Kia Sportage Vs Skoda Karoq (and others)

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Sat 5 Nov 2022 23:08
Kia Sportage Vs Skoda Karoq (and others) - Adampr

For those following my car buying quest with interest (nobody..), I test drove a further two cars last weekend - a Sportage and a Karoq.

The Sportage was first. It was a GT Line S with every toy imaginable (ventilated seats??). It was a 1.6 turbo petrol with the 7 speed DCT box. It took about ten feet for me to decide I didn't like it; the DCT box was incredibly slow to engage. The steering was very light around the straight ahead and fairly vague. The ride was very harsh indeed (it was on enormous wheels) and it never felt settled. Any hard acceleration was met with multiple gear changes and noises whilst it worked out what to do.

I drove the Karoq shortly afterwards, a 1.5tsi with the DSG box. It was in SEL trim so fairly light in the toys. It had the optional leather interior and powered boot. I have had a DSG Golf in the past, and this felt pretty much the same. It shifts very smoothly and is hard to fluster (a good stamp on the pedal generates a bit of noise, but it shifts back up when it ought to). The engine is a strange one - it pulls perfectly well but changes tone and sounds quite gruff sometimes. I know the early cars had issues with uneven power delivery and the software needed to be updated, so perhaps this is the cause. Equally, it deactivates two cylinders at a cruise, so maybe that. The ride is very comfortable and really stable. Handling is what you would expect for a car on stilts, but no worse than any other (and better than the Sportage).

At the start of this, I was looking for a spacious, comfortable saloon with something a bit special about it. Not German, not from VAG and not with a DCT transmission. I have considered every car in existence and test driven the following:

Kia Proceed - Drives beautifully, looks great, interior OK, very low to the ground and probably a bit bumpy on country lanes.

Seat Leon PHEV - Very grey inside and a bit characterless to drive. Awkward transitions between engines and too happy to kickdown. Ride was a bit bumpy.

Renault Captur PHEV - Good looks and a refreshing interior. Surprisingly good to drive and the gearbox worked much better than the Leon. Very small boot.

Jeep Renegade PHEV - Had a lot more grunt than the Leon or Captur. Kicked down too much. Tiny boot. Ride made me feel sick.

Kia Sportage and Skoda Karoq - as above.

So, remembering my initial requirements, I bought......the Karoq. Amazing what you find you actually want. Note the complete absence of big saloons even to test - I don't fancy trying to get one on my drive. I have to thank someone here who suggested my hatred of DSG might come from having the auto hold on. You were correct. It's still not perfect, but it's not as awful as I thought. The car only has 12,000 miles to date and will be used for motorway work and family trips, so here's hoping the clutches behave...

Edited by Adampr on 05/11/2022 at 23:15

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Sun 6 Nov 2022 10:51
Kia Sportage Vs Skoda Karoq (and others) - badbusdriver

The Sportage was first. It was a GT Line S with every toy imaginable (ventilated seats??). It was a 1.6 turbo petrol with the 7 speed DCT box. It took about ten feet for me to decide I didn't like it; the DCT box was incredibly slow to engage.

Not sure about the specific box in the Sportage, but I believe a lot of modern auto transmissions will 'learn' how the driver drives and adapt accordingly. So not only might it have improved in time, the reason it felt so sluggish might have been down to how the previous owner drove. Of course I can well understand a reluctance to take a chance on the DCT getting better.

The ride was very harsh indeed (it was on enormous wheels) and it never felt settled.

Unless the car in question had some modern fancy pants adaptive suspension, I'd always expect any car to ride poorly on huge wheels with ultra low profile tyres.

The engine is a strange one - it pulls perfectly well but changes tone and sounds quite gruff sometimes. I know the early cars had issues with uneven power delivery and the software needed to be updated, so perhaps this is the cause. Equally, it deactivates two cylinders at a cruise, so maybe that.

Surely the cylinder deactivation is the most likely cause of the change in note?. A 2 cyl engine is going to sound gruff, just listen to a Fiat Twinair!. If it is a mild hybrid, that may also result in apparently random changes in tone?

Handling is what you would expect for a car on stilts, but no worse than any other (and better than the Sportage).

It isn't actually that tall really, the Renegade is nearly 10cm taller and the Sportage is also a little taller. It is also quite light for a car of that size and type tipping the scales at1318kg (according to the source I use). That is not far off half a tonne(!) lighter than the Renegade PHEV and not far off a quarter of a tonne lighter than the Sportage 1.6T DCT.

The car only has 12,000 miles to date and will be used for motorway work and family trips, so here's hoping the clutches behave...

Fingers crossed!

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Sun 6 Nov 2022 14:42
Kia Sportage Vs Skoda Karoq (and others) - skidpan

It took about ten feet for me to decide I didn't like it; the DCT box was incredibly slow to engage.

Read about that issue on the Kia forum when we were buying a couple of years ago. We actually liked the Proceed (the GT which had standard Auto) but were unable to get a test drive anywhere.

Over the years I have driven (from memory) 8 VAG DSG's (2 wet clutch 6 speed diesels, 1 early 7 speed dry clutch 1.4 TSi, 2 recent 1.5 TSi 7 speed dry clutch plus the demo PHEV and our Superb PHEV) and 6 have been slow away from the line. Using "sport" mode on the 1.5 TSi petrols did help but they were then incredibly slow to change up the gears, you needed to change out of sport and into normal once you were moving otherwise they hung onto the lower gears for ages.

I believe a lot of modern auto transmissions will 'learn' how the driver drives and adapt accordingly

One of the 1.5 TSi's was a Passat demo with about 4,000 miles on it, the other was a brand new Superb with 10 miles on the clock. The Superb was a real slug compared to the manual one I had at the time, the Passat was better slightly but still not great, suggests your learning comment is correct.

The DSG on our PHEV Superb is brilliant (as was the demo). No doubt the electric motor assist is the single factor that makes it what it is, in reality its the only DSG I have wanted to own.

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