SKODA KODIAQ

SUV becomes bigger and swisher, offering seven-seat petrols and diesels and, for the first time, a plug-in hybrid

- ILLYA VERPRAET

The technical rundown of the new second-generation Skoda Kodiaq might sound quite familiar if you've been reading Autocar over the past couple of weeks or if you've sneakily turned to the end of this week's First Drives section before reading this.

That's because Volkswagen and Skoda are doing a wholesale refresh of their large cars. The Volkswagen Passat and Tiguan and the Skoda Superb and Kodiaq are all based on a new version of the MQB Evo platform. The estates were a joint development led by Skoda, but the SUVs are "entirely separate" from each other. Mind you, Skoda can stray only so far from what the mothership dictates.

The biggest mechanical change here is that this updated architecture can accommodate a massive, 25.7kWh hybrid drive battery for a company car tax-friendly electric-only range of 62 miles. The original Kodiaq conspicuously lacked a plug-in option, so that's a major win.

At the same time, though, the powertrain line-up is reassuringly traditional, with a choice of two petrol engines (a 1.5-litre mild hybrid and a 2.0-litre) and two diesels (both 2.0-litre, just in different states of tune). Gearboxes are all dual-clutch (DSG) automatics.

Externally, the Kodiaq is of course quite different from its Volkswagen counterpart. The Kodiaq is substantially longer than both the Tiguan and its predecessor (4758mm versus 4539mm and 4699mm), although Skoda has managed to resist making it any wider. In fact, it's very slightly narrower than the Mk1 Kodiaq.