I've mentioned this a few times previously, but afaik all Kodiaqs come off the production line with long life oil fitted and set to the variable service schedule, whereby the sensors in the engine will monitor the oil condition and advise when a service is due. Provided you stick to this and use the correct oil, then yes, the Škoda advice is that servicing roughly every 24 months/20k miles is fine (it will normally be a bit less than that in reality).

It is however possible to change onto a fixed servicing schedule, set at every 12 months or 10k miles (whichever comes first). This has to be programmed into the car's ECU via the OBDII port and the car will then tell you when a service is due based on that. Some (unscrupulous) dealers are known to change cars onto this without asking or telling the owners prior to delivery from new. This means more money for the dealers as it equates to roughly double the amount of servicing over a 2 year period, so more visits to the dealer from the customer, who has to pay for those services, either directly or via a service plan bought (you guessed it!) from the dealer.

My first Kodiaq was like this and it wasn't until I was around 2 annual services in that I found out about this (through this forum), so when my second car was being delivered, I specifically told the dealer I wanted it to remain on the variable servicing schedule. I still get called by the dealer's service department every year without fail to tell me that my car is due a service. This even happened only 8 weeks after I'd actually had it serviced by them, so they should have known that this wasn't true! Every time I explain that my car is on the variable service schedule. The Škoda App (or the car) will then tell me when my next service is due. It currently says 515 days or 10400 miles having last been serviced in January at around 9000 miles below the current mileage.

So in answer to your question, yes, use the right oil and you can easily go 24 months or 30,000km between services with no ill effect on the engine.

 

Great answer Thank you Scratch 113

 

I think you can get the car's system changed back to the variable service schedule, however I'm fairly sure you would need access to a 'proper' OBDII reader. It might be possible with something like a Carly or OBDEleven (others are available, some are much cheaper options), but I have no idea whether it would need a full access system like the RossTech VCDS, which isn't cheap! It would have had warranty implications if your car was a bit newer as Škoda are only likely to agree to change it back if they know the service history (including what oil was used), however as your car is now 8 years old and 160,000km I wouldn't worry too much about it.