Skoda Elroq – clever detail, impressive performance and a nice drive!
Words by Mark Slack
One of the most frequent questions motoring writers are asked is, ‘What’s the best car I can buy?’. Of course, the answer depends on what the car needs to do and what are the owner’s personal motoring preferences. I was recently asked this very question and after some chat we determined a family car, not too large, with some practicality and eco credentials should tick all boxes. The car we came up with was Skoda’s Elroq.
Priced from £31,170 this is the Czech company’s first all-electric compact SUV and takes a lot of the clever thinking from the company’s Enyaq. Three battery capacities offer potential range, depending on specification, from 232 miles to 360 miles. There are five trim levels and standard equipment across the line-up includes navigation, heated seats and steering wheel, dual zone climate, cruise control and parking sensors.
The usual clever touches from Skoda are present, including umbrella pockets in the front doors – you get a driver’s umbrella but a passenger one is an optional extra, a height adjustable rear parcel shelf, detachable storage tray on the rear floor by the centre seat, an ice scraper with tyre tread depth gauge, mobile phone pockets and an integrated funnel in the screen wash reservoir to make filling up dribble-free. It may all sound small and superficial but shows the thought that has gone into the design.
Externally the Elroq looks the part of the modern EV without that kind of in-your-face look which seems to be the norm with EV design these days. Inside there is plenty of space, a large 13-inch centre display and a smaller rather busy screen in front of the driver. The clarity is excellent but as with all touchscreen operation it becomes a bit of a pain having to dig into menus to operate functions and controls. Fortunately, Skoda have included buttons (hurrah!) for some of the controls which does make for a more convenient, less frustrating, and in my view safer drive.
Build quality is excellent and the ride comfortable and surprisingly responsive, especially if the adaptive chassis control is specified. Three modes are offered: normal, comfort and sport. There’s lots of competition in this sector from the likes of Kia, Hyundai and Renault to name but a few. The Elroq makes them work hard to compete as it is an all-round performer with some lovely detail touches and makes perfect practical, performance and financial sense.
Words by Mark Slack
