Skoda Kamiq review 2021 Too much for a pint-sized SUV
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00:00G'day, I'm Paul. So Skoda is continuing its run of K-named SUVs. We have the Kodiaq, we
00:06have the Karoq, now we have the Kamiq, which is finally here in Australia. Today we're
00:10looking at the top specification. It's called the Limited Edition. This is the 110 TSI.
00:16It's priced at a little under $37,000, and if that's a little bit too much of a stretch,
00:22the whole range starts at a little under $28,000. It competes with things like the Mazda CX-3,
00:27the Toyota C-HR, and the Volkswagen T-Cross. Today we're going to do a detailed review
00:33of this car. If you do want to skip ahead to other parts of this review, you can use
00:37the timecodes up on the screen there, or if you're on YouTube, just scroll down and use
00:40the chapters below. And if you haven't done so already, I would love it if you could subscribe
00:43to our channel and press the bell icon as well, so you can find out every single time
00:48we drive a car that starts with K.
00:50Okay, let's talk exterior. You've got seven external colours to pick from. All but white
00:56is an additional $550, but if you want this nice firetruck red, it's going to cost you
01:01$1,100. Now the design here is interesting, because Skoda kind of went through a phase
01:06where they were splitting headlights. I remember with the Octavia, it kind of looked a little
01:10bit out there, and I wasn't a huge fan of it. With the new Octavia, they've gone back
01:13to that sort of single headlight, and I think it looks much better. So here with the Kamiq,
01:17you can see they've got that split set up there for the headlights. I don't think it
01:21looks terrible, I just think it could take a little bit of getting used to, and I think
01:25it looks better with colours like the red, because it really makes those features stand
01:28out. I quite like what they've done with the grille here. You've got this chrome highlight,
01:32and then the reflective black finishes as well that just give it a bit of a classy look.
01:38This is quite an expensive car when you look at it in this top specification, so you really
01:42want it to look high-end and premium. In terms of the headlights themselves, you've got LED
01:47daytime running lights up the top, and then the LED headlight cluster is actually built
01:51into this bottom section down here. Let's whip around to the side. Down here you've
01:56got 18-inch alloy wheels, and a fairly low profile tyre as well. I like the design of
02:01the wheel, it's just very straightforward, one colour, and I think it again works really
02:05well against the red body colour on the car. I'll be interested to see how this rides because
02:10that is a very low profile tyre. This is either going to be very plush and nice, or it's going
02:15to be firm and teeth rattling, so we'll see what it's like a little later on. So have
02:20a look down the side here, more of that chrome highlight, you've got these roof racks there
02:24as well. I think it is quite a classy design, and they've really made it look big without
02:29being too big. You've got to remember this is the same size as a T-Cross, and the T-Cross
02:33when you think about it actually looks quite small, whereas this has that sort of bigger
02:37stance out on the road. Come around to the rear. So around the rear here you have LED
02:42taillights, they look quite nice, they're reflected down the bottom. You've got a Kamek
02:45badge on the back there, and then your boot release is hidden under here. Again, looking
02:49at the rear, it doesn't look like a tiny little hatchback. They've gone SUV with this,
02:53and I think it really improves its appearance. Let me know what you think in the comments
02:57section below. Is it a good looking car? Am I right about the headlights? Or do you think
03:01it's perfect as it is? Righto, so we are inside the Kamek. Let's start off with the key. Here
03:05it is here. So you have lock, boot, unlock, you've got a flip out key for some reason,
03:11and then you have the Skoda symbol on the back. The reason I say some reason is because
03:15this is a proximity sensing key, and there's a push button start just here on the steering
03:19wheel. I can't see anywhere that you would actually use that flip out key, so interesting.
03:24Now what I want to find out today is this is almost $40,000. It is a lot of money for
03:29a small SUV, but to me it feels premium enough to justify that price tag. If you look at
03:35things like this dashboard here, nicely textured, soft to the touch, you've got these materials
03:40that break up the monotony of black, and I think that this big infotainment screen really
03:45makes this feel like it's worth the price tag. What about the materials themselves?
