Skoda Kodiaq 2.0 Sportline 2021 UK review

Sensible seven-seat SUV is given a simple update to burnish its family-favourite image Some facelifts are a tacit admission that there was something wrong with the original car. The Skoda Kodiaq’s is quite the opposite. It sold well from the start and continues to do so; the changes focus on making it slightly better here and there.It has received the usual visual nip and tuck. You will mainly recognise the facelift model from the slightly slimmer headlights: they’re always LEDs now, and SE L trim and above get matrix LEDs. Inside, there’s a new steering wheel, some grey stitching and revised ‘ergonomic seats’. As before, all trims but entry-level SE get you seven seats as standard.The engine line-up stays largely the same, with one major exception: there’s now just one diesel unit: a 2.0-litre four-pot with 148bhp or 197bhp, which always comes mated to a dual-clutch automatic gearbox.On the petrol side, you can choose between a 148bhp 1.5-litre turbo and a 187bhp 2.0-litre turbo (tested here), both of them with four cylinders. The 1.5 TSI is the only Kodiaq you can get with a manual gearbox. Atop the range sits the vRS, which has swapped its diesel engine for the 2.0 TSI of the Volkswagen Golf GTI.