Skoda Kamiq Review & Prices

This is the Skoda Kamiq, a smart but fuss-free small SUV. Fuss-free, because while alternatives such as the Ford Puma, Peugeot 2008 and Jeep Avenger try to win you over with funky styling and a bit of quirkiness, the Kamiq is all about being sensible and practical. It’s a bit like choosing comfy trainers over a pair of stilettos.

Not that the Skoda Kamiq is unattractive, it’s just very safe. You get the typical boxy SUV shape, with some slim daytime running lights up front, a few creases in the bodywork here and there, and rear lights that make the car look nice and wide. It’s all very classy and understated.

The interior is a bit simpler. There are no great design flourishes to catch your eye, and the materials are pretty nice considering this is a budget-friendly model. You get a smart piece of trim that cuts through the centre of the dashboard, and all but the entry-level model get a 9.2-inch infotainment display and digital instruments.

Where the Kamiq really stands out is space and practicality in the cabin. There’s loads of space in the front with plenty of adjustment in the driver’s seat and steering wheel to get comfy, and while you won’t be giving a team of basketball players a lift anytime soon, the back seats are generously spacious for a car of this size.

At 400 litres, the boot should be big enough for most people most of the time, but it’s smaller than you get in the Peugeot 2008 and Ford Puma.

Under the bonnet there are no electric or hybrid options, just petrol engines with a choice of three power outputs. However, they all offer pretty low running costs, with low emissions meaning they’re fairly cheap to tax despite the lack of electrification.

Even the entry-level option with 95hp has adequate oomph, particularly if you’re just using the Kamiq around town, though one of the more powerful options makes smooth progress less effort the rest of the time.

And low effort is the name of the game when driving the Skoda Kamiq. The suspension soaks up lumps and bumps in the road really well at all speeds, and it’s impressively refined on the motorway for a smaller car. It’s not much fun on a twisty road though, and the automatic gearbox can be a bit clunky and easily confused at lower speeds.

These are generally minor complaints, though, in what is overall a fantastically practical and affordable package. You can get yourself a great price by checking out Carwow’s Skoda Kamiq deals, and find a great price on a used Kamiq from our network of trusted dealers. You can also browse other used Skodas, and when the time comes, sell your car through Carwow, too.

The Skoda Kamiq starts at around £24,000 in SE trim, which puts it bang in line with alternatives such as the Peugeot 2008, Volkswagen T-Cross, Jeep Avenger and Ford Puma. It’s about £3,000 to step up to the SE L trim, and another £2,000 for top-spec Monte Carlo models, though neither of these are not available with the basic 95hp engine.

As such, fully loaded versions of all of these models cost just over £30,000, though the Skoda is particularly well-equipped – mid-spec models get a big infotainment display, digital dials and 18-inch alloy wheels, while top-spec versions get a panoramic glass roof, Matrix LED headlights and a rear-view camera.

For the Kamiq, comfort is the priority, but this focus means it's not that fun

In town

The Kamiq drives really well around town. Even the slowest model with the 95hp 1.0-litre engine is reasonably nippy at low speeds, though the two more powerful options are available with an automatic gearbox. It's a bit clunky and easily confused, but it's still easier in traffic than the manual option.

Skoda has put comfort ahead of entertainment in the way the Kamiq drives, so the suspension smoothly soaks up potholes and other lumps and bumps in the road surface.

Big windscreen pillars can get in the way a bit when you are looking for other traffic at an angled junction, but otherwise all-round visibility is pretty good. You don’t sit as high as you do in some SUVs, though – you’re eyeball to eyeball with folk in regular hatchbacks rather than looking down on them.

A tight turning circle is a big plus if you take the wrong road and need to make a sneaky U-turn. It helps when parking too. All models get rear parking sensors, and you get a reversing camera on top-spec models, which are also the only versions that have rear parking sensors available as an upgrade.

On the motorway 

Don’t go thinking the Kamiq is too small to be a good motorway car. It will happily rack up the miles.

All of the engines are capable enough at motorway speeds, but if you want something in reserve, the most powerful option is your best bet. It will soon get you back up to 70mph if you’re stuck behind slower traffic.

Of the two 1.0-litre engines, the more powerful version is more motorway-friendly. That’s not just because of the extra oomph, but because it has more gears over the five-speed manual fitted to the less powerful model, which reduces noise at 70mph and improves economy.

Cruise control is fitted as standard, but you have to pay extra for a driver assistance package if you want adaptive cruise, which maintains your speed and distance to the car in front. The pack also includes active lane-keeping assistance.

On a twisty road

Show the Kamiq a twisty country road and it grips and goes well enough, but if you enjoy driving there’s something missing. It just doesn’t have the alert steering or agility that make a Ford Puma so much fun to drive, even if you get the Monte Carlo model with its sporty drive mode. So if you want to grin from ear to ear every time you drive a B-road, the Puma is a better bet.

If you tend to drive steadily and are more concerned with avoiding car sickness than clipping apexes, the Kamiq is just fine. It’s tidy, comfortable, and thoroughly sensible. But even the sporty-looking Monte Carlo model doesn’t do much to get the heart pumping.

Skoda continues its trend of being super-sensible, but there's not a lot of design flair in the cabin    

One of the first things you notice when you climb into Skoda’s smallest SUV is that you don’t climb into it at all. It’s barely any higher from the ground than Skoda’s Scala hatchback and the seat is relatively low to the floor on its lowest setting. So don’t shop for the Kamiq and expect to sit above other drivers, big SUV-style.