03:49Well, they actually all feel really nice, and like I said before, the textures really
03:53help set it apart from other parts of the cabin. In terms of the touch points, that's
03:57really nice and soft there on the centre armrest, and the door is soft as well. How soft is
04:02it? Well, we've got our durometer, we've tested the main surfaces in this car. If you want
04:06to see how this compares to other cars that we've tested before, scroll down and use the
04:10link in the description below. Now, what about build quality? That is solid, absolutely
04:16solid. I like it. Yeah, that feels great. Okay, let's talk infotainment. So this is
04:22a 9.2 inch infotainment system. If you want to get a detailed review of this, click up
04:27here to watch one that we recorded previously. Today I'll just give you a quick overview.
04:32So this is what the home screen looks like. This infotainment system is on a really high
04:37resolution screen, and you'll notice there as my finger approaches, you get extra context
04:41menus, so it's got this proximity sensor on it. You get in-built satellite navigation.
04:45It's a really good sat-nav unit. Look at that, that is nice and quick, very nice and sharp.
04:50Then in terms of smartphone connectivity, you have wireless Apple CarPlay and Android
04:55Auto. I'll show you what Apple CarPlay looks like first. There it is there, massive screen,
05:00so it means that you're getting the full screen integration, it's not some shoebox thing.
05:04And then you can see here as I flick between those menus, that is really nice and fast.
05:09Very, very impressive. And this is what Android Auto looks like. Ah, fantastic. So that's
05:17full screen integration as well, nice and quick. Very, very impressive. The only difference
05:22between Android Auto and Apple CarPlay here is that you need a cable for Android Auto.
05:28And hey, by the way, if you want to see a comparison between Apple CarPlay and Android
05:31Auto, click up here to watch a video that we recorded previously. Now in terms of radio,
05:36you have AM and FM radio only, which is really strange because DAB Plus, where is it? Like
05:43it's common in virtually all cars today and Volkswagen products just seem to miss out
05:48on it for some reason. So you only have AM, FM, and then media that you can stream and
05:53also Bluetooth audio. And then you also have an eight-speaker sound system. And in terms
05:57of other features you have on your infotainment system, we'll flick over to the menu, you
06:02can select all your driver assistance features from here, and then you also have the option
06:07to adjust some of the car's settings as well. In addition to the screen being a proximity
06:13sensor, it also has this, when it works, the ability to swipe between menus with your hand
06:22when it works. It's got selective working here. So kind of a pointless feature and you
06:27can see here when it doesn't work, it is extra pointless. Then ahead of the driver, you have
06:31a full digital cockpit, which looks fantastic. It's nice and sharp. On the sides there you
06:36have your fuel gauge and also engine temperature. You can then flick between the different views
06:41just by using this button on the steering wheel and you can see there it presents you
06:44with different views that you can pick from and then you can also change what is displayed
06:50in the centre, including a full navigation display as well. So yeah, this feels really
06:54impressive for a car with this kind of price tag. Moving on to safety technology, you have
06:59autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian detection. You have a lane departure warning
07:04and a lane keeping assistant. This has blind spot monitoring built into that wing mirror.
07:10You have radar cruise control, an auto-dimming rear vision mirror, rear cross-traffic alert.
07:15You've also got front and rear parking sensors and a reverse view camera. Let's have a look
07:19at what that looks like. There it is there. Quality isn't amazing, so you can make that
07:26appear as the entire screen or you can just have your front and rear parking sensors come
07:30up with guidelines as well. It's worth keeping in mind that in addition to the rear parking
07:35sensors, you also have a semi-autonomous parking function. So if you're not confident with
07:39parallel or perpendicular parking, one hit of that will sort that out. If you want to
07:43know how that technology works, you can click up here. We actually shot a video where we
07:46explain parking technology and that self-parking stuff, which I thought was really interesting.
07:51So check that out if you want to learn more. Let's talk practicality and we'll start with
07:55your connectivity options. So there's two USB ports up the front, but they are USB-C,
08:01which is pretty cool. So they've gone away from that USB-A setup. You've also got a 12
08:06volt outlet as well if you have some of those old school appliances. But where are you going
08:10to put your phone when it comes to storage? So the phone easily fits in the cup holds
08:14down the front there, but there's also wireless phone charging. So you can slot it down onto
08:17the pad here and that will kick off charging, which is a handy feature. Now in terms of
08:23storage, let's have a look at our coffee cup. Let's see how it goes. That fits beautifully
08:28in there. No risk of the lid coming off and spilling your coffee all over the place. And
08:32then in terms of your water bottle, that easily slots into there. It has a rubber base on
08:36it, which means it's going to hold that into place and it won't move around too much. Then
08:40inside your doors, you also have storage for the water bottle. Now the center console,
08:44it is deep, but it is tiny. And I'll show you what I mean. Put that in there, it can
08:49barely move around. So there's not a huge amount of space in there. But the good news
08:52is that this slides backwards and forwards if you need a little bit more space. And then
08:57you have that there, the glove box that is pretty decent sized, a sunglasses holder up
09:02the top here. And then just next to the driver's foot, you have another little storage spot.
