The Skoda Enyaq came to market in 2021 sharing the same platform as the Volkswagen ID.4 & Audi Q4 e-tron. Skoda have not rested on their laurels & recently introduced a coupe Enyaq the vRS, the first electric Skoda to take the brands performance moniker. Does it deserve the vRS badging ? Read on to find out.
Exterior
There’s no doubting that the coupe Enyaq is far more striking than the SUV version. You pay more for the coupe & it adds 20″ alloys, acoustic glass, matrix LED lights & the stand out, illuminated ‘Crystal Face’ grille that lights up at night when you unlock the car. The front end is smooth & there’s a clam shell effect to the bonnet lid. From the side it looks more like a normal ICE petrol Octavia saloon. The rear end has a slight boot lip, two narrow triangular rear light clusters & a deep rear window.
Interior
Open the door & you’ll notice a high quality finished black & chrome dashboard & 3-spoke leather steering wheel. The dash itself is uncluttered with most functions operated by the centrally mounted 13″ touchscreen. There are some function buttons underneath & multi-media & ADAS can be operated via the steering wheel controls. The leather seats feature a perforated surface, which continues in the rear.
Equipment
Standard on all vRS models are 20” Taurus alloy wheels with aero insert, the 13″ touchscreen, 8 speakers, black exterior styling, adaptive cruise control, DAB, Apple CarPlay/Android Auto connectivity, heated front seats, LED Matrix beam headlights, electrically operated tailgate with kick activation, keyless entry & start, a fixed panoramic glass sunroof & wireless charging.
Skoda have gone all premium with a selection of extra ‘packages’ such as, Comfort Seat, Family, Climate, Light & View, Chrome, Transport, Assisted Drive, Parking & Infotainment.
Battery & power performance
The Enyaq vRS is fitted with an 82kWh battery, 77kWh of which is usable, coupled to two electric motors delivering a maximum power output of 299PS with torque of 460Nm. The twin-motor powertrain delivers a 0-62mph time of 6.4 seconds & a top speed of 111mph.
Range & charging
Skoda claims an official range of 323 miles & a WLTP consumption of 3.8 miles/kWh. In reality, you can expect 250 miles. Charge from 10-80% in 35 minutes thanks to 135kW charging, or at home using a standard 7kWh charger like our own Rolec, http://www.rolecserv.com/home-charging a full charge will take about 11 hours. As ever, plug-in at home at night for cheaper EV rates.
Practicality
Even with its coupe profile, the vRS still offers generous 570-litre boot, which is only 15 litres smaller than the 585 litres in the Enyaq SUV. There’s a fold down rear armrest that opens fully for skis. The boot alos features a flat floor with space underneath to store your charging cables.
Up front, there’s a couple of small drinks holders & a central storage tray, plus under arm storage, twin front door pockets, a glove box, a wireless phone charger & twin C USB’s.
Company benefits
With just 2% BIK, @45% you’ll pay just £41 a month for the 2023/24 financial year with a P11D value from £54,370. We’d hate to see what the Octavia vRS rate is !
Driving & comfort
Let’s hit the vRS query head on. On paper the Enyaq coupe is massively impressive especially from 0-30mph & is in fact two tenths of a second quicker to 62mph than an Octavia vRS. A couple of things spoil it though. Firstly, it’s all done in silence so it never feels that fast. And secondly, the 88kWh battery adds a lot of weight to the electric vRs so at 2,367kg, it just can’t match an Octavia vRS for sheer unadulterated driving fun.
Furthermore, delve deeper & you’ll discover that because it’s an electric car, maximum output is delivered in 10 second bursts & then only when the car is at least 88% charged & the temperature is compliant. Since it’s advisable to only charge your EV battery regularly to 80% then we’re not really sure when your vRS will be a vRS ?
There is some good news though. Despite the battery weight, we found the vRS handled bad road surfaces better than many other BEV’s we’ve driven, at least in Eco & Normal mode anyway.
Because the rear motor is more powerful than the front, the power is delivered unevenly & you get a lot of oversteer, especially in Sport mode. And the cars weight does make it’s presence felt when cornering.
The trade off with an EV is that in most cases your looking to ensure your batteries are kept topped up, which means driving in Eco mode & utilising the steering wheel paddles to set up the different levels, three, of brake regeneration which do add extra miles to your range. From the gear sector, it’s also possible to engage the full ‘B’ regenerative braking set-up & this is the closest the vRS gets to one pedal driving.
As far as passenger comfort goes, we took a family trip fully loaded & everyone enjoyed the space on offer with the panoramic sunroof making the car feel larger than it actually is on the inside. All of the driver connectivities worked well, so connecting to wireless CarPlay made life easy & on the motorway the Adaptive Cruise Control is easy to work via the steering wheel switches.
It’s worth noting that we didn’t exceed 70mph on the motorway & spent a good part of the 100 mile journey in 60mph speed limits on the M6, which undoubtedly helped with our battery range. Driving locally, the regenerative braking definitely adds miles to your range, we’d surmise as much as 15%, which is more good news.
Owning a VW Tiguan means that we we’re all too familiar with the VW Groups infotainment idiosyncrasies, such as the touch sensitive volume control you can’t see at night & having to re select the driving mode every time you re start the car. Our biggest issue though is that the climate controls are located within the touchscreen set-up, so are fiddly to work & something we’re not keen on.
There is good news though. In the fixture, finish & fitting department, the Skoda is streets ahead of the VW ID 4 & 5 & feels almost as premium as a the much more expensive Audi Q4. And finally, the useful boot space took all of our gear with room to spare another tick from us.
Pros
2% BIK. Definitely stands out in crowd. Coupe looks but SUV practical. Premium both inside & out. Better than an ID. 5
Cons
Heavy to drive & therefore never quite feels like a proper vRS. Some functions are unnecessarily fiddly to implement. The Enyaq 2WD SUV is cheaper.
Conclusion
We liked the Volkswagen ID.5, but the Enyaq vRS is both sexier & better finished & we’d choose it over the VW every time. even in coupe format, it’s a proper family five-seater & offers loads of practical space. It’s also well equipped & features the latest tech & safety features. Furthermore, the BIK benefits are almost impossible to ignore & if you really don’t want a boxy electric SUV, then the coupe is a very good compromise.
4.25/5
