• Hugely spacious interior 
• Optional third row of seats
• The plug-in hybrid is five-seat only

How much space is there?

Unlike rivals such as the Hyundai Santa Fe and Kia Sorento, the Kodiaq doesn’t come with seven seats as standard; if you want the third row it’s a cost extra of £860 at the time of writing (June 2025). Not an insignificant outlay, but one we reckon is worth considering. Even if you won’t use all seven seats regularly, having them available boosts the Skoda’s versatility, and they fold flat into the boot floor when not needed.

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A used Kodiaq with seven seats will be worth more money than a five-seater, too, for exactly this reason. And while the third row isn’t massively spacious, a limber adult can endure a reasonably lengthy journey there – we know because we’ve tried it. Isofix child-seat mounting points are only available on the outer second row seats and the front passenger seat, however, which is worth keeping in mind if you were thinking of stashing the kids back there.

The second row is spacious for even taller adults, let alone teenagers, and you’ll have no difficulty getting a chunky child seat installed, helped by the height of the Kodiaq’s rear door opening. The adjustable backrest and sliding base of the second-row seating also means you can give third-row occupants more knee room or balance passenger space against boot volume, as required.

Skoda Kodiaq boot space and storage

The original Kodiaq’s 720-litre boot was hardly small, but the second-generation Kodiaq is even larger thanks to its extended body. In five-seater models the boot measures a giant 910 litres, one of the largest of any SUV; if you’ve got two extra seats folded into the boot floor, this drops a touch to 845 litres but it’s still huge. With all seven seats upright there’s 340 litres of space – bigger than some family hatchbacks and sufficient to make a weekend away with seven people on board actually possible without resorting to a roofbox.

With all the rear seats folded you get up to 2,105 litres of room, enough to empty quite a large section of Ikea. We’ve had an assembled sideboard in the back with room to spare for a bedside table. The Kodiaq thrashes the Santa Fe and the Sorento in this area, though even we were surprised to discover the Peugeot 5008 is marginally more commodious.

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Storage inside the Kodiaq is also plentiful. The door pockets can easily hold a large water bottle. With the gearshifter moved to a column by the steering wheel there are up to four cupholders in the centre console, depending how you choose to arrange it, plus wireless charging areas for two phones, a couple of USB-C ports and a lot of space under the armrest.

Other useful touches include levers in the boot to fold the third row of seats down, a ticket holder on the windscreen, an ice scraper under the fuel filler flap, and even a screen cleaner block that fits into a specifically sized slot below the infotainment panel. Then you’ve got Skoda’s handy umbrella within the driver’s door – and there’s a slot for another on the passenger side. Upper and lower gloveboxes are the final touch. No SUV does storage better than the Kodiaq.

Is it easy to park?

At 4.75m in length, the Kodiaq is not a small car, though to drive it hides its dimensions well. Visibility is superb, with lots of large windows letting plenty of light in, but also ideal for tighter car parks. With quick steering as well, threading the Kodiaq through a tight multistorey is easier than you might expect. 

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Standard equipment also includes front and rear parking sensors and a reversing camera, while a 360-degree camera system including semi-automated parking is available as part of an optional package. Just be mindful that the Kodiaq is still a big car so if you have a narrow driveway or only street parking it can sometimes be a squeeze.

Safety

• Five-star Euro NCAP rating
• Excellent scores in all categories
• Plenty of standard safety kit

As with most Skodas, the Kodiaq has a convincing package of safety equipment. Its five-star Euro NCAP rating dates from 2024 and includes good scores in every area – the 83% rating for child occupant protection being particularly noteworthy. 

It’s equipped with plenty of driver assistance technology as standard. On top of the usual now-mandatory (for new cars) features such as speed-sign recognition and lane-keeping assistance, it also gets blindspot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert and a feature that helps stop you from opening a car door into other traffic. There are physical shortcut buttons on the steering wheel to quickly turn off items such as the lane-keeping, which can be annoying at times – something closely related cars from Volkswagen make more difficult.

Adaptive cruise control isn’t standard, but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing since the related nature of the onboard systems means this can be a little over zealous at times. You should also be aware that some of the test cars we’ve sampled in the UK have displayed consistent error messages related to the sensors that control a lot of the safety kit. We’re hopeful that this is an early build issue and has now been ironed out; fixing such problems will be covered under warranty but can be inconvenient, not to mention unnerving.

Watch the Skoda Kodiaq crash test video