09:07Now, what about comfort? You have automatic dual zone climate control. You've got heated
09:12seats for the front and second row. Then you have electric seat adjustment for the driver,
09:18manual seat adjustment for the passenger. But in terms of the seats themselves, I reckon
09:22they're pretty cool. So you've got this leather material, got that white stitching, but then
09:26you have this suede alcantara in the center, really brings about a premium feel to the
09:31cabin. Seats themselves are pretty comfortable as well. I like the shape of the steering
09:35wheel. You've got that flat bottom on it, feels nice and sporty. It's got these perforations
09:39on it as well. And then all of these controls are very easy to reach while you're driving.
09:43Now, before we hop into the back seat, I wanted to show you this, the umbrella inside the
09:49door. It is trademark Skoda and Rolls-Royce, and I think it's a pretty cool idea. Right
09:55out back seat of the Kamiq. What's it like here? Surprisingly pretty good. This seat
10:00is quite far back and I still have a fair bit of room here. So knee room's great. Toe
10:04room is pretty good. Headroom is excellent as well. So it's fairly spacious. There is
10:10no center armrest, but your bottle can go in the door and make that disappear pretty
10:15easily. Then in terms of creature comforts, you have matte pockets in the back of the
10:19seats. You get air vents plus heated seats for the two outboard seats, USB-C ports for
10:24charging, ISOFIX points on the two outboard seats. And what I like about the seats back
10:28here is that they mimic the front seats. You've got this leather-esque material plus the alcantara
10:34slash suede, but it is a little bit disappointing that they didn't continue the trend with those
10:38nice materials at the front. Back here, there's a lot of plastic, which I think just brings
10:43it down a notch and doesn't make it feel as premium as it does in the front of the cabin.
10:48Okay, let's talk cargo space. I will crack this up and it has a power tailgate. Now in
10:53this configuration here, you have 400 litres of cargo space, but it's not so much the cargo
10:58space that's good about this. It's all of the netting. So Skoda's thing is simply clever
11:03and you can kind of tell because you've got nets absolutely everywhere. You've even got
11:07a removable light over here as well. So you can switch that on and off if you're camping
11:14or something like that. And then that charges when it's plugged back in. And then if we
11:17remove this net, I'll show you what it looks like under the cargo floor. Pop that off in
11:24the side, get that out of the way. So under there you have a space saver spare tyre, but
11:28it's much bigger than a regular space saver. So it's not going to be one of these ones
11:33that looks kind of weird on the car. It is a steel wheel, but it's a slightly different
11:36space saver spare tyre. You've got hooks all over the side, plus hooks that you can lock
11:41in if you're not using the top tether point. So it gives you an additional spot to hook
11:46things onto if you need to. I'll show you what it looks like here with the bags inside.
11:51You can see there it easily fits the big suitcase and the laptop bag. And finally what I'll
11:57do, I will show you what it looks like with those second row seats folded. And then with
12:05that second row folded, you have a little under 1400 litres of cargo space, but keep
12:09in mind it's not a flat floor. You're going to have to step up here.
12:15We are on the road in the Kamiq 110 TSI. Now powering this is an interesting engine. It's
12:20a one and a half litre turbocharged four cylinder petrol engine, makes 110 kilowatts of power,
12:26which is the 110 TSI, and then 250 newton metres of torque. Now that's all mated to
12:31a six speed dual clutch transmission. Unfortunately though, it is not a very good transmission.
