Skoda Elroq review: Practical, stylish… and better than its Volkswagen cousin
The all-new Skoda Elroq
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SKODA ELROQ |
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★★★★★ |
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from €36,545 - €42,315 as tested |
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All electric with 282bhp |
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Three options 373 km; 427 km and 576km |
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some confusing trim options, but even the standard kit is impressive |
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probably not the coolest choice out there, but among the best |
We should know by now that any new Skoda product is going to be good – just because they are.
We know them to be reasonably-priced, beautifully built and endowed with an increasing sense of elan on the design front; they are also reliable (largely), practical and, embarrassingly for parent company VW, better than anything coming out of Wolfsburg.
Anything the Skoda people put their hands to, seems to be intuitively on the money and, even when they are thrown a curveball – like designing a new ground-up EV – they seem to be able to make more of the equipment and technology they are allowed access to than anyone else is the VW Group, including Volkswagen itself.
That was most certainly the case with the Enyaq EV (actually called the iV under Skoda naming policy), a brilliant design which, aside from embarrassing the original VW ID.4 with its style, capabilities and passenger orientation, has gone on to shift nearly a quarter-of-a-million units since it went into production in November 2020.
Now we have the smaller Elroq which, in real terms, is probably a better car than its bigger sibling and one which could be at the forefront of the EV sales revival in the coming months and another huge success for the Czech brand.
Despite arriving chez Colley in a vile green overcoat, called ‘Timiano green’ which was most redolent of duck-egg green, like you used to paint the underside of your Airfix model of the Spitfire. However, I found this mushy-pea green colour to be deeply unattractive.
But then – and clearly mirroring the old axiom that ‘you never can tell’ – numerous female acquaintances remarked that they did love the colour and would be only too happy to have it in their driveway, so from very limited market testing, it seemed that the colour scheme attracted women in particular.
I can tell you, though, that irrespective of gender, whoever drives this car will realise from the off that it is one of the best smaller electrics out there. Such as the new Renault Scenic, the Kia EV3 and the Volvo EX30 are all excellent drives, but this is better again.
The aim from the people at Mlada Boleslav with the Elroq was to build a smaller, more efficient version of the Enyaq and it is, essentially, a companion car for the Karoq SUV, but without the ICE powerplants that power it. It is part of Skoda’s aim to offer electric models alongside some of its most popular diesels, petrols and hybrids.
Fittingly for a new model, it is also the car which Skoda has used to launch its new ‘modern solid’ genre of design. This might sound impressive, but the reality is that they’ve simply dickied around with the front-end design with a new grille (a gloss black strip replacing the old Skoda grille) and, replacing the company’s ‘flying turkey’ badge with the word ‘Skoda’ spelt out across the bonnet instead.
The rear end is very similar to that of the Enyaq, but that’s no bad thing and, all in all, the Elroq is a very smart looking thing rather than being outstandingly beautiful. Indeed, in many ways that sort of thinking – practicality and purpose ahead of unnecessarily fancy-dan stuff – that characterises the car.
One of the first things any sensible person looks into when researching an EV is the range and, like its EV sibling, this one is very good – right now.
I know I have teased technology coming down the tracks from BMW – I can’t fully tell you about it because, under pain of death, it has been embargoed until early next month. However, we have long known that the car companies are working hard on new battery technologies to try and finally put to bed the range anxiety issues that have dogged the EV genre from the outset.
That said, Skoda boasts a 576 km range for the Elroq we tested and, as of this moment, that’s pretty much as good as it gets. There are actually three variants available – 55-kWh, 63-kWh and 82-kWh – and it was the most potent we tried. The respective ranges for the three are: 373 km; 427 km; and, this one, with the aforementioned 576 km at hand.
It will charge to 80% in 28 minutes and a full home charge takes eight hours and, from a performance point of view it has 282 bhp, does the 0-100 km/h dash in 6.6 seconds and the top speed is 180 km/h. All three variants are rear-wheel drive, although there will be a 4x4 when the vRS version arrives.
Like most EVs, the official figures for range are easily questioned and with this one I found that the real figure – for heavy-footed me – was actually somewhere around the 490 km mark, but, again, this is pretty good in comparative terms.
The interior is very nicely put together and the dashboard is particularly attractive, modern and functional; not quite as adventurous as, say, the Cupra Tavascan, but very thoughtfully designed and easy to live with and use.
The use of fabric as a primary surface cover is becoming more and more commonplace, but what’s been chosen here is very attractive and looks like it will easily withstand daily family abuses. There is a 13” touchscreen for all the infotainment functions and there is also a strip of physical buttons for the climate controls and certain driver assist functions, including the damnable speed warning bonging.
It is another example where Skoda gives a clean pair of heels to VW; also, stuff like the ubiquitous umbrella in the driver’s door are there, while the orange-coloured seat belts add an unexpected brightness to proceedings.
On top of that, the seating is really comfortable, interior space is excellent (for a supposedly small SUV) and the boot space too is generous. And, at 470 litres, the boot is usefully sized.
On the road, the Elroq does nothing exceptional, but everything really well. There are no gimmicks here, just good design and engineering; ride comfort is really impressive even on some of our worst surfaces and the handling is well up to what any demanding driver might ask of it.
Simply, this is a car that does everything well – it likes the urban environment, is a smoothy on the motorway and takes to open B-Roads with elan. It does tick many boxes.
And so we arrive at a conclusion. The Elroq is almost certainly not the coolest choice of cars, but it has excellent driving manners, a truly useable range, a well-built and comfortable interior, oodles of practicality.
We have long championed Skoda for making the best cars of any brand under the VW Group umbrella and this is another example of just that.
We really liked the Enyaq as an early electric contender, but this car takes all that was good with that model and brings it to a new level of competence. And that’s why – even given the questionable colour – we have no hesitation in giving it a five-star rating.
