1st question this week's HJ agony column - Avant?

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Sat 24 Feb 2018 00:06
1st question this week's HJ agony column - Avant? - KJP 123

Noticed HJ links often don’t work – even between part 1 and part 2

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Sat 24 Feb 2018 09:12
1st question this week's HJ agony column - Avant? - Avant

The link worked for me, fortunately.

Yes, that was my query, which I asked HJ directly a few weeks ago, but I'm very happy that he's published it if it can be helpful to others.

I had thought of the T-Roc and had a test-drive in one: all fine except for one deal-breaker. The seat needs more lumbar support, and you can only have it on the T-Roc if you pay an eye-watering £1,380 for leather upholstery. A stupid mistake by VW: it's available on the Q2 for about £250. I told HJ that and he's noted it in the T-Roc review.

In the light of this he thought my eventual choice of the Q2 2.0 TFSI was a good one. It was between that and the BMW 220i Active Tourer.

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Sat 24 Feb 2018 09:40
1st question this week's HJ agony column - Avant? - skidpan

Not looked at the T-Roc but whilst in the Skoda dealer the other day looked at the Karoq which is of course the same car under the skin (as is the Q2 and Arona?).

Nice looking motor, plenty of room in the front and a nice finish. In the rear it lacks legroom compared to many mid sized hatches even with the rear seat all the way back. The plastics in the rear are below the quality of those in the front as well, not what I expected in a cat this price.

But the real issue is the boot. It looks a decent size but lift the carpet and the spare wheel well is 1" deep and that is not a mis-type. Put even a space saver in and the raised boot floor is needed which reduces space to that of the Fabia which manages to have a wheel well deep enough for a full size spare.

Its another case of style over substance. Buyers have been convinced they need an SUV and simply don't realise there are many compromises in the packages they are buying. For us its a non starter simply because of the spare wehhl situation.

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Sat 24 Feb 2018 15:10
1st question this week's HJ agony column - Avant? - KB.

Not looked at the T-Roc but whilst in the Skoda dealer the other day looked at the Karoq which is of course the same car under the skin (as is the Q2 and Arona?).

Surely they're "not the same car under the skin" The Arona is 4138mm, the T Roc is 4234mm and the Karoq is 4382mm. There's 244mm difference between the Arona and the Karoq - that's nine and a half inches in old money. I thought the Karoq was in a different category from the others .


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Sat 24 Feb 2018 15:55
1st question this week's HJ agony column - Avant? - skidpan

Not looked at the T-Roc but whilst in the Skoda dealer the other day looked at the Karoq which is of course the same car under the skin (as is the Q2 and Arona?).

Surely they're "not the same car under the skin" The Arona is 4138mm, the T Roc is 4234mm and the Karoq is 4382mm. There's 244mm difference between the Arona and the Karoq - that's nine and a half inches in old money. I thought the Karoq was in a different category from the others .

Most medium VAG cars are made on the same platform, its called the MQB. The various brands are able to modify it to fit their needs and its also FWD or 4WD. Its also available to use as a beam rear axle or fully independent.

Examples are the A3, Leon, Golf Octavia and Superb are all on this platform and just consider how much bigger the Superb is than the others. the lower powered versions get a beam axle the higher powered and posher ones independent.

There is approx 500mm difference between a Golf and a Superb, thats 20" in oldd money.

The next class up from the T-Roc etc is occupied by the Ateca, Q3, Touran and Kodiac but as with the previously mentioned ones the Skoda is the biggest for similar money.

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Sat 24 Feb 2018 16:17
1st question this week's HJ agony column - Avant? - KB.

Not looked at the T-Roc but whilst in the Skoda dealer the other day looked at the Karoq which is of course the same car under the skin (as is the Q2 and Arona?).

Surely they're "not the same car under the skin" The Arona is 4138mm, the T Roc is 4234mm and the Karoq is 4382mm. There's 244mm difference between the Arona and the Karoq - that's nine and a half inches in old money. I thought the Karoq was in a different category from the others .

"Most medium VAG cars are made on the same platform, its called the MQB. .........."

Then I stand corrected. From a cursory point of view it was my understanding that, say, the Ateca and Karoq were closely related and were, indeed, much the same but re-badged (that's very simplistic, I admit) - whereas The Arona was from a smaller category.

