Skoda Kodiaq

The Skoda Kodiaq has a good quality cabin that’ll seat seven, is well equipped, sensibly priced and will get you further than you’d think off-road if required too. This is the first seven-seater Skoda has ever made, and it’s spot on for family life. Just like the VW Tiguan Allspace and SEAT Tarraco, you can get the Skoda Kodiaq with a wide range of engines, gearboxes and with either two-or four-wheel drive. The Skoda does, however, have a few tricks up its sleeve that you won’t find in other SUVs – it can be had as a sporty vRS version or a tougher off-road-focused Scout model.

Thankfully, its beefy dimensions help make it an excellent family car, because it’s long enough to fit a third row of seats in the back with space left in the boot for a weekly shop. That said, if you want to carry seven adults regularly, you may be better off with an MPV like the VW Touran, which has more room in the very back.

That said, seven-seat versions of the Skoda Kodiaq offer almost as much versatility as the Touran. If you flip down the two rearmost seats, for example, you’re left with a five-seat SUV that has acres of room in the back – perfect if you find yourself regularly carrying all sorts of parenthood paraphernalia, from high-chairs to travel cots. Fold all the rear seats down and you have so much space that you’ll be getting roped into helping friends move house for years to come.

What’s more, all that space hasn’t come at the expense of quality. The Skoda Kodiaq interior looks good and feels robust thanks to some high-class plastics on top of the dashboard that make the Nissan X-Trail (one of the most obvious alternatives to the big Skoda) feel a bit cheap.

Despite the Skoda Kodiaq’s size, it’s not a difficult car to drive. The steering is light, and you get a great view from the high-set driving position – apart from some blind spots when you look over your shoulders.