There’s a new vehicle joining the Skoda vRS range. Getting its first public showing at the 2018 Paris Motor Show, the Kodiaq will now find a place in the company’s performance line. It also signals a few firsts for the brand as well.
As with any performance oriented vehicle, the party piece is its engine. Under the hood sits a bi-turbo 2.0-liter four-cylinder diesel engine. This is good for 237hp and a mountain-like 369lbft of torque. These figures make the engine the most powerful diesel unit ever fitted to something with a Skoda badge.
Punching it from a standstill will take you to 60mph in around seven seconds. Keep your foot in it and you’ll hit the Kodiaq’s top speed of 137mph.
It’s not a rocket ship by any means. But, as far as Skoda’s first attempt at a performance SUV goes, it’s not bad.
It’s more than just an engine too. To help the Kodiaq out in the performance category, Skoda’s fit it with a wide array of other goodies.
The dampers are six-way adjustable to give the driver customization depending on what they’re doing. Couple that with the smart traction control that shifts power around to all four wheels and the handling is pretty good too.
To match the performance, the Kodiaq vRS gets a plethora of styling enhancements as well. The front and rear bumpers are model specific and it also gets a set of 20-inch wheels. There’s even gloss black trim on the exterior along with visible exhaust tips.
The styling cues carry over to the interior too. The seats are a sportier design than the usual items and make use of ample Alcantara with red stitching. The Kodiaq vRS also get a sea of faux carbon fiber and other sporty details as well.
To further enhance the interior, the Kodiaq vRS makes use of Skoda’s Virtual Cockpit. This allows the gauge cluster to show various displays, including a large rev counter while in sport mode.
One thing that is a bit strange is the Dynamic Sound Boost. When active it provides a more intense sound both inside and outside the vehicle. Of course, inside it utilizes a speaker to enhance the noise instead of an outright exhaust note.
To top off its list of achievements, the Kodiaq also bagged a new Nürburgring record thanks to none other than Sabine Schmitz. Laying down a time of 9:29.84, Schmitz helped the vRS secure the title of fastest seven-seat SUV.
If you want to get your hands on a Kodiaq vRS, it should be available around the end of the year. Once released, it will join the Octavia vRS 245. No word on if it’ll be able to catch arrows or not though.
There’s also no firm pricing for the Kodiaq RS yet either, but we suspect it’s somewhere around the price of the VW Tiguan R-Line. This puts it at a starting price of roughly £33,000 ($43,000).
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