Skoda Kodiaq 4x4 Sportline 140TDI 2018 off-road review

Our Skoda Kodiaq 4x4 Sportline 140TDI was, as tested, $59,690. It had the luxury pack ($3400), which includes lane-assist, blind-spot detection, front and rear heated seats, perforated-leather-appointed seat upholstery, surround-area view, three-zone air-conditioning, traffic-jam assist, emergency assist, rear traffic alert, and auto-dimming, folding side mirrors with memory function.

Our Skoda Kodiaq 4x4 Sportline 140TDI was, as tested, $59,690.

It also had the tech pack ($2600), which includes adaptive chassis control with driving mode selection, 10-speaker Canton sound system, automatic parking assist, manoeuvre braking assist, 'virtual pedal' (hands-free electric tailgate opening and closing), vehicle set-up via key, off-road mode, and wireless charging. And, as the icing on the cake, it also had metallic paint ($700).

This Kodiaq would cost $52,990 without all of the above options. New exterior features include 20-inch 'Vega' antracite alloy wheels and a 'Velvet Red' paint option.

The Sportline is a nice-looking unit; sleek and low-slung. Design-wise, it's not worlds apart from the basic Kodiaq, but it has a few cool tweaks – inside and out – to make it more 'sporty'.

Among the more noteworthy are its sports leather steering wheel, Black Alcantara, leather sport seats (a combination of genuine and artificial leather) with silver stitching, and other SportLine-specific accents (including a Sportline tag on the glovebox). Its exterior has been sportified with black front grille, bumper, wing mirrors, black-edged windows and roof rails, and chrome exhaust pipes.

The Sportline is a nice-looking unit; sleek and low-slung.

The Apple CarPlay, Android Auto and sat nav-enabled multimedia unit, with a bright 9.2-inch colour touch-screen, is one of the best systems around; big, clear and colorful icons make it very easy to use and to navigate through different modes. (I didn't try the gesture-control features.)

While we didn't tackle anything on our off-road loop more serious than well-maintained national park tracks, the 4x4 Sportline seems right at home with light-duty off-roading.

It's light for a start, so it's easy enough to maneuver along tight bush tracks, but it is hindered by its 187mm of ground clearance, and 19.1-degree approach and 16.2-degree departure angles.

Push-button engagement of off-road mode (described by Skoda as a "driving assistant for difficult conditions") delivers better all-round track-holding capabilities, but that's only for slow-going off-road driving (up to 30 km/h).

It has a few cool tweaks – inside and out – to make it more 'sporty'.

The coil-sprung suspension seems quite firm, tending towards stiff, and is fine on good bitumen but yields a rather jarring ride over even slightly corrugated gravel tracks.

It rides on 20-inch alloys and Pirelli Scorpions, which are well suited to suburban and city duties, but not so great for dirt-road driving.

With regards to general touring duties, I didn't have any luck getting the 'virtual pedal' to work for me; I wagged my foot under the bumper in an attempt to get the hands-free, foot-prompted electric tailgate to open for me, without success.

That's not good when the weather is terrible and you're trying to transfer armfuls of camping gear from your person into the Sportline's rear cargo area. Access denied.

The Kodiaq has maximum towing capacities of 750kg (unbraked) and 2000kg (braked). You can carry a maximum load of 75kg on the roof.

The Sportline has a five-star ANCAP rating, as a result of Kodiaq testing conducted in June 2017. Safety features include (as detailed by the ANCAP report) dual frontal, side chest-protecting and side head-protecting airbags (curtains) and a driver's knee airbag are standard. AEB, adaptive cruise control and a manual speed limiter are also all fitted as standard.