But I was was wrong....

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Sat 24 Feb 2018 15:59
1st question this week's HJ agony column - Avant? - Metropolis.
How about a petrol Evoque?
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Sat 24 Feb 2018 16:18
1st question this week's HJ agony column - Avant? - Richard M

I looked at the Karog as a possible replacement, but found a different set up in the boot. Without the spare wheel there is a drop of about 2.5 inches below the tailgate aperture but with one in it is still about an 1inch below the level. As I needed a flat floor with no lip this ruled it out for my purposes. Not sure what combination you were looking at.

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Sat 24 Feb 2018 16:33
1st question this week's HJ agony column - Avant? - skidpan

I looked at the Karog as a possible replacement, but found a different set up in the boot. Without the spare wheel there is a drop of about 2.5 inches below the tailgate aperture but with one in it is still about an 1inch below the level. As I needed a flat floor with no lip this ruled it out for my purposes. Not sure what combination you were looking at.

It sounds exactly like the one I looked at to be honest. With the standard floor and no wheel there is probably a 4" drop, and a 1" well for the wheel. Put in the space saver and raised floor there would be a probably a 1" drop. That is probably a 100 litre loss of space reducing it to about 400 litres. Our Superb has a capacity of over 600 litres with a full size spare hidden under the floor

It was a posh 4 x 4 model, about £30 K on the sticker.

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Sat 24 Feb 2018 17:24
1st question this week's HJ agony column - Avant? - Avant

Yes, exactly. For me the Karoq failed the 'keyboard test'. I have to take a heavy, full-size music keyboard in the car regularly, which means lifting it in and pushing it along what needs to be a flat or nearly-flat floor, with no step up to the folded rear seats.

Skoda make much of the adjustable rear seats in the Karoq, but that's not what I need.

Amazingly SWMBO's little A1 passes the test, although I normally use the Volvo to carry the keyboard. Diagonally, and with the front passenger seat well forward, but it goes in with the boot floor raised.

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Sat 24 Feb 2018 17:31
1st question this week's HJ agony column - Avant? - Avant

How about a petrol Evoque?"

Fair question - but what is it with JLR? The cheapest petrol Evoque is about £45,000, some £12,000 more than the entry-level diesel. Now they've done something similar wih the new E-Pace.

The Evoque is popular at the moment - I must be the only person who thinks it's plug-ugly - but that's because people have been happy to buy diesels. If that stops, JLR are going to have an unpleasant surprise. Surely it can't be that difficult to produce 2wd petrol models with similar trim levels to the diesels?

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Sat 24 Feb 2018 19:36
1st question this week's HJ agony column - Avant? - bazza

Our Superb has a capacity of over 600 litres with a full size spare hidden under the floor.....

Yes, there is still nothing to beat a traditional estate layout for overall space utilisation. It has been thus ever since crossovers were dreamed up. The single advantage is that the raised ride height offers easier entry/exit, which is important for some. All other aspects, fuel economy, driving dynamics, price, are adversely affected.

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Sat 24 Feb 2018 22:42
1st question this week's HJ agony column - Avant? - Metropolis.

I hadn't realised they were priced that highly for a petrol model. It used to be that Evoques (and other smaller JLR products) were more expensive in petrol form because they were still having to buy in the turbo petrol Ford engines. The diesel ingenium came to market first. Why they are still more expensive when they now have their own petrol ingenium unit in use is beyond me! Hopefully some rebalancing of prices is on the horizon as the appetite for diesel wanes.

I'm also not a fan of the Evoque's looks but crossovers are not my thing.

A wildcard option, Infiniti QX30? www.infiniti.co.uk/cars/new-cars/qx30.html

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Sun 25 Feb 2018 10:06
1st question this week's HJ agony column - Avant? - skidpan

Our Superb has a capacity of over 600 litres with a full size spare hidden under the floor.....

Yes, there is still nothing to beat a traditional estate layout for overall space utilisation

Ours is a hatch, the estate has even more space.

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Mon 26 Feb 2018 10:28
1st question this week's HJ agony column - Avant? - Paul Robinson

Isn't it that they have to sell far more diesels than petrols to meet CO2 targets?

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