68 | AUGUST 2019 4x4
OUR 4X4S: SKODA KODIAQ
or twice we thought the shovel we’d brought
along for safety might have to put in a shift too.
It says something that even with shoals of sand
getting kicked up from its tyres, the vehicle never
bogged down – and even when we looked ahead
and wondered if this might be the bit that defeats
it, all it asked for was a bit more throttle.
On that subject, with Off-Road mode engaged
the gas pedal is very easy to control, so you never
need to give it too much. If you do leave the boot
in, it doesn’t do that annoying thing older traction
control systems used to be guilty of and kill all the
power while you’re frantically trying to spin your
way through, which is just as well as we’d certainly
have been reaching for the shovel had we been
driZing, say, a first-generation Touareg.
You’d certainly choose the Kodiaq out of these
two for scaling the sort of sand dunes that are a
feature of the Atlantic coast round here. Either
way, though, you’d soon be making a trip to the
local gendarmerie, because these are fragile land-
scapes which quite rightly aren’t to be used as a
4x4 playground, but it’s hard not to look at them
and try to figure out in your head how you would,
if you could...
As it is, anyway, the legal rights of way in this
area are more than enough to put a vehicle to the
test –and inject a real sense of adventure into the
business of exploring.
What would it have been like in more typical
winter weather? Much the same, but not as nice.
Few surfaces have better all-weather properties
than sand – even tarmac, which is far more prone
to losing its tractability in sub-zero conditions.
Talking of tarmac, the journey back home was
more of the same –glorious sunshine and hour
after hour of steady
cruising at 85mph,
interrupted only by
(very) occasional
fuel stops and a
session of grind-
ing through Paris
wondering how onearth somewhere so depressing to look at can be
considered the most romantic city in the world.
So we didn’t get to take on that heroic
cross-country battle through snow, sleet or at
least lots of rain. Even then, though, arriving home
felt like putting in to port after a long ocean
voyage, simply because we’d done so many miles
in such a short period. It would have been much
tougher had the Skoda not been so resolutely
competent every step of the way, but heavy-duty
cross-continent work does put demands on a
car –and our Kodiaq dealt with them without
breaking sweat.
It certainly did break the surface, though, when
it sent all those shoals of sand ¾ying around in the
forests of south-western France. And, had we still
been harbouring any preconceived notions about
its off-tarmac abilities, it would have broken those
too. 7erious sand is hard to find in the U/, which
sounds like a fabulously lame excuse for taking a
trip like this, but what the hell?
We went looking for Four Seasons in One Day,
and we ended up with pretty much exactly the
opposite. Expect the unexpected, always. And if
you’ve got a Kodiaq on your side, we’ve found,
expect to be able to take it in your stride.Quite a few other 4x4s in the queue for the ferry back
home to Britain. So hands up everyone else who's used
theirs off-road while they were on the continent, then...?