Skoda Elroq preview: hands-on with the £31,500 electric SUV that’ll give budget brands a hard time

• Carwow gets acquainted with the new Skoda Elroq
• Affordable new EV costs from £31,500
• Up to 360 miles range from top model
• Plenty of space and ‘Simply Clever’ design features
• Debuts Skoda’s latest styling language
• Order books open now

Skoda has launched its second purpose-built electric car. The new Elroq sits beneath the larger Enyaq, and while that car is an alternative to popular EVs such as the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Tesla Model Y, the Elroq will aim straight for the same sort of people who might consider buying a Volkswagen ID3, Peugeot E-3008 or Renault Scenic.

It’s around the same size as the Skoda Karoq SUV, and amazingly it’s close to the same price too. We’ve had a good few hours to poke around a static Elroq, checking out the interior and practicality, so keep reading to find out what we made of this important new EV.

Is the Skoda Elroq a good car?

The new Skoda Elroq is like the second act from a new smartphone manufacturer. The first one’s always ambitious, glitzy and premium – like the Skoda Enyaq – but the second is usually the one that’s aimed at the masses and worth buying. It’ll have some of the kinks worked out and lessons learned from the difficult first album.

The Elroq is smaller than the Enyaq – while the latter is more the size of a Tesla Model Y, with a cavernous boot and luxurious rear space, the Elroq is more proletarian. It’s around the same dimensions as a Karoq SUV, meaning there are any number of mid-sized electric cars you’ll be considering alongside it.

The Elroq doesn’t exactly shout about itself visually. Though it debuts Skoda’s new styling language – called ‘Modern Solid, if you were interested – it looks smart but inoffensive and pretty dull. The model we saw was in a pretty dismal metallic grey, though more cheerful shades will be available and do improve matters.

There are a few key changes. The first is the new family ‘face’. Skoda calls it the Tech Deck and it’s actually quite tidy – it hides all the cameras and sensors required for a car in 2024 and hides them behind a gloss black grille. There’s no fake slats or vents hinting at an engine which isn’t there, and it’s much neater than the big sensors blocks that you find even on some luxury models.

What you might notice is that above the Tech Deck the name ‘Skoda’ is spelled out, rather than having the Skoda emblem. The same is true at the rear of the car and on the steering wheel inside – the only place you’ll see Skoda’s classic winged arrow symbol is on the wheel caps.

Being smaller than the Enyaq doesn’t necessarily mean the Elroq is less practical. Though it’s 17cm shorter, it still gets a roomy 470-litre boot and plenty of rear legroom. The Scenic and E-3008 have more boot space, but they’re physically larger and quite a bit more expensive.

And Skoda’s loaded up on the ‘Simply Clever’ features that its owners love so much. The Elroq gets typical Skoda features like a pair of umbrellas in the front doors, a built-in ice scraper and little nubbins in the cupholders to keep a bottle steady while you open it – but it also introduces some new ones, like a multi-position parcel shelf that even incorporates charging cable storage.

The Elroq comes with a choice of three different batteries and powertrains. The entry-level 50 battery has 55kWh of capacity and gives an official range on a charge of 230 miles – and most importantly, is a very similar price to the Karoq SUV. Meanwhile, those spending a bit more can go all the way up to an 82kWh battery with a range of up to 360 miles.

If the Skoda Elroq sounds like your cup of tea, you’re in the right place – as soon as it’s available to order you’ll find the best possible deals right here on Carwow. You can check out our other Skoda deals here, or get a great price on a used Skoda for sale here. And remember, Carwow’s the place to come if you want to sell your old car – we can do it quickly and effectively through our network of trusted dealers.

How much is the Skoda Elroq?

Prices for the Elroq kick off at an impressively low £31,500. That undercuts almost every electric car of this size – a Kia Niro EV, Peugeot E-3008, Renault Scenic or even the much smaller VW ID3 are all closer to £40,000.

