
Exterior 00:51
Interior 03:02
Infotainment 04:18
Safety Tech 06:57
Practicality 07:53
On the road 12:13
Verdict 16:08
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#skoda #kamiq #review
Hardness tester results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/121Auf6HGvaBqRToYcuAz94alin7Sw55SpOPECBDlnKE
More Skoda content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/skoda
More Skoda Kamiq content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/skoda/kamiq
Skip Ahead:
Intro: 00:00
Exterior 00:51
Interior 03:02
Infotainment 04:18
Safety Tech 06:57
Practicality 07:53
On the road 12:13
Verdict 16:08
We review every new car on the market, bust car myths, cover the latest car tech and answer your burning questions.
Whether you need new car advice, purchase validation or simply love learning more about new cars and technology, we are your car experts.
Subscribe to Car Expert: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7DvMhvy3H7ntEgn9n3xQcQ?sub_confirmation=1
You'll find us dropping new video content three times a week. If you'd like to ask a question about one of our videos, simply leave us a comment. If you'd like to give us any feedback on our content, feel free to email us, or alternatively, hit us up on social media.
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#skoda #kamiq #review
Category
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MotorTranscript
00:00 G'day, I'm Paul. So Skoda is continuing its run of K-named SUVs. We have the Kodiaq, we have the Karoq,
00:06 now we have the Kamiq, which is finally here in Australia. Today we're looking at the top specification.
00:12 It's called the Limited Edition. This is the 110 TSI. It's priced at a little under
00:17 $37,000 and if that's a little bit too much of a stretch, the whole range starts at a little under $28,000.
00:24 It competes with things like the Mazda CX-3, the Toyota C-HR and the Volkswagen T-Cross.
00:31 Today we're going to do a detailed review of this car. If you do want to skip ahead to other parts of this review,
00:36 you can use the time codes up on the screen there, or if you're on YouTube,
00:39 just scroll down and use the chapters below. And if you haven't done so already,
00:42 I would love it if you could subscribe to our channel and press the bell icon as well,
00:46 so you can find out every single time we drive a car that starts with K.
00:51 Okay, let's talk exterior. You've got seven external colors to pick from. All but white is an additional $550,
00:58 but if you want this nice firetruck red, it's going to cost you $1,100.
01:02 Now the design here is interesting because Skoda kind of went through a phase where they were splitting headlights.
01:07 I remember with the Octavia, it kind of looked a little bit out there and I wasn't a huge fan of it.
01:11 With the new Octavia, they've gone back to that sort of single headlight and I think it looks much better.
01:16 So here with the Kamiq, you can see they've got that split set up there for the headlights.
01:20 I don't think it looks terrible,
01:21 I just think it could take a little bit of getting used to and I think it looks better with colors like the red because
01:26 it really makes those features stand out. I quite like what they've done with the grille here.
01:30 You've got this chrome highlight and then the reflective black finishes as well that just give it a bit of a classy look.
01:37 This is quite an expensive car when you look at it in this top specification,
01:42 so you really want it to look high-end and premium. In terms of the headlights themselves,
01:46 you've got LED daytime running lights up the top and then the LED headlight cluster is actually built into this bottom section down here.
01:53 Let's whip around to the side. Down here,
01:56 you've got 18-inch alloy wheels and a fairly low-profile tire as well. I like the design of the wheel,
02:01 it's just very straightforward, one color and I think it again works really well against the red body color on the car.
02:08 I'll be interested to see how this rides because that is a very low-profile tire.
02:12 This is either going to be very plush and nice or it's going to be firm and teeth rattling,
02:17 so we'll see what it's like a little later on. So have a look down the side here. More of that chrome highlight.
02:22 You've got these roof racks there as well.
02:25 I think it is quite a classy design and they've really made it look big without being too big.
02:30 You've got to remember this is the same size as a T-Cross and the T-Cross when you think about it actually looks quite small,
02:35 whereas this has that sort of bigger stance out on the road. Come around to the rear.
02:39 So around the rear here you have LED taillights. They look quite nice and reflected down the bottom.
02:44 You've got a Kamiq badge on the back there and then your boot release is hidden under here.
02:48 Again, looking at the rear, it doesn't look like a tiny little hatchback.
02:51 They've gone SUV with this and I think it really improves its appearance.
02:55 Let me know what you think in the comments section below. Is it a good-looking car?
02:58 Am I right about the headlights or do you think it's perfect as it is? Right-o, so we are inside the Kamiq.
03:03 Let's start off with the key. Here it is here. So you have lock, boot,
03:08 unlock, you've got a flip out key for some reason and then you have the Skoda symbol on the back.
03:12 The reason I say some reason is because this is a proximity sensing key and there's a push-button start just here on the steering wheel.