12:37I'll come to a stop here and I'll show you what I mean. So it's got its stop start feature,
12:42but then if you try and take off, it kind of just does the standard dual clutch thing
12:47and it is super surgy as you roll onto the throttle. I don't know. I just think that
12:54dual clutches have their place, but it's not in small SUVs like this and certainly
12:58not when they feel like this one does. It is just super jerky and it doesn't really
13:02feel all that smooth. Perhaps it's the way I drive. I don't know, but I just never really
13:06have much luck with these. So let me know in the comments section below, am I overreacting
13:11with these dual clutch gearboxes or are they all really as bad as I make them out to be?
13:16Now if you put the quality of the takeoff to one side, what does it feel like when you're
13:22actually driving? Well, you've got paddle shifters here on the steering wheel if you
13:25do want to manually select gears, but if you're just driving along normally and you give it
13:29a squeeze, it actually gets up and moves really nicely. So 250 Newton metres of torque is
13:34fairly hefty for a car this size. So when you do get stuck into it, it really does give
13:40you that push in the back that you need. And given it's a front wheel drive, it actually
13:44just gets the torque down really nicely to the ground, which means you're never really
13:47wanting for any more. Skoda claims a combined fuel economy of 5.6 litres per 100km. Let's
13:53have a quick look at what we're achieving here. Okay, so we're at 6.7 litres per 100km.
13:59It's actually not too bad. We've been doing a fair bit of low speed driving, so that figure
14:03is pretty impressive when you consider that it is a turbocharged four-cylinder petrol
14:08engine. Now in terms of drive modes, you don't really have any drive modes in the limited
14:11edition. You don't have adaptive damping or anything like that, but you can pull down
14:15on the gear lever once to put it into sport mode. That simply sharpens up that throttle
14:19response and makes it just a little bit more eager to get up and move.
14:23Let's talk handling and see what it's like if we punt it through a couple of corners.
14:28It's actually pretty impressive. It sits nice and flat through the corners and even without
14:33adaptive damping or that lowered suspension that you can get on the Monte Carlo, it actually
14:38just feels nice behind the wheel. You get plenty of communication through the steering
14:41wheel and it just has that sporty edge to it. I know that this isn't a sports car, but
14:46when you buy the 110 TSI, you kind of want just a little bit of punch behind the wheel.
14:50If you compare this to something like the Toyota Yaris Cross at the same price bracket,
14:54this feels far sportier than a Yaris Cross does, so I think it ticks those boxes of sportiness.
15:00I think that's what people want when they're spending this kind of money.
15:03Skoda claims a 0-100 time of 8.4 seconds, so we've put it up against our stopwatch to
15:09see how it goes.
15:23Now what about ride? So I mentioned earlier that it is on fairly low profile tyres. The
15:27ride is good, but it's not amazing and again I think this comes down to there not being
15:33that adaptive suspension, so it's a fixed rate damper. It means that you are just getting
15:37one suspension tune. It's on the sportier side of comfortable. It does keep the body
15:41nice and flat when you are going for a bit of a punt, but it is just going to feel a
15:45little bit firm in and around the city if you catch cobblestones, potholes and that
15:49kind of thing, but it's not too bad. It's not going to break your back or anything like
15:52that.
15:53Now visibility, yes it is a small car, but can you see out of it properly? I can see
15:57clearly down the front there. The wing mirrors are a reasonable size and then we have the
16:01blind spot monitors as well. Looking out the back window, it is a super narrow envelope,
16:06so it is a little bit hard to see out the back of the car.
16:12So Skoda Kamiq, I think it shows you that you can still have a small SUV with plenty
16:16of room inside and they've also loaded it with clever features like all those nets,
16:20the umbrella and the door. I think they really think about the driver. On the tech front,
16:24the infotainment system is really good, easy to use and comes with all the latest tech
16:28and gadgets, but look I just think it's a little bit too expensive at around that $37,000
16:34mark. I think the step down, which is the smaller 85 TSI engine, is probably better
16:38value for money and I think offers the same package, but just with a few less of these
16:43frills. This engine is a cracker, but yeah, look I just think it's a little bit too expensive.
16:47Now let me know in the comments section below, do you agree? Do you reckon these things have
16:50crept up in price to the level where they're asking too much money? Or do you think this
16:54is about right and where it needs to be? I'm really keen to get your feedback. Let me know
16:58in the comments section below. Now if you did enjoy this video, make sure you hit the
17:02like button and share it with your mates, and if you haven't done so already, subscribe
17:06to our channel and press the bell icon. But until next time, take it easy.