Skoda’s first RS-badged SUV will be the Kodiaq RS, a mean looking seven-seater with Nurburgring-honed handling. We still haven’t had a good look at it yet, because it’s only been teased via design sketches and one darkened shot of its headlights and grille, but we already know plenty.
The Kodiaq RS will receive a unique exterior look with more aggressive looking bumpers, a new blacked-out grille, new LED headlights (a first for a Skoda high rider), and plenty of RS badges on its front and rear. It’s also undeniably going to sit on unique rims not available on any other (lesser) Kodiaq through which you’ll be able to spot its bigger brakes with red calipers.
Other details to set it apart include the 3D effect grille which Skoda is keen to point out in the press blurbs, and the RS logo, which will be prominently shown inside and out, is now redesigned. The hot Kodiaq is the first vehicle to feature it.
At launch, the Kodiaq RS will be offered solely with a 2.0-liter twin-turbo TDI engine from VW, the most powerful the German automaker makes, packing 240 horsepower and 396 pound-feet of torque (or exactly 500 Nm). These numbers have not been given the official nod from the manufacturer, but this is what the engine makes in other applications.
Fake engine sound will apparently be pumped into the cabin through the speakers, and you’ll get to see revs build on the fully-digital gauge cluster whose sport mode will place the rev counter squarely in the middle - you know, like in a Porsche, to enhance the sporty feel. A gasoline burning power plant may also be offered in the future, but nothing has been made official yet.
Skoda had racing driver Sabine Schmitz drive the Kodiaq RS around the Nurburgring Nordschleife.
The Kodiaq RS will debut in the metal at the 2018 Paris motor show along with more details and full technical specifications.
Further Reading
Read our in-depth review of the 2017 Skoda Kodiaq
Read our speculative review of the 2019 Skoda Kodiaq vRS