Skoda Enyaq iV 80 - long-term review

That's it then. My first ever electric long-termer has departed. I don't think there's ever been a car I've run that has had such an impact on my motoring life.

When Ollie Kew suggested that I should run an EV, my heart sank a little. You see, I love cars, I love mechanical things and I love engines. And yet here I was given a car that had no gearbox, no engine and used no petrol. Alien to me.

The Skoda Enyaq didn’t need to convince me that EVs work just as well as petrol cars, it needed to convince me that they can work for busy family life. And be good, obviously. And boy was it good. I’ve learnt a lot. I’ve made mistakes, mainly in my driving style – initially in winter I couldn’t get over 200 miles of range, but I wasn’t driving it right.

Once using the regen drive tech correctly, I got roughly 250 miles. That’s enough for weekly school trips, commuting, weekend taxi runs and the odd longer journey.

Despite Skoda’s preference for form following function, this is a sharp looking design, while still maxing out on space – 585 litres in the boot, and loads of backseat legroom, too. At first I found the huge 13-inch screen in the centre – which seems to be the trend with EVs these days for controlling everything (thankfully Skoda left a few physical buttons) – overwhelming, and needed a lot of time to get used to finding everything. It’s not simple, which is a shame as there is a sense of less is more about this car.

So did the Enyaq convince an EV sceptic like me? Yes, I think it did. They can work in the real world but I still think we need to be getting towards them achieving 400 miles regularly before many more feel convinced. Still, I sold at least two in the school car park – you’re welcome Skoda.

When you put it in the context of the Mustang Mach-E, which costs an extra £25k but effectively does the same thing, the Enyaq isn’t just a bargain, it’s the bargain of the century. Výborně, Skoda.