Skoda Elroq review

Skoda has long had a no-nonsense approach to its cars and this carries on with the Elroq. It breaks little new ground in the electric family SUV market, but doesn’t come up short in any area either; in effect, it condenses everything we like about the larger Enyaq into a wieldy, more affordable package, while offering a few unique design touches inside and out. It can’t quite match the warranty of Korean rivals or the boot space of the Renault Scenic, but as an all-rounder it’s yet another Skoda that hits the mark.

Details, specs and alternatives

The Skoda Elroq is the latest addition to the Czech manufacturer’s range of electric cars, giving buyers the option of an EV at roughly the same position in the market held by the hugely popular, but combustion-powered, Skoda Karoq. It’s a handily sized, but not enormous family SUV (it sits below the electric Enyaq, and competes with the likes of the Renault Scenic and Kia EV3), and yet another car that sits on the Volkswagen Group’s MEB electric platform – which encompasses everything from the Golf-sized Volkswagen ID.3, to the eyecatching ID.Buzz, and even the Ford Capri.

There are four trim levels to choose from, along with three battery sizes, but regardless of which Elroq you pick, you’ll get four doors and a 470-litre boot. Kicking off the range is the Elroq SE fitted with a 52kWh battery, and it starts at £31,500. This undercuts a number of rivals, including the Renault Megane E-Tech, Volvo EX30, Hyundai Kona Electric and Kia EV3.

Although it’s the smallest battery in the line-up, the 52kWh unit still covers a respectable 232 miles on the WLTP Combined cycle. The single rear-mounted motor also produces 168bhp. If this isn’t enough, though, you can move up to SE L trim and a 59kWh pack from £33,350. This larger battery bumps the Elroq’s range up to 265 miles, and the motor’s power output is increased to 201bhp. 

For maximum range and power, though, you’ll need to opt for the largest 77kWh battery. This pack is only available in the higher-end Edition and SportLine variants, and these will set you back by at least £38,650 and £41,600 respectively. If you do decide to splash this extra cash, you’ll be rewarded with 282bhp on tap and a claimed range of up to 355 miles.

Standard kit across the range includes a 13-inch infotainment touchscreen and a five-inch driver’s display, LED headlights, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a rear-view camera, and a height-adjustable boot floor. You’ll benefit from a host of driver-assistance features too, with blind-spot detection, lane-keep assist, and emergency steering support, plus Skoda’s renowned ‘Simply Clever’ convenience features, covered in further detail below. Edition models get extra kit including a heated steering wheel, heated front seats, selectable driving modes, adaptive cruise control and keyless entry.

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The Elroq 50 has theoretical efficiency of nearly 4.5 miles per kilowatt hour, a figure that increases to nearly 4.7mi/kWh in the Elroq 85 with its larger battery. On our drive we found a figure of 3.7mi/kWh more realistic in the 85, which means real-world efficiency is similar to several other EVs of this size. Our figure results in a range of 285 miles – 75 miles less than quoted by Skoda, but still competitive in this segment.

For the usual 10-80 per cent top-up, you’re looking at 25 minutes to charge the Elroq 50 (55kWh pack, 52kWh of which is usable) at its maximum 145kW charging rate, 24 minutes for the Elroq 60 (63kWh pack, 59kWh usable) with its faster 165kW charging, and 28 minutes for the Elroq 85, which is a touch faster again on charging speed at 175kW, but has a larger battery (82kWh, 77kWh usable) to top up. Expect a home charge at 7.4kW to take roughly seven hours in any version.

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A typical 9p/kWh overnight home tariff means you’ll pay just shy of £7 for a 100 per cent charge in the Elroq with the largest battery, the 85. To put that another way, with a real-world range of around 285 miles, you’ll be paying around two pence per mile.

On the other hand, a 10-80 per cent top-up at a rapid charger, equivalent to 54kWh in the Elroq 85, would cost just over £40 at a typical 75p/kWh rate, which equates to around 20p/mile, or ten times as much. So, there’s no question over what option will be easiest on your bank balance – you’ll save heaps by plugging in at home whenever you can.

