Skoda Elroq review

Driven an Enyaq before? Then there won’t be much to worry you here. Not even a Start button. Simply get in, switch it into D (or B) using the drive selector on the centre console, and away you go. Same story when you get out: pop it into Park and out you jump. Start/stop buttons are so yesterday, don’t ya know?

The steering is well calibrated, acceleration smooth and the brakes pleasingly progressive too. All but entry-level models upwards get paddles on the steering wheel to adjust the level of regen braking, or the B mode will up it to the max. For any EV newbies, there are very few more accessible cars than this.

What’s the ride like?

Certainly on the firmer side, noticeable even on smooth Mallorcan roads and likely only going to be worse back home in the UK. But this goes hand in hand with the composed body control. Adaptive dampers are optionally available, but we reckon they don't make enough of a difference to warrant the £650 cost.

Sportline variants get a progressive steering system for ‘sportier’ handling, which seemingly did little else other than increase the weight slightly, plus sports suspension, with 15mm lower springs up front and 10mm at the rear. We’d give that a pass too, and get a lower trim with smaller wheels for their softer ride.

Is there much performance difference between variants?

The entry-level Elroq 50, with its 168bhp/229lb ft of torque, manages the 0-62mph sprint in 9.0 seconds. By comparison, the Elroq 60 (201bhp/229lb ft) does the same sprint in 8.0s, and the 85 (281bhp/402lb ft) knocks that down to 6.6s.

Oh, and while the former two claim a 99mph top speed, the latter manages 111mph. Like it matters.

We’ve tried the 50 and 85 so far, and while the 50 has plenty of low down shove, the 85 does feel a fair bit keener (enough to push you back in your seat) and keeps pulling strongly all the way up to motorway speed.

But even the 50 felt pleasingly nippy around town (we expect the 60 to be much the same), and any quicker would be at the detriment of range, which is the more pertinent figure here.

Speaking of, how far can I go between charges?

In the Elroq 50, 230 miles. The 60 claims 260 miles, and the 85, 360 miles. At least, those are Skoda’s claimed WLTP figures.

Real world, we saw 3.5mi/kWh in the 50 (compared to the official 3.9mi/kWh rating), which equates to 180-ish miles. In the 85 we only got 3.0mi/kWh, which shakes out at roughly 230 miles. Admittedly we were pushing slightly harder in the latter, so you can beat those numbers.

But if it’s efficiency you’re after, might we suggest the Kia EV3 instead?