Large SUV of the Year 2025: Skoda Kodiaq
The Skoda Kodiaq is the Auto Express 2025 Large SUV of the Year with the Hyundai Santa Fe and Volkswagen Tayron commended
The last-generation Skoda Kodiaq was a quadruple winner of the Large SUV of the Year award, with its domination only punctuated by its SEAT Tarraco sister model. The second-generation Kodiaq already looks like a worthy successor, because it’s backed up last year’s victory with another in 2025.
Since the Mk2 Kodiaq’s launch last year we’ve had the hot new vRS model join the line-up, along with a plug-in hybrid, with both versions expanding the Skoda flagship SUV’s desirability even more.
It’s the basics the Kodiaq does so well. Being a Skoda, it’s keenly priced, with the entry-level petrol five-seater costing just over £38,000. There is a suite of excellent powertrains to choose from – the 1.5-litre mild-hybrid and 2.0-litre diesels are frugal, and the plug-in hybrid will give you 75 miles of electric-only range. The vRS model even gets the same 261bhp turbocharged four-cylinder engine as the Volkswagen Golf GTI.
Another thing Skodas are known for is interior space and there’s none better than the Kodiaq. There’s a huge 845-litre boot in the five-seater, shrinking to a still usable 340 litres in the seven-seater. We also prefer the Kodiaq’s cabin to many of its VW Group siblings, with Skoda’s ‘Smart Dials’ making things like climate and audio control easier to use on the move.
The Czech model is also a refined and comfortable place to rack up the miles – especially if you go for the smaller wheels. Throw in an extensive kit list and, of course, Skoda’s ‘Simply Clever’ additions, and the Kodiaq is a worthy winner of this award.
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Our choice
- Skoda Kodiaq 1.5 TSI iV SE 5 seats (£42,045)
We'd recommend sticking to the five-seat Kodiaq if you don’t need the extra chairs. It also means you can get the plug-in hybrid system with its 75-mile range, even on the entry-level SE.
Commended
Hyundai Santa Fe
Starting at more than £50,000, Hyundai’s range-topping petrol SUV is expensive, but we think it’ll sell well on its head-turning looks alone. It has real presence, thanks to being longer and wider than a Kodiaq, which in turn means acres of passenger space, helped by a flat floor and a sliding middle row. While seven seats come as standard, there’s a six-seat option with captain’s chairs in row two.
Volkswagen Tayron
The seven-seat Tayron essentially replaces VW’s Tiguan Allspace. Unlike the Kodiaq with which the Tayron shares its platform, there’s no petrol or diesel five-seater; the PHEV model is your only five-seat option. The Tayron has five litres of extra boot space over the Skoda, and is very similar to the impressive Passat Estate to drive, especially with the optional Dynamic Chassis Control system fitted.
See all the winners...
Click on the gallery below to see all the winners of our 2025 New Car Awards...
You can find all the information on our New Car Awards 2025 winners and the reasons why we chose them on the pages below. Just follow the links to read more…
New Car Awards 2025: the winners
Special edition of Auto Express
For the full New Car Awards experience, make sure you pick up a copy of our special 2025 New Car Awards collectors' edition of the Auto Express magazine, which is available in shops now.
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