03:19 I can't see anywhere that you would actually use that flip out key. So interesting.
03:23 Now what I want to find out today is this is almost $40,000.
03:27 It is a lot of money for a small SUV, but to me it feels
03:31 premium enough to justify that price tag. If you look at things like this dashboard here,
03:36 nicely textured, soft to the touch. You've got these materials that break up the
03:40 monotony of black and I think that this big infotainment screen really makes this feel like it's worth the price tag.
03:47 What about the materials themselves?
03:49 Well, they actually all feel really nice and like I said before the textures really help set it apart from other parts of the cabin.
03:55 In terms of the touch points, that's really nice and soft there on the center armrest and the door is soft as well.
04:01 How soft is it? Well, we've got our durometer.
04:03 We've tested the main surfaces in this car. If you want to see how this compares to other cars that we've tested before,
04:08 scroll down and use the link in the description below. Now, what about build quality?
04:12 That is solid, absolutely solid. I like it. Yeah, that feels great. Okay, let's talk
04:19 infotainment. So this is a
04:22 9.2 inch infotainment system. If you want to get a detailed review of this, click up here to watch one that we recorded previously.
04:29 Today I'll just give you a quick overview.
04:31 So this is what the home screen looks like. This infotainment system is on a really high resolution screen
04:37 and you'll notice there as my finger approaches you get extra context menus.
04:41 So it's got this proximity sensor on it. You get inbuilt satellite navigation. It's a really good sat-nav unit.
04:47 Look at that. That is nice and quick, very nice and sharp. Then in terms of smartphone connectivity,
04:52 you have wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. I'll show you what Apple CarPlay looks like first. There it is there.
04:59 Massive screen. So it means that you're getting the full screen integration.
05:02 It's not some shoebox thing. And then you can see here as I flick between those menus, that is really nice and fast.
05:08 Very, very impressive. And this is what Android Auto looks like.
05:13 Fantastic. So that's full screen integration as well. Nice and quick.
05:19 Very, very impressive. The only difference between Android Auto and Apple CarPlay here is that you need a cable for
05:26 Android Auto. And hey, by the way, if you want to see a comparison between Apple CarPlay and Android Auto,
05:31 click up here to watch a video that we recorded previously. Now in terms of radio, you have AM and FM radio only,
05:38 which is really strange because
05:41 DAB+ - where is it? Like it's common in virtually all cars today and
05:46 Volkswagen products just seem to miss out on it for some reason.
05:49 So you only have AM, FM and then media that you can stream and also Bluetooth audio.
05:53 And then you also have an 8 speaker sound system. And in terms of other features you have on your
05:59 infotainment system, we'll flick over to the menu.
06:01 You can select all your driver assistance features from here and then you also have the option to adjust some of the car's settings as well.
06:09 In addition to the screen being a proximity sensor, it also has this
06:15 when it works.
06:18 The ability to swipe between menus with your hand when it works. It's got selective
06:24 working here. So kind of a pointless feature and you can see here when it doesn't work,
06:28 it is extra pointless. Then ahead of the driver, you have a full digital cockpit, which looks fantastic.
06:34 It's nice and sharp. On the sides there you have your fuel gauge and also engine temperature.
06:38 You can then flick between the different views just by using this button on the steering wheel and you can see there it presents you with
06:44 different views that you can pick from and then you can also
06:48 change what is displayed in the center including a full navigation display as well.
06:52 So yeah, this feels really impressive for a car with this kind of price tag. Moving on to safety technology,
06:59 you have autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian detection. You have a lane departure warning and a lane keeping assistant.
07:06 This has a blind spot monitoring built into that wing mirror.
07:09 You have radar cruise control, an auto dimming rear vision mirror, rear cross-traffic alert.
07:14 You've also got front and rear parking sensors and a reverse view camera. Let's have a look at what that looks like.
07:20 There it is there.
07:22 Quality isn't amazing.
07:24 So you can make that appear as the entire screen or you can just have your front and rear parking sensors come up with
07:30 guidelines as well. It's worth keeping in mind that in addition to the rear parking sensors,
07:35 you also have a semi-autonomous parking function.
07:37 So if you're not confident with parallel or perpendicular parking, one hit of that will sort that out.
07:42 If you want to know how that technology works, you can click up here.
07:45 We actually shot a video where we explain parking technology and that self parking stuff, which I thought was really interesting.
07:51 So check that out if you want to learn more. Let's talk practicality and we'll start with your
07:55 connectivity options. So there's two USB ports up the front, but they are USB-C, which is pretty cool.
08:02 So they've gone away from that USB-A setup.
