Skoda Karoq SUV – Skoda’s replacement for the Yeti – (almost) fully revealed

The new Skoda Karoq SUV – a replacement for the Skoda Yeti – is almost fully revealed by Skoda ahead of a public debut expected next month.

Peugeot has done it with the 3008, and now it’s the turn of Skoda to turn a bit of an ugly duckling MPV in to a trendy SUV with the arrival of the new Skoda Karoq to replace the Yeti.

The looks may have changed from MPV to SUV, but the name change from Yeti to Karoq yields another daft name for a car and is said to be derived from the same Alaskan roots as the equally daft Kodiaq.

The Karoq shares looks with its bigger sibling, the Kodiaq, and is Skoda’s pitch for a chunk of the smaller SUV market and joins the VW Tiguan and Seat Ateca as the third take in the VW Group on the same basic recipe and parts.

Skoda seem to be aiming for practicality rather than funkiness with the Karoq, offering a compact SUV with decent space for passengers and stuff as well driver assistance stuff like adaptive cruise, blind spot detection and autonomous emergency braking all in the mix.

Under the bonnet there’s a choice of two petrols, both new, with a 1.0 litre three-cylinder TSI offering 113bhp and a 1.5 litre TSI with 148bhp, and a trio of diesels – two of which are new – with a 113bhp 1.6 litre TDI and a new 2.0 litre TDI delivering 187bhp as well the old 2.0 litre TDI with 148bhp.

Depending on spec and engines the Karoq comes with two and four-wheel drive options, as well as six-speed manual and seven-speed DSG gearboxes.

The new Skoda Karoq will debut on 18 May 2017 in Stockholm and go on sale in the UK later in 2017. With Kodiaq prices starting at a competitive £21.5k we’d expect to Karoq to be as aggressively priced – perhaps from as low as £17.5k