PLUGGING AND PLAYING(some text hidden)

By Jonathan Crouch

Ten Second Review word count: 40

The Enyaq Coupe is the Skoda marque's smartest and most sophisticated car yet and this, the 340PS vRS AWD performance flagship model, offers this EV contender in its most desirable form. But a £55,000 Skoda? Really? Let's take a look.

Background word count: 102

British buyers have always liked Skoda's vRS performance badge. The Czech maker even calls this 'a love affair'. Well that affection's going to be tested by this car, by far the priciest Skoda ever brought to sale, the Enyaq Coupe vRS. This car, also available with vRS trim in the more conventional boxier Enyaq body style, takes the fast EV mechanicals already used in top versions of Volkswagen Group mid-sized Crossover coupe electric vehicles like the Volkswagen ID.5 and the Audi Q4 Sportback e-tron. But delivers them here with more of a performance vibe. Does it work? Let's take a closer look.

Driving Experience word count: 251

As you'd expect, this top Enyaq Coupe gets the largest available 77kWh battery available to Volkswagen Group mid-sized EV models of this sort - but that's no surprise because all Enyaq Coupe models also come fitted with it. Here though, that energy source is matched with an uprated version of the dual motor AWD powertrain that also features in slightly less powerful form in the Enyaq iV Coupe 80x. In this case though, instead of the 286PS output of that car, you get 340PS to play with and 545Nm of torque. As a result, the vRS takes only 5.5 seconds to sprint to 62mph, on the way to a limited top speed of 111mph. Driving range is 336 miles. This SUV Coupe is superbly manoeuvrable for its size, jinking through traffic hold-ups and darting into spaces. As with other electric vehicles, this one's town travel is characterised by its need to constantly emit a strange 'e-sound', intended to warn pedestrians of its impending approach. You wonder though, why it's necessary for this feature to sound so other-worldly; other brands use film composers to create more pleasant melodies. 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 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.