Skoda Kodiaq review - Reliability & safety

As Volkswagen Group brands go, Skoda performs the best for customer satisfaction, coming 20th, just ahead of SEAT (23rd), Volkswagen (27th) and Audi (30th) out of 32 brands in the 2023 Driver Power owner’s satisfaction survey. It’s behind rivals Hyundai (17th), Peugeot (ninth) and Kia (sixth), however, so its placing isn’t anything to write home about.

Reliability gets a fairly unremarkable figure, with a slightly worse-than-average 26% of Skoda owners reporting an issue with their car in the first year of ownership.

How safe is the Skoda Kodiaq?

The Skoda Kodiaq is yet to be crash tested by Euro NCAP, but the previous-generation car received the full five stars in 2017. We’d expect the new car to perform well and build on this score though, with a comprehensive suite of safety features such as collision avoidance assist, cross-traffic alert and exit warning that warns if you’re about to open your door into the path of another road user. 

While yet to come into effect, Euro NCAP is set to revise its testing to take into account how distracting the infotainment system is to use. If it’s assessed under these conditions, it will be interesting to see whether the ‘Smart Dials’ – which make adjusting certain settings easier on the move with physical configurable knobs – improve the Kodiaq in this area.

What are the Skoda Kodiaq service intervals?

Skoda recommends getting an oil change and general inspection every year or 10,000 miles. Other jobs are recommended later down the line, such as an air filter change every four years or 40,000 miles, and a pollen filter every other year. Skoda offers 0% interest payment plans to spread the cost of servicing and maintenance to make it more affordable.

What is the warranty on the Skoda Kodiaq?

Skoda offers a warranty that lasts three years or up to 60,000 miles. That’s a pretty unremarkable warranty, and is the industry standard in terms of time period, though many other companies offer much more generous unlimited mileage limits. It’s way behind the competitive seven-year/100,000-mile warranty offered by Kia, and even Hyundai’s five-year/unlimited-mileage warranty. Toyota’s warranty can last up to 10 years or 100,000 miles so long as it’s serviced by an official dealership annually or every 10,000 miles. It’s disappointing that Skoda’s great-value-focused approach isn’t reflected with a more enticing warranty with rivals offering more.