Every Kamiq has height-adjustable front seats so you can get comfortable, with a wide range of adjustment, and the steering wheel moves in and out as well as up and down.

The cockpit layout is typical Skoda – expect sense and logic rather than lots of quirky features or eye-candy design. All the controls are sensibly positioned and easy to use.

Storage is taken care of by large door bins and a reasonably big glovebox. There are two cupholders between the front seats, although they’re not large enough for a big bottle of water. Smaller bottles will fit, though, and there’s a protrusion in the middle of each cupholder that holds a bottle still so you can take the top off with one hand.

Space in the back seats 

The Kamiq doesn’t take up a lot of space on the road, so you might expect the rear seats to be a bit of a squeeze. But no, this is a surprisingly roomy car, with enough space for a couple of grown-ups in the back. Head and legroom are both generous for such a small car.

Rear-seat passengers won’t be quite so happy if a third person comes along for the ride. The cabin is quite narrow, and everyone will be a bit squashed.

If children rather than adults will be travelling in the back, then the wide-opening doors and ISOFIX mounting points will come in handy for securing child seats. Even big rearward-facing chairs should be no trouble.

Boot space 

With the back seats in place there’s a 400-litre boot, which isn't terrible among its competitors, but you can certainly find more space elsewhere. It’s smaller than the Ford Puma and Peugeot 2008 at 456 and 434 litres respectively.

The Volkswagen T-Cross has a sliding rear bench, so you can trade rear legroom for extra luggage space. Sliding the rear seats forward increases the T-Cross to 455 litres from 385 litres in its standard configuration.

However, you can fold the Kamiq's back seats forward if you need more room. This increases boot space to a healthy 1,395 litres.

A variable height boot floor is an optional extra, as is a two-sided floor with a wipe-clean finish on one side.

You get an impressive infotainment system that works smoothly, but it's got a more conservative design than in alternatives

Inside, the Kamiq is – we’re going to use that word again – sensible. There’s nothing wrong with that, in fact it’s mostly a good thing. But if you want friends to ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’ the first time you give them a lift in your new car, the Peugeot 2008 will be more successful.

What you do get with the Kamiq is good build quality, with soft-touch plastics on the top of the doors and dash. Yes, some of the plastics on the sides of the centre console and lower on the doors are cheaper in look and feel, but that’s no great surprise.

The starting point for the range, the SE, has an 8.0-inch screen for the infotainment. It’s okay, but the 9.2-inch screen fitted to the rest of the range is a lot better. As well as being bigger, it comes with satellite navigation, web radio, voice control and traffic sign recognition.

The screen is bright, clear, and easy to use, and there are shortcut buttons for quick navigation without getting lost in a maze of on-screen menus.

Temperature controls are separate from the touchscreen, but some other air-con functions need to be accessed through the screen menus, which takes some time.

Another clever bit of tech is the Virtual Cockpit. Pioneered by Audi, this replaces conventional dials with a screen that can be configured to show different information. It’s really handy and allows you to show mapping directly in your line of sight. It’s a standard feature if you choose the SE L or Monte Carlo models.

Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard on all models for seamless integration with your phone apps.

There are no hybrid versions of the Kamiq, although the 1.5-litre petrol engine does have a clever feature that switches to using two cylinders rather than four to save fuel when the engine isn’t working hard.

This means there’s not a big penalty at the pumps for choosing the more powerful engine. With a manual gearbox, it returns up to 49.7mpg according to the official figures. You should be able to get reasonably close to that in normal driving.

Your other two engine choices are the 95hp and 116hp 1.0-litre petrols. There is almost nothing to choose between the two, with the entry-level 95hp model returning 51.8mpg and the 116hp version achieving 52.2mpg. The 95hp car only comes with a manual ’box, but you can have a DSG auto if you go for the 116hp, which has a very small negative effect on fuel economy.

Remember, there’s no diesel version of the Kamiq anymore, so if you want the motorway economy of a good turbodiesel you’ll need to consider a different small SUV or shop for a used Kamiq.

Reasonably low emissions mean the first year’s Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) payment isn’t too painful – it’s included in the on-the-road charges you pay for a new car, so you won’t really notice it. However, Benefit-in-Kind is quite high for company car drivers at 29-31% – you're much better off looking at hybrid and electric alternatives.

The Kamiq is a safe car. The experts at Euro NCAP ran the rule over it in 2019 and it scored the maximum five stars, though it's worth noting that the test has become stricter since then. The Skoda earned a 96% rating for adult occupant protection, and 85% for child occupant.

Every model including the most basic SE comes with a lane keeping system to stop the car drifting out of position on motorways and dual carriageways. Front assist is also standard. This is Skoda’s name for autonomous emergency braking, which hits the brakes hard if there’s about to be a collision and the driver doesn’t react.

An alarm and central locking are fitted to all Kamiqs, and keyless entry is standard on Monte Carlo models or optional on other trims.

Although the Kamiq didn't make it into the 2023 Driver Power 'best cars to own' shortlist, Skoda had a mid-table performance in the owner satisfaction survey, ranking 20th out of 32 manufacturers. However, most of the Kamiq's engines and mechanical parts are well proven and have been used extensively by Skoda and other VW Group brands.

If anything does go wrong with the car, Skoda’s standard new car warranty lasts for three years. For the first two years, mileage is unlimited, but for the third year the mileage is capped at 60,000. The cover can be extended up to five years and 100,000 miles at extra cost.