Prepare Yourselves: A 236bhp Diesel Skoda Kodiaq vRS Is Coming

When we first took delivery of ‘our’ Skoda Kodiaq long-term test car, many sneered and its dinky little 1.4-litre engine. As it turns out, the 148bhp inline-four turbo has been a more than worthy unit, but if you want a much more powerful way to ferry around your family and a crap-load of stuff, we’ve good news: it seems as though the Czech manufacturer is cooking up a go-faster one.

Yep, the big ol’ family bus is being given the vRS (or just ‘RS’ outside of the UK) treatment, and the above image of the car testing at the Nurburgring has emerged. You’re probably expecting it to have the tried-and-tested 2.0-litre ‘EA888’ petrol engine, but no: it’ll be a diesel…

The word is that this new member of the vRS family - imagined above in a render from X-Tomi Design - will use a 236bhp twin-turbo diesel engine. Details are thin on the ground other than that, but it shouldn’t be hard to work out exactly how the vehicle will shape up, as this car already has an equivalent in the VW range: the top-spec TDI 240 Tiguan Allspace.

Assuming it’s the same engine (and we don’t see why it wouldn’t be), it’ll have a useful 369lb ft of torque to play with, and be able to hit 62mph from rest in 6.5 seconds.

It should be here later in the year, and we anticipate a starting price of around £35,000.