As the man said, “Who doesn’t like a little bit of ELO (Electric Light Orchestra)?” and the song title from that fabulous band sums up the new generation Karoq SUV from Skoda very well.
As a town and arounder, it’s great. As a distance tourer it’s damn impressive and as an SUV that makes you feel like you’re something a little spesh – like royalty, but not as pretentious – the Karoq ticks all the right boxes.
Oh, and in this colour – Phoenix Orange Metallic – it’s the business. A word on the colour, it’s a great summation of the Karoq itself.
Yes, there are other colours like it, but as I pointed out to my intrepid navigator/photographer, make up artist, IT specialist and money spender, “Orange you thrilled with this particular shade?”
It has a metallic fleck through it which makes the whole car shimmy in the sun, Skoda’s orange has something very engaging about it.
OK, let’s get off the transcendentalist highway and come back to reality: what are we looking at with the Skoda Karoq?
Skoda calls it a Compact SUV. In real world terms, Karoq – in typical Skoda fashion – bridges the gap between sizes, in this case, between Small and Medium. It’s a little larger than you might expect while it retains a minimalist footprint on the road and in the garage.
Karoq is close enough to 4.4 metres long, 2 and a bit, metres wide with the mirrors out and 1.6 metres tall. It sports a 521 to 756 litre boot space and in terms of design, is much more in line with the rest of the Skoda family.
Previous generations came across as a little bit bland, but Skoda’s design teams have really got their Sh…koda together now and the Karoq carries off that “we’re a major player in the European SUV market” look, with a comprehensive product offering and a cohesive design throughout the family.
There are three Karoq models available, two 2WD’s in Ambition and Style grades, and these share the 1.4-litre, 110kW/250Nm turbo petrol engine and eight-speed standard automatic, a far better option than the previous DSG.
Above Ambition and Style, sits the Sportline with the two-litre, 140kW/320Nm turbo petrol and its seven-speed DSG with 4x4 drivetrain.
Uh oh, your eyes are glazing over. Let’s tell you more about our trip in the Style Karoq, which Skoda NZ picked out for us.
We wanted out of Auckland – the road cones were driving me crazy and don’t get me started on the potholes – and, according to Skoda’s marketing, thought Whangamata made a good choice of destination, which might give you a clue as to who Skoda reckons is the target buyer.
We could have gone to Raglan, but that sounded a little too athletic from what we were told.
Truth be told, either destination works – both being a short hop out of the City of Snails, but remembering we had about an hour’s worth of ‘we gotta get out of this place’ driving first, well, short hop is a bit of a misnomer.
By the time we reached Bombay, it was time for a snack stop and the bakery in the older part of the Bombay complex is always great value for money, especially when all five seats in the Karoq are full.
No need to refuel the SUV yet, and the Karoq was performing as advertised, easily hitting its 7.2 litres/100km 3P-WLTP figure, despite the evils of Auckland traffic. It was also time for my Tech Gerbil to play around with the infotainment suite.
Skoda’s super quick Smartlink +, hooks up Android Auto and wireless Apple CarPlay in no time flat, and the top end Amundsen infotainment system with its eight-inch colour touchscreen provided a few moments of mirth with its ‘don’t touch the screen, I have virtual buttons’ delivering a “wow” factor.
Karoq also integrates ‘Hey Laura’ speech recognition, which is cool, but an area still needing some work. Laura is not as intrusive as some systems, but then she’s not as bright as some others either.
If I have the choice, I’ll take Skoda’s slightly less gifted system, rather than having to watch what I say for fear of invoking unwanted voice command systems, which then get sulky. Is it just me or are some of these AI voice systems getting a little… petulant?
Coming out of Bombay and heading south, the Michelins we were rolling on quickly glossed over the awful truck-trodden coarse chip of the on-ramp and then settled into their innocuous glide over the tarmac as we headed for the Tauranga turnoff at the bottom of the Bombays.
