Skoda Kodiaq SUV - Practicality & boot space

Some of the trims available with Skoda Kodiaq are expensive, but there’s one thing all cars come with as standard: space, and lots of it. Front and rear-seat passengers get masses of room, while the Kodiaq has a boot that’s so large it could almost be measured in hectares.

Skoda Kodiaq interior space & storage

Five adults will be more than comfortable on a long journey with a boot packed full of luggage and there’s a roomy feel upfront. The driver will find a comfortable position easy to find, while both front-seat occupants have loads of shoulder room.

Skoda tends to justify its ‘simply clever’ tagline when it comes to its cars’ interiors and the Kodiaq is no exception. Plastic flaps automatically deploy along the edges of the doors when opening them to help you avoid car-park and garage-wall dings, while the cup-holders have been designed to grip bottles enough to allow for one-handed cap removal.

SE cars and above have handy luggage nets on the side of the transmission tunnel next to front-seat occupants’ legs and the Kodiaq has not one, but two decently sized gloveboxes. Small details, maybe but thoughtful ones nonetheless.

The Kodiaq is available with five or seven seats, and on longer journeys, adults will find the third row of seats tight, as headroom back there is limited, but legroom is good, particularly if middle-seat occupants slide their seats forward. It's also fairly easy to get in and out of the third row, thanks to large rear doors and a simple mechanism to slide and fold the middle row out of the way.

Boot space

Unless you’re in the piano-removal business, the Kodiaq’s boot should suffice. Total storage is 835 litres in the five-seater model, rising to 2,065 litres if you fold the rear seats. Compare those numbers to the X-Trail (565/1,996 litres) the Kia Sorento (660/1,732 litres) and the substantially bigger BMW X5 (650/1,870 litres) and the Kodiaq is a clear winner in terms of luggage space and easy to load thanks to an absence of any lip to lift bulky items over.

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The seven-seater Kodiaq has a slightly smaller boot (735 litres with five seats in place, up to 2,005 litres with them folded), but it’s still huge. It remains a usable 270 litres when all seven seats are up, which is just a bit less than the boot space you'll find in most superminis. But be aware that in a small hatchback those litres lie horizontally; in the Kodiaq they’re balanced vertically, as your luggage will be.

Towing

A real Kodiaq strength: choose a diesel engine and four-wheel drive together with the DSG gearbox and the Kodiaq has a towing capacity of up to 2,000kg (2,300kg for the five-seat version). This decreases by around 200kg for the 1.5-litre TSI engine. The Kodiaq’s Trailer Assist feature can even steer the car for you when reversing slowly.