SKODA ON A CHARGE (some text hidden) --NONE--

By Jonathan Crouch

Skoda's electric future is currently centred on this clever Enyaq. Jonathan Crouch drives it.

Ten Second Reviewword count: 61

Skoda's first volume market full-electric car, the Enyaq, uses Volkswagen Group EV technology to good effect. Based around the Wolfsburg conglomerate's advanced MEB electrified platform, it nevertheless manages to incorporate a very Skoda look and feel. And in terms of range, charging stats and equipment, will look attractive in the showroom for those who get the right price or lease deal.

Backgroundword count: 200

We're told that the Enyaq ushers in a new era of design and engineering for Skoda. Perhaps it does. A less charitable way of looking at this latest EV is that it's a Czech take on the same technology also used by its VW Group cousins, the Volkswagen ID.4 and the CUPRA Born. Like those two models, this one is a full-electric, 5-door Crossover, larger in size than, say, a Kia Niro EV and offering, according to Skoda, almost the same interior space as its own conventional full-size SUV, the Kodiaq, though with the Enyaq, you can't have seven seats. Full-battery power is nothing new to this Czech maker. But it will be to most of its customers. Which is why so much effort has been made here to help ease them into this brave new world of electrified mobility. The designers have held back on some of the slightly futuristic exterior and cabin styling cues you'll find on some of the EVs in this class. And there are all the usual Skoda 'Simply Clever' practical touches to make ownership that little bit easier. Plus there's the choice of standard hatch or Coupe body styles. Let's take a closer look.

Driving Experienceword count: 350

You ease away in an Enyaq, rather than needing to moderate the kind of frantic forward thrust that seems more normal of an electric vehicle these days. That doesn't really suit any 2.0-tonne SUV and it certainly wouldn't suit this Skoda, the relaxed drive dynamics of which, it's immediately clear, are geared towards lowering the heartbeat rather than raising it. Most Enyaqs are of the rear-motor, rear-driven sort, a format not seen on a Skoda since the brand's budget models of the '60s and '70s and one that benefits this car enormously in town, where it offers an impressively tight 10.2-metre turning circle. Beyond the city limits, traction is impressive but there's a little more body roll through the turns than you'd get with the alternative Volkswagen, CUPRA and Audi versions of this VW Group design. The pay-off for that though, is a much better standard of ride, with suppleness over poor surfaces and speed humps that's un-bettered in this class and is far superior to most rivals. When fitted with an optional folding towbar, any Enyaq iV is also capable of towing trailers weighing up to 1,400kg. There's the choice of two or four wheel drive versions of the Enyaq. The base rear driven model, the Enyaq 50, has a 170PS electric motor powered by a 55kWh battery (net) with a range of 234 miles. Above that sits the Enyaq 85, which has a 286PS motor powered by an 82kWh battery (net) that should produce a total WLTP-rated range of 351 miles. Top speed is 112mph and 62mph from rest takes 6.7 seconds. The alternative longer-ranging mainstream model, the Enyaq 85x, also uses the same 82kWh battery but adds four wheel drive, which means extra weight (hence the reduction in range to 328 miles). It goes fractionally quicker though, the 286PS Enyaq 80x making the 62mph dash to 6.6s. At the top of the range is the Enyaq vRS performance model, which shares its 82kWh battery and 4WD system with the 85x iV, but ups output to 340PS, sprints to 62mph in 5.5s and has a 336 mile range.

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