Cream

The cream of the sub-four-metre compact SUV crop seems to have arrived. Can it cream its opponents and rise to the top? We drive both the manual and automatic versions of the Škoda Kylaq in Goa

- Jim Gorde

A GOOD CAR GETS GOOD REVIEWS. A great car also gets good reviews and finds more takers from word-of-mouth and repeat clientele of the brand. The sub-four-metre segment has been a A busy arena with all sorts of gladiators attempting to dominate it. However, one notable name was missing, a VW Group offering was not present for the longest time but, with the Škoda Kylaq, that void has now been filled, and quite successfully, I may add.

We've already driven the camo'ed cars and had a static experience of the Škoda Kylaq but the actual drive experience of the production cars was pending. Until now.

The Kylaq measures 3,995 millimetres long and has a 2,566-mm wheelbase, the latter just 85 mm shorter than that of the larger Kushaq. It is also 23 mm wider than the Kushaq and 29 kilograms lighter than it, though based on the same MQB-A0-IN platform, and those are both very good things.

The styling is signature Škoda with the sleek new front end positioning LED daytime lights over the headlamps and a smart, moustache-like grille binding them together. The lines are clean and smooth and what particularly got my attention is the powerdome sculpted bonnet-makes it appear that the 60 TSI V8 would slip right in and stay snug under there-but it only holds the three-cylinder 1.0 TSI turbo-petrol with an old American V8like 115 hp. Unlike the camo cars from earlier, we had full-colour versions this time, with the manual in Tornado Red and the automatic in Olive Gold, a Kylaq-exclusive shade-of green, let's be honest. The skid-plates, 17-inch alloy wheels and roof-rails, and the overall proportions, in fact, look modern and appealing.

Either way, it looks both suave and stunning at the same time.