Thanks Matt, a thorough and valuable review. I have a friend that purchased a Kamiq Monte Carlo a few months back and to be honest I drove it soon after and was amazed at just how comfortable and enjoyable it was to punt around. The 1.5 VW based engine is a gem, always on call, quiet but efficient. Skoda impress with the day-to-day use, everyone should put one on their test and use it as a benchmark to compare their other list, my bet would be more will buy the Kamiq. No I don't work for Skoda, but would be proud to say if I did.
Skodas are great cars. I got myself a Fabia back in April, absolutely love it and for under $40K drive away, the kit you get (you can only get the Monte Carlo variant in Aus) is an extremely good value proposition.
Bought 3 cyclinder in May 24, great package all round, very good handling and stearing, quick in every day city driving, good on trips. Great for my tall 193cm's and wife 155cm. Main hint; there is D1,2,3... for economy and S1,2,3... for better performance, shown on drivers screen. To switch in base level, just pull back selector when in drive and let it return to normal position for D to S and S to D. ( every time you start the car its in D1, easy). Loads of un-intrusive safety.
@@watchout4717with stop/start off its better and combined with sport rarely noticeable. Where I see it mostly is going up a medium hill to a T intersection/giveway sign. Its possibly a coasting economy software, so coast past the giveway sign (as its clear) and start accelerating, it hesitates 1 sec. Its only 1200kms so engine will free up and possible software update will improve it. Still really enjoying the car.
Great little car , only thing missing in these reviews is the ongoing experience with the dealer networks of each brand … The Skoda dealer experience is among the worst , if any problems you are on your own and welcome to a painful journey getting satisfaction with warranty or known issues conceded.
My 2020 base model Kamiq has Adaptive cruise, wireless charging, ambient lighting and electric tailgate as standard. I like the 85 tsi engine especially in sports mode. Edit: also 18 inch alloys
great review of this car ,the only Skoda thing this car is missing is the umbrella in the door. That aside I would recommend another car instead of this,the recently released Suzuki Vitara Beat(hope a review of that comes soon). It starts at 30k,has a 4 cylinder engine that isnt a slouch,excellent fuel economy,more usuable boot(the boot in the Kamiq has that figure because it has a deep lip which sucks if you have something heavy to carry),has 7 airbags as standard and it has a torque converter transmission (a manual is available) that will last a lot longer than that DSG. The interior is not as plush looking or feeling as the Skoda but it will last longer than the Skodas.
Rubbish, I know many many cab drivers who own Skodas with the dsg gearbox and most of them have passed 100k miles with the dsg performing flawlessly. One guy I know is near 200k with the original dsg box. They are bulletproof.
@@NH-bz9jv well thats good for them but thats a drop of purity in a cesspool. There is a reason mechanics love those gearboxes,they put their kids through private schools.
@@mindfreeze0838 hahaha if you say so. Like I said, I know multiple people who have driven these cars for years and 100k miles with the dsg dry clutch and none of them have failed. Clearly they are very reliable then 👍
An acquaintance of mine who was a mechanic at VW and who recommended my current DSG car to me, had a very high opinion of them. Also believed it protected the engine compared to manual cars driven badly.
That is 2024, not 2025. And there are 3 versions. Essence, Selection and Monte Carlo. Essence is maybe not available in all the markets, but it exists. My father bought Essence this year, I bought Selection.
Hi Matt, I own a Skoda Kamiq Signature, and it has been a great little car - except for one annoying feature- excessive road noise at highway speeds on course chipped bitumen surfaces. Do you know of any other small suv’s that are quieter in the cabin over these types of roads? I will be purchasing a new car soon, and would appreciate your advice.
I recently started to understand why people are buying Chinese cars. I've driven many VW products in recent years but decided to try a Skoda after experiencing very poor after sales service with VW. What a huge mistake. Took delivery with 3 faults and it took about 3 months and 5 visits to resolve. The car is a 2023 model and I've already had another 2 faults needing attention. To say that Skoda's after sales service is shocking is an understatement. I now understand why Skoda's market share is so low. Purchase a Skoda at your own peril.
hace ya más de un año te pregunté como hiba el coche y tu respuesta terminó de convencerme y desde hace once meses disfrutamos en casa del 1.5 tsi 150cv dsg7 style y estamos encantados
Not a bad vehicle, base would be the way to go. I'm not a fan of Monte Carlo gigantic sun roof, i.e., sauna in summer, wheels not much rubber between the rim and road.
