This Skoda Kodiaq Was Shot 200 Times In Testing

Your family is probably the most important thing in the world to you, so it’s natural you’ll want to offer them as much protection as possible. Perhaps that’s why you can now get a fully armoured version of that most unassuming and family friendly of crossovers, the Skoda Kodiaq.

Oddly, it’s based on the outgoing first-gen Kodiaq rather than the new one that launched earlier this year, but that’s beside the point. Called the Kodiaq Armoured (where did they get that from?), it’s fully certified to PAS 300 and 301 standards for civilian armoured vehicles. We don’t know what this means, but we assume it’s good.

It must be because as part of the testing process, the Kodiaq Armoured had over 200 rounds of ammunition fired at it, which it withstood comfortably. It also passed blast resistance tests for its sides, roof and underfloor.

It also gets uprated suspension and brakes to cope with the extra heft that making it bullet-resistant brings, and comes with integrated lights and sirens and an onboard communications hub that still features very handy things like CarPlay and Android Auto functionality. It even has a tyre retention system that stops the rubber from detaching from the rim, even if it’s punctured.

Because it’s a Kodiaq and therefore very practical, you get up to 2,000 litres of cargo space, but it’s only available as a five-seater, so if you have a bigger family that you want to transport in armoured safety, you’ll need to look elsewhere. Maybe one of those big SWAT team vans or something.

In reality, this – much like the Superb Armoured, of which nearly 500 have been sold since 2018 – is more likely pitched at the sort of high-profile person who might be vulnerable to attack and doesn’t want to make a big show of travelling around in something like an S-Class or 7-series. Frankly, they’ll probably have just as much comfort and space in here.