I mention this last because ordinarily, this is where I would be testing the cruise control (adaptive in the Karoq) to keep me out of the lenses of the (we’re not collecting revenue) traffic wombles.
But this time around, thanks to the Karoq’s ultra-nimble and intelligent, eight-speed proper automatic – I reached the bend at a very mild 95km/h without benefit of Nanny-brakes.
Maintaining road legal speeds on a downhill grade without benefit of cruise control? That’s Simply Clever, Skoda!
The next part of the trip was pretty ho-hum, travelling across the Hauraki Plains, no matter which way you go is almost as tiresome as travelling across Auckland. Can we please get that 110km/h speed limit here? At 90kms, the risk of getting dozy on those dead straight roads is high.
Top Tip Dads, if you carry on through the roundabout that would take you to Thames (SH25) and instead hare off to Tauranga (SH2), just a few kms up you’ll come to Coxhead Road.
This is a back track and its gravel, so you can always say, “I wanted to show you this road,” and maintain your ‘Dad is cool’ factor – our little secret, eh?
Put even a 2WD Karoq onto gravel and you’ll be impressed. Off camber corners and deep drifts are grist to the mill for Skodas – harking back to the rally days of then and now, I guess.
Rallying is in Skoda’s blood, easily demonstrated when you encounter the twists and turns of SH25A just after the Kopu bridge.
Arguably one of my favourite stretches of highway, this part of the infamous Coro Loop has a few helicopter pads for those who’s skills fall a little short on some of the tighter-than-you-think turns.
A Karoq however, will give you a serious skill level ‘upgrade’ and make riding the road a thrilling experience at road legal speeds as the small Skoda carves through corners, capably and comfortably.
My previous ‘deliberate diversion’ came into its own a few kms later on, when we came across another road not taken, this is Puketui Road off to the left, which some might think leads to Broken Hills campground.
It doesn’t, but Puketui Rd hints at the gold mining that took place in the 1930s and is a peaceful gravel road detour and turnaround, great picnic spot if that’s what you’re into.
Back on the road to Whangamata and we took another diversion, this time to Pauanui, which was good for a lunch stop in the middle of the resort town. The Karoq seemed to be in its element here too if the attention it drew from the locals was anything to go by.
So that’s commuting, rallying and cruising all taken in stride by Skoda’s revised Karoq. All boxes ticked so far, as we headed for Whangamata, winding our way through the familiar country roads to the sun-soaked east coast.
Sun soaked enough to call in to Sweet As Cara Mela for a milk shake! If you find yourself on Port Road with 10 minutes to spare, make a point of stopping here. It’s interesting, friendly and vibrant even on a Sundae (see what I did there?) with some seriously cool (oh, stop it!) ice cream treats.
“Are we going home through Karangahake, Dad?” So much for a straight run home but taking Waihi through to the Karangahake Gorge and into Paeroa before tackling the Hauraki Plains is a little easier on the suspension (the car’s and mine) than re-running 25a in reverse. More scenic too.
With the river running alongside the road, Karangahake is a restful and comfortable road to take – and you don’t have a choice with the speed cameras dotted along it.
Take your time, enjoy the fresh crisp air and at the far end, there’s a welcome comfort spot before you encounter the road to the right to Bullswool Farm, a great spot for the kiddies if you have time.
We resumed our trip, with my navigator was resigned to another boring plains crossing, but I had one more Dad diversion card to play – Findlay Road.
You can get to this road from the Front Miranda Road, which you follow to the fork that goes left. A few kms further will take you to Findlay Road and some of the most spectacular sights of the Firth of Thames you will ever see. You might even see Bison on the way – we did.
Findlay Road will terminate at Monument Road, and you want to go right to get home via Mangatangi and the Mangatawhiri Road.
From here, you can go main highway on 2 to connect to SH1 or take the more dramatic Lyons Road out through the Hunua ranges and into Ararimu, because you know, you can never get enough cornering action for a Skoda Karoq if you stay in the city!