The Elroq is backed by Skoda’s typical three-year/60,000-mile warranty, and sits in insurance groups 22-32 depending on the model – higher than equivalent combustion vehicles but not out of the ordinary for an EV of this type.

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Like most Skodas, the Elroq’s driving experience is geared towards comfort and easy handling over any kind of sporting appeal – despite the availability of some fairly punchy electric motors and the brisk performance that results. 

Even the 50 performs well, though, and unlike driving a less powerful petrol model, it doesn’t need to be constantly worked hard to make progress. You have the option of driving in normal D mode, along with a B mode that offers a higher level of regenerative braking – we did find the middle pedal to feel rather spongy, though, and the system does stop short of full one-pedal driving, unlike some rivals. If you want to put the power down in a straight line, there’s quite a lot of travel in the throttle pedal, so it’s easy to operate precisely and smoothly. 

The Skoda Elroq’s 9.3-metre turning circle and light steering help it to feel manoeuvrable in tighter spaces, and the well judged suspension copes well with the UK’s far-from-perfect road surfaces.  The refinement, meanwhile, is only ruffled by some wind noise from the door mirrors at higher speeds.

This comfortable ride quality doesn’t come at the expense of poor handling in corners, either, because the SUV treads a pretty careful balance between the two. Our test car was fitted with 20-inch wheels, and we’d expect the ride quality to be even better on Elroqs fitted with the smaller 19-inchers.

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If you’re familiar with recent Skodas, then the Elroq’s interior shouldn’t feel too out of the ordinary. In practical terms it gets a reasonably straightforward dashboard design with the usual large central touchscreen (13 inches) and a smaller display ahead of the driver, a ‘floating’ centre console with a storage cubby below, and some shortcut buttons for minor controls – but more functions are operated through the touchscreen than some drivers might like.

Loft, Lodge, and Suite interior trim options give you different fabrics and textures, with Lodge getting nylon upholstery made from recycled plastics, and orange seatbelts, and Suite mixing genuine and synthetic leather. It’s well built, and reasonably airy.

The touchscreen responds quickly too, and the home screen can be customised – to a degree – to your tastes. Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are both standard, and an ‘entertainment hub’ is on the way; this will incorporate YouTube and other apps, to be used at a standstill while charging, rather than on the move.

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The Elroq manages to pack a 470-litre boot into its relatively compact footprint – not as impressive as the 545 litres from a Renault Scenic, but not bad for a car of this size, and Skoda’s ‘Simply Clever’ features are a bonus. One is a storage net on the underside of the parcel shelf, which is an ideal place to stash charging cables, while another is the height-adjustable parcel shelf. More familiar touches make an appearance too, from an ice scraper (in the bootlid, rather than in the petrol cap on Skoda’s combustion models), to optional rubbish bins, which slot into the door cubbies.

Accommodation is no problem either. Up front there’s an airy feel thanks to the low dash and expansive glass, while even with the front seats arranged for six-foot occupants, there’s decent legroom and headroom in the back, and space to slot your feet under the front seats. The rear seat bases also extend for a little more under-thigh support, to offset the raised floor that is needed to accommodate the battery pack. There are two sets of Isofix tabs for the rear seats, and another set for the front passenger seat.

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The Elroq has hit the roads but it hasn’t yet hit a deformable barrier in Euro NCAP’s laboratory, so there’s currently no star rating for its safety features. Skoda doesn’t tend to fumble the ball on this though, and other cars on the Volkswagen Group’s MEB platform are all five-star performers, so we expect a similar result here.

The Elroq is certainly packed to the gills with safety tech, from driver-assist functions such as emergency steering support, lane-keep assist, and a front-collision alert system, to features that make driving just a little easier and safer, incuding adaptive cruise, a rear-view camera, and blind-spot detection.

Reliability is another relative unknown, but Skoda is generally a strong performer in our Driver Power customer satisfaction survey (for individual vehicles, if not always as a brand). The three-year, 60,000-mile warranty is nothing special compared with the five, seven, or 10-year coverage you get with Hyundai, Kia/MG, and Toyota respectively, but Skoda does let you pay for better coverage, for up to five years/100,000 miles.