Skoda Karoq-Ok

From the ashes of the Yeti comes the Skoda Karoq, an accomplished allrounder that doesn’t put a foot wrong.

HAVE you ever taken a car for a drive, poked around its cabin and thought to yourself: dang, this car’s pretty good?

Those were my exact thoughts after driving the rather accomplished Skoda Karoq around for a week.

The smaller of the two Ks in Skoda’s lineup of SUVs, the Karoq shares its handsome, chiselled features with the larger Kodiaq, but is a characterful car to drive in its own right.

Like most of today’s Volkswagen Group small SUVs, the Karoq is built on the group’s MQB platform, shared with several other VW group cars including the new Audi Q3.

On design, the Karoq’s rulerstraight lines and near-total lack of curves look almost Germanic.

The sum of all that is hardly boring. It’s a smart-looking, well proportioned and handsome car.

You get the same powertrain across two trim levels, separated by about $14,000 at the time of print.

The Ambition model has an 8-inch infotainment screen, 16-inch alloys and halogen headlights.

But it’s the upgraded Style variant you want. It comes with a 9.2-inch display, 18-inch wheels and LED headlights.

The single engine choice is parent company VW’s 1.5-litre 4-cylinder TSI unit, pumping out 147hp and 250Nm of torque.

The torquey engine is strong enough at the low end that the car never feels breathless even when fully loaded.