Skoda Kamiq - Reliability and safety

Skoda, as a brand, returned a mediocre 20th place finish out of 32 manufacturers in best car manufacturer rankings of our 2023 Driver Power survey. That puts it ahead of rivals like SEAT, Vauxhall, VW, Ford, and Renault, but behind Hyundai, Toyota, Citroën, Peugeot, and Kia.

The Kamiq comes as standard with a good level of standard safety and driver assistance kit – all models get six airbags, autonomous emergency braking (AEB), a driver attention monitor, traffic sign recognition, and lane-keep assist. It is a shame you can’t add blind spot monitoring or adaptive cruise control, both of which are standard on the Volkswagen T-Cross.

The Kamiq achieved a full five-star rating from Euro NCAP in its crash tests, with a stellar 96% score for adult occupant safety. It scored 85, 80 and 76% in the child occupant, vulnerable road users and safety assist categories. The closely related T-Cross is safer still, beating the Kamiq by a few per cent in each category.

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Warranty

All Skoda models are covered by a three-year, 60,000-mile warranty that can be extended up to five years and 100,000 miles at extra cost. Prices range from £300 to extend it to four years and 80,000 miles, up to £630 for a five-year, 100,000-mile policy.

The latter matches the Hyundai Kona, but there are other rivals, like the Kia Stonic, which has a standard seven-year, 100,000-mile warranty. Then there is the Toyota Yaris Cross, which can be covered for up to 10 years or 100,000 miles – although you will have to keep getting your car serviced annually at a Toyota main dealer to maintain the warranty over that extended period.

Servicing

Servicing for both versions of the 1.0-litre engine and the 1.5-litre is required every 12 months or 10,000 miles. All engines have a timing belt that needs changing every 112,000 miles.

You can purchase a service plan which covers the first two services for either a one-off payment of just under £500, or for £20 per month.