Test drive of the all-wheel drive Skoda Karoq at the Northern Forest 2021 rally-raid
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Technologies
In previous test drives of the Treshbox, I already mentioned that a modern car, in fact, has become a gadget. After all, their main function is to drive, cars have long been performing well and generally unpretentious, without requiring any special activity from the owner. Know to serve on time, but keep an eye on the vehicle as a whole.
I note that my test is far from the basic version of Style, even with additional options. For example, here, as in other Skoda, there is a nice lighting in the doors. The color can be selected in the settings and the color of these stripes and the color in the on-board computer menu will depend on it. Pleasant trifles.
I will return to the topic of the on-board computer. I repeat that in this configuration, in my opinion, the best combination of price and functionality. Yes, the screen is not the largest, but many people look at the phone anyway. Also there is no option with maps and navigation. But I don’t see much of a problem with that. Many even with built-in navigation continue to use the phone. Here you can use Google Android Auto and Apple Car Play. Connect your smartphone via cable and part of the functionality is transferred to the on-board computer screen. You can use navigation, listen to messages, give voice commands to your OS assistant and, of course, listen to music.
By the way, here is buried one minus. If you have connected your smartphone via USB just to charge (there are also sockets here, don’t forget), then the other person will not be able to play their music via Bluetooth. This is a very strange decision and clearly purely software.
In general, the on-board computer is logical and understandable here. The menu is not very deep and is logically grouped. You can customize the lighting, driver assistants, climate, sound and communication with your gadgets. And, of course, look at various statistics on fuel consumption and measure the distance traveled.
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Karoq for Russian roads? OK!
But the ride was almost unaffected by the change, despite stiffer tires and an increase in wheel size from 17 to 18 inches. Karoq is still surprisingly, not Skodovsky comfortable. On the broken roads of Khakassia, he does well, working out almost everything that you offer him – at first, the suspension may seem a little flabby due to the light tapping on the rebound, but you quickly get used to it and don’t worry anymore. And I would like to separately note the directional stability: keeping 150 and above on a road consisting of some patches and transverse waves is not a problem at all, you can even not squeeze the steering wheel with both hands.