I agree with you on this one, I'd rather a cheap Euro any day over any Chinese car. Sadly though, the way things are going with their auto industry it's likely to struggle continuing to make cars in Europe. The Chinese will dominate the auto industry and we may not have too much choice in 10 or so years anyway.
Never I will buy a Chinese car again, parts are very hard to get (GREATWALL) caused my greatwall to be written off because of 2yr wait on parts that they can't guarantee it.
this is what people don't understand...and they go only by the cheap initial price..and argue why pay extra for the more reliable japanese brands, with lower features.
Nice little car. Shame it’s ruined by beam rear suspension. And why put cruise controls on a fiddly hard to see stalk when VW cars have it properly sorted on the steering wheel
This is a compelling vehicle. I'm not a fan of DSGs and in particular the dry clutch DQ200 gearbox that is in thus car. Yes, it's the DQ200 that had all the issues some years back. The good news is that it has been well and truly sorted now as long as you don't crawl in traffic you should be fine. Agreed, this makes a great case not to buy a Chinese vehicle.
there are two cars I would choose over this or any VAG car for that matter(not in the habit of funding private school for a mechanic's child im sorry). The first is the Suzuki Vitara Beat,its not at plush as this but will will last longer and starts at 30k. The second is the Haval Jolion,its larger than this and has a hybrid option in the same price range as this.
@@mindfreeze0838 if you want reliable go pay and wait and by a Toyota SUV. I’d only buy a VAG product if the cost difference is so vast as to give you a buffer in the event of issues. The Suzuki is very decent but I find it ugly, the Jolion is ok and had a big cabin but suffers from a jerky DCT, 2 way adjustable steering and a tiny boot. In the hybrid the boot is only 288 litres. It may be worth getting a 2 year old Jolion cheap and keep it for the warranty.
Why buy chinese anyway? Apart from pricing. Too much of an unknown, especially considering the questionable QC practices (not just cars but mostly anything that is actually Chinese made). Don't mistake European/American goods made there with products designed and made from scratch in the PRC.
It’s basically a VW so after the warranty runs out get rid of it, dsg gearbox are crap the car looks old not much different to the old one 0 to 100 to slow compared to the oppositions by the time you add the bigger engine and packs it’s overpriced no longer cheap so your better going for the Kona.
I'd buy a Skoda but not a VW, know why? Because Skoda take VW parts and build their cars better, that's why they have no issues offering a 7yr warrant to VW's 5 yrs... Skoda is a better VW and that's a fact.
Lol another aging product from Mazda I'd take a Kamiq any and every day over a CX-3, and my wife has a Mazda3 which is fine but it's a pure appliance with no driving joy whatsoever.
@therightcar It's a fact .It took me 9 months to get Skoda to recognise the design fault and finally the tech team have created a method to reset the computer. Skoda removed the override which was on previous models .So if you are buying get the override applied so the driver can decide if he is locked in ,its definitely not a Safety Feature as they would want you to believe.Check it out you should know and be advising people.
Why choose European when you can have a Chinese one that looks better, has more tech, a more polarising design inside and out, is a lot more reliable then anything in the VW group, and just flat out cost so much less.
@@therightcar A slightly less amount of body roll and maybe some better handling is not enough to justify buying anything European since it'll be in the workshop every 3rd week. If you're buying European, you should be going for the more expensive ones that get you so much more power and a luxury feel. But a Kamiq just cannot justify itself when the Chery Omoda 5 GT exists
Skoda might be part of the VW group, but ive never found an issue with them and most of the owners i know love them. They are also not as expensive to maintain as the VW's.
@@zzz-pe3mphello let me fill you in my friend...I own a 2010 Skoda Octavia RS wagon. It has a 6spd DSG transmission. It now has over 137,000kms on it, and is 14.5 years old. Guess what? It's been faultess. Not a single fault in over 14 years. In and out of the workshop huh? LOL you sound like someone who believes everything they read on the internet. What would I know though? I only own a Skoda and have had over 14 years of absolutely faultless motoring.
This is going to sound strange but hear me out...Skoda make better cars than VW or Audi. Same parts I know! But it's true, you talk to Skoda owners (and I'm one of them) the Czech brand simply builds better Volkswagens, as strange as that seems at first. I have a 2010 Octavia RS wagon and it's been faultess. It's got 137,000km and counting (and yes it's a DSG) and I would buy another one in a heartbeat.
I bought a Skoda Karoq and within the first year I had two malfunctions. One of the malfunctions was fixed under warranty but I had to rent a car for a week (360 Euro's) and the other problem hasni't been fixed until this day. I love the car but I'm not very enthousiastic about the service.