If there’s one SUV that quietly flies under the radar despite doing almost everything right, it’s the Skoda Kodiaq. Sensible, spacious, and well-built. But adventurous? Off-road capable? That’s not where my expectations usually land when I think of a large, monocoque, family-focused European SUV. Which is exactly why Skoda India’s off-road day with the Kodiaq caught me off guard with my expectations in the best way possible.
After navigating the spine of Bangalore city, I finally arrived at the venue for the Skoda Kodiaq Drive Experience. Once the basic formalities were done and the safety forms filled, I was guided to the technical briefing, where instructors walked us through the car and the off-road course.
This wasn’t a gentle trail drive or a gravel path designed for Instagram reels. It was a specially curated off-road course with multiple obstacles, steep inclines, articulation tests, offset ruts, pits, and uneven rocky sections that demanded proper traction management. Before getting into the drive itself, it’s important to get to know the Kodiaq. The Skoda Kodiaq is not marketed as a hardcore off-roader. It’s a seven-seat, monocoque SUV built on the MQB platform, powered by a 2.0-litre TSI petrol engine producing 201hp and 320Nm, paired to a 7-speed DSG and a haldex all-wheel-drive system.
On paper, this is an SUV meant for highways, long-distance touring, city comfort, and families. But Skoda’s decision to equip it with AWD, generous ground clearance, solid approach and departure angles for the segment, and a robust suspension setup clearly hints that the Kodiaq wasn’t designed to shy away from bad roads or worse.
Still, numbers on a spec sheet don’t always translate to confidence on dirt. That’s where I formed my expectations. The moment the Kodiaq rolled onto the first obstacle, expectations shifted. This was a sharp left turn and immediately dipped into a ditch and came out with ease and did not feel the all-wheel-drive system scrambling for power. The next obstacle I encountered was a two stepped incline even here the Kodiaq pulled itself up the incline without my foot weighing down on the accelerator. The descent from this incline was where I got to sample the hill-descent-control for the first time.
The axle-twister came up soon after, an obstacle built to lift wheels and quietly expose how a vehicle manages grip when it runs out of it. As the car climbed diagonally, one wheel lost contact but instead of spinning helplessly, the all-wheel-drive system kicked in, redistributed torque, clawing itself forward without much difficulty. It was on this section that the Kodiaq felt properly settled, with the MacPherson struts up front and the multi-link rear keeping everything in check. For someone used to driving and off-roading large ladder-frame SUVs, this composure was genuinely unexpected.
Moving on, there was a rocky section that set the tone before things got more serious. From there, the course opened into a banked path that naturally tipped the car the other way, followed by a short climb and then a surprisingly steep drop. This was where the Kodiaq leaned heavily on electronics. The 360-degree camera helped me line up the descent and keep the wheels straight, hill descent control kicked in, and I let out a gasp when I realized the size of the drop.
At the bottom, the course tightened into a narrow pit with sharp turns and loose surfaces. This part demanded constant attention, and for someone who grew up in the 2000s, it genuinely felt like playing a real-world level of Temple Run but only slower, heavier, and far more controlled. Driving out of the “Temple Run” stage, I lined up for the final obstacle. Calling it a big drop would be underselling it and standing at the top, I could see my own car parked outside the off-road course. I’ll let the pictures speak. I mustered up some courage, engaged hill-descent-control, griped the steering wheel and then let the Kodiaq do the work for me.
Steep drops and inclines are where weight, gearing, and throttle calibration are exposed brutally. The Kodiaq tackled these climbs without needing aggressive throttle inputs. The turbo-petrol engine delivered torque smoothly, and the DSG often criticised in slow-speed scenarios behaved with surprising well. Equally impressive was the hill-descent control. The electronics managed speed confidently, allowing me to focus on steering rather than braking nervously. The Kodiaq felt planted, predictable, and reassuring. Body roll was present, of course, but never alarming. The suspension absorbed uneven terrain well, keeping the cabin composed.
While I wasn’t charging through the course recklessly, I didn’t hesitate either. Gentle throttle inputs were enough to keep momentum going, and the AWD system constantly adjusted grip across wheels. There were moments where I could feel the Kodiaq working underneath but never moments where it felt out of control. On a particularly hot day, features like individual climate control and ventilated seats made sure I stayed comfortable and focused.
What stood out most wasn’t just that the Kodiaq completed every obstacle, it was how it did so. Without making me feel like I was pushing the car beyond its comfort zone. This matters, because let’s face it, most Kodiaq owners won’t actively seek off-road trails. But they will encounter roads, construction zones, slushy village tracks, flooded city streets, and unpredictable terrain on road trips. And in those moments, confidence matters more than ground clearance numbers or the 4×4 badges.
Let’s be clear the Kodiaq is not trying to be a hard core 4×4. It doesn’t need to. What it does instead is quietly expand the definition of what a premium family SUV can handle. Skoda did not set out to impress off-road purists when they built the Kodiaq. They built it to ensure that owners never have to turn back when the road gets difficult.
I walked into this experience curious and I walked away impressed. The Skoda Kodiaq may look like a highway cruiser and it excels at that but beneath its understated design lies a well-engineered, confident SUV that can handle far more than it lets on. Sometimes, the biggest surprises come from cars that don’t shout about their abilities. The Kodiaq is exactly that kind of SUV.