08:04 You've also got a 12-volt outlet as well if you have some of those old-school appliances.
08:08 But where are you going to put your phone when it comes to storage?
08:11 So the phone easily fits in the cup holders down the front there,
08:14 but there's also wireless phone charging so you can slot it down onto the pad here and that will kick off charging,
08:19 which is a handy feature. Now in terms of
08:22 storage,
08:25 let's have a look at our coffee cup. Let's see how it goes. That fits beautifully in there.
08:28 No risk of the lid coming off and spilling your coffee all over the place.
08:31 And then in terms of your water bottle, that easily slots into there. It has a rubber base on it,
08:36 which means it's going to hold that into place and it won't move around too much. Then inside your doors,
08:40 you also have storage for the water bottle. Now the center console, it is deep, but it is tiny.
08:45 And I'll show you what I mean.
08:47 Put that in there, it can barely move around so there's not a huge amount of space in there.
08:52 But the good news is that this slides backwards and forwards if you need a little bit more space.
08:56 And then you have that there, the glove box. That is pretty decent sized. A sunglasses holder up the top here.
09:02 And then just next to the driver's foot, you have another little storage spot. Now, what about comfort?
09:08 You have automatic dual zone climate control. You've got heated seats for the front and second row.
09:14 Then you have electric seat adjustment for the driver, manual seat adjustment for the passenger.
09:20 But in terms of the seats themselves, I reckon they're pretty cool.
09:22 So you've got this leather material, that white stitching,
09:25 but then you have this suede alcantara in the center. Really brings about a premium feel to the cabin.
09:31 Seats themselves are pretty comfortable as well. I like the shape of the steering wheel.
09:35 You've got that flat bottom on it. Feels nice and sporty. It's got these perforations on it as well.
09:40 And then all of these controls are very easy to reach while you're driving.
09:43 Now before we hop into the back seat, I wanted to show you this. The umbrella inside the door.
09:49 It is trademark Skoda and Rolls-Royce, and I think it's a pretty cool idea.
09:53 Righto, back seat of the Kamiq. What's it like here?
09:57 Surprisingly pretty good. This seat is quite far back and I still have a fair bit of room here.
10:03 So knee room's great, toe room is pretty good, headroom is excellent as well. So it's fairly spacious.
10:09 There is no center armrest, but your bottle can go in the door and make that disappear pretty easily.
10:15 In terms of creature comforts, you have matte pockets in the back of the seats.
10:18 You get air vents plus heated seats for the two outboard seats.
10:22 USB-C ports for charging. ISOFIX points on the two outboard seats.
10:26 And what I like about the seats back here is that they mimic the front seats.
10:30 You've got this leather-esque material plus the Alcantara/suede.
10:34 But it is a little bit disappointing that they didn't continue the trend with those nice materials at the front.
10:39 Back here, there's a lot of plastic, which I think just brings it down a notch and doesn't make it feel as
10:46 premium as it does in the front of the cabin. Okay, let's talk cargo space.
10:50 I'll crack this open. It has a power tailgate. Now in this configuration here, you have
10:55 400 litres of cargo space, but it's not so much the cargo space that's good about this.
10:59 It's all of the netting. So Skoda's thing is simply clever and you can kind of tell because you've got nets absolutely everywhere.
11:06 You've even got a removable light over here as well.
11:09 So you can switch that on and off if you're, I don't know,
11:13 camping or something like that and then that charges when it's plugged back in. And if we remove this net,
11:18 I'll show you what it looks like under the cargo floor.
11:21 Pop that off in the side.
11:26 So under there you have a space saver spare tyre, but it's much bigger than a regular space saver.
11:30 So it's not going to be one of these ones that looks kind of weird on the car.
11:34 It is a steel wheel, but it's a slightly different space saver spare tyre.
11:37 You've got hooks all over the side plus hooks that you can lock in if you're not using the top tether point.
11:43 So it gives you an additional spot to hook things onto if you need to. I'll show you what it looks like here with the bags inside.
11:51 You can see there it easily fits the big suitcase and the laptop bag. And finally what I'll do,
11:57 I will show you what it looks like with those second row seats folded.
12:00 And then with that second row folded you have a little under
12:06 1,400 litres of cargo space, but keep in mind it's not a flat floor. You're gonna have to step up here.
12:12 We are on the road in the Kamiq 110 TSI. Now powering this is an interesting engine.
12:20 It's a one and a half litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine. Makes 110 kilowatts of power,
12:25 which is the the 110 TSI and then
12:28 250 Newton meters of torque. Now that's all mated to a six-speed dual clutch transmission.
12:34 Unfortunately, though it is not a very good transmission. I'll come to a stop here and I'll show you what I mean.
12:40 So it's got its stop/start feature, but then if you try and take off,
12:44 it kind of just does the standard dual clutch thing and it is super surgy as you roll onto the throttle.
12:50 I don't know. I just think that dual clutches have their place,
12:55 but it's not in small SUVs like this and certainly not when they feel like this one does.
13:00 It is just super jerky and it doesn't really feel all that smooth. Perhaps it's the way I drive,
13:04 I don't know, but I just never really have much luck with these. So let me know in the comment section below,
13:09 am I overreacting with these dual clutch gearboxes or are they all
13:14 really as bad as I make them out to be. Now if you put the quality of the takeoff to one side,
13:20 what does it feel like when you're actually driving?
13:22 Well, you've got paddle shifters here on the steering wheel if you do want to manually select gears,
13:26 but if you're just driving along normally and you give it a squeeze,
13:29 it actually gets up and moves really nicely. So 250 Newton meters of torque is fairly hefty for a car this size.
13:37 So when you do get stuck into it,
13:38 it really does give you that push in the back that you need and given it's a front-wheel drive,
13:43 it actually just gets the torque down really nicely to the ground, which means you're never really wanting for any more.
13:48 Skoda claims a combined fuel economy of 5.6 litres per 100 K's. Let's have a quick look at what we're achieving here.
13:56 Okay, so we're at 6.7 litres per 100 K's. It's actually not too bad.
14:00 We've been doing a fair bit of low-speed driving,
14:02 so that figure is pretty impressive when you consider that it is a turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine.
14:08 Now in terms of drive modes, you don't really have any drive modes in the limited edition.
14:11 You don't have adaptive damping or anything like that,
14:14 but you can pull down on the gear lever once to put it into sport mode.
14:17 That simply sharpens up that throttle response and makes it just a little bit more eager to get up and move.
14:22 Alright, let's talk handling. Let's see what it's like if we punt it through a couple of corners.
14:26 It's actually pretty impressive.
14:29 It sits nice and flat through the corners and even without adaptive damping or that lowered suspension that you can get on the Monte Carlo,
14:37 it actually just feels nice behind the wheel. You get plenty of communication through the steering wheel.
14:41 And it just has that sporty edge to it.
14:43 I know that this isn't a sports car,
14:45 but when you buy the 110 TSI, you kind of want just a little bit of punch behind the wheel.
14:50 If you compare this to something like the Toyota Yaris Cross at the same price bracket,
14:54 this feels far sportier than a Yaris Cross does. So I think it ticks those boxes of sportiness.
14:59 I think that's what people want when they're spending this kind of money.
15:02 Let's go to claims, a 0-100 time of 8.4 seconds.
15:07 So we've put it up against our stopwatch to see how it goes.
15:10 [engine revving]
15:12 Now what about ride? So I mentioned earlier that it is on fairly low profile tyres.
15:27 The ride is good, but it's not amazing. And again, I think this comes down to there not being that adaptive suspension.
15:34 So it's a fixed rate damper. It means that you are just getting one suspension shoe.
15:38 It's on the sportier side of comfortable. It does keep the body nice and flat when you are going for a bit of a punt,
15:42 but it is just going to feel a little bit firm in and around the city if you catch cobblestones,
15:48 potholes and that kind of thing. But it's not too bad. It's not going to break your back or anything like that.
15:52 Now visibility, yes, it is a small car, but can you see out of it properly?
15:57 I can see clearly down the front there. The wing mirrors are a reasonable size,
16:00 and then we have the blind spot monitors as well. Looking out the back window, it is a super narrow envelope,
16:05 so it is a little bit hard to see out the back of the car.
16:08 So Skoda Kamiq, I think it shows you that you can still have a small SUV with plenty of room inside,
16:17 and they've also loaded it with clever features like all those nets, the umbrella and the door.
16:21 I think they really think about the driver. On the tech front, the infotainment system is really good,
16:26 easy to use and comes with all the latest tech and gadgets. But look, I just think it's a little bit too expensive
16:32 at around that $37,000 mark. I think the Stepdown, which is the smaller 85 TSI engine, is probably better value for money,
16:39 and I think offers the same package, but just with a few less of these frills.
16:43 This engine is a cracker, but yeah, look, I just think it's a little bit too expensive.
16:47 Now, let me know in the comments section below, do you agree? Do you reckon these things have crept up in price
16:51 to the level where they're asking too much money? Or do you think this is about right and where it needs to be?
16:56 I'm really keen to get your feedback. Let me know in the comments section below.
16:59 Now, if you did enjoy this video, make sure you hit the like button and share it with your mates.
17:04 And if you haven't done so already, subscribe to our channel and press the bell icon.
17:07 But until next time, take it easy.