Trim levels start at SE, which comes with the smallest battery pack. SE L models get more kit and the 60 battery pack, while you’ll have to step up to Edition trim for the biggest 85 battery pack with its 360-mile range. If you want the big battery, it’ll cost you from £38,650, which is still a very good price for a car that’s this big and practical. The range tops out at £41,600.

The SE trim comes with LED lights, 19-inch wheels, artificial leather upholstery and single-zone climate control, while stepping up to SE L nets you a heated steering wheel and front seats, built-in sat-nav, dual-zone climate control and selectable driving modes. Edition trim adds a different alloy wheel design and dark chrome trim on the outside, plus wireless phone charging, keyless entry and the ‘Travel Assist Plus’ suite of assisted driving features.

Sportline, meanwhile, is the Elroq’s flagship trim level with a microsuede interior trim, carbon inserts, sports seats and a three-spoke wheel. It also gets 20-inch alloy wheels, matrix LED headlights and a unique Sportline bodykit.

Space and practicality

The similarly-sized Skoda Karoq is one of the most practical mid-sized SUVs you can buy, so if Skoda’s hoping to turn its own buyers onto electric power then the Elroq needs to deliver here. Up front, you get comfortable seats with plenty of adjustment – the steering wheel adjusts a long way, too, and with all the driver information condensed onto a small digital display there’s very little chance of you blocking it with the wheel.

Storage cubbies are plentiful, with a big glovebox and nice underarm storage bin, plus a big area under the centre console ideal for a tissue box or similar. The driver also gets their own little felt-lined compartment down by their knee, perfect to keeping keys or coins that you don’t want to rattle around.

The door bins are large, with dividers in to keep bottles upright. It’s a shame the cupholders are very small, though they do have useful nubbins on the bottom intended to grip a bottle of water or Coke and allowing you to open the top one-handed.

Space in the back seats

Skoda has something of a reputation for capacious back seats, and here the Elroq is good if not quite class-leading. Two six-foot adults will have plenty of space to stretch out, though it’s a shame you can’t put your feet under the seat in front. There’s definitely more legroom than there is in a Peugeot E-3008, but a Renault Scenic has more space still.

The cabin isn’t really wide enough to take three burly adults, but they’d be fine for short journeys. And if there’s only two, you get a nice comfortable central armrest. Rear passengers also get their own heating controls, USB-C charging ports to keep devices topped up, and smart little pockets in the rear seatbacks designed specially for smartphones. The rear windows go all the way down, too.

Boot space

With 470 litres of room, the Elroq does lag behind the 520-litre Peugeot E-3008 or 545-litre Renault Scenic here. But it’s a good, useful space, and more larger than you’d find in most equivalently-priced electric hatchbacks.

There are plenty of hooks and loops to hang shopping bags from, and though there’s only a small slice of storage underneath the boot floor Skoda’s come up with an even smarter solution for storing the charging cable – there’s a net hanging underneath the parcel shelf. This is, if anything, even better than having an underfloor compartment as it means you can easily access the cable even when the boot is full.

The parcel shelf has a couple of other tricks, too. You can position it at a half-height – great if you want to separate muddy or wet items underneath and lighter, dry ones above. You can also store it flat against the rear seatbacks, so you don’t have to leave it at home if you want to transport taller items.

Above the wheel arches – usually wasted space – Skoda’s fit a couple of useful shelves, ideal for keeping screenwash, a torch, or other paraphernalia. Not that you need to keep your own ice-scraper for the winter months, as there’s one neatly stored in the side of the tailgate.

The rear seats fold 60:40 and go down pretty flat, and there’s a ski hatch for long, thin items.

Interior style, infotainment and accessories

The Elroq’s dashboard is very similar to the Enyaq’s. It’s dominated by a massive 13.0-inch touchscreen, which controls all of the car’s functions – sadly, Skoda hasn’t implemented the neat physical dials you get in the Kodiaq and Superb.

Still, it’s an improvement over the Enyaq’s because it comes with updated software, which makes the screen more responsive and brings key functions much closer to hand. You get two permanent shortcut bars at the top and bottom – the latter is for the climate controls, while at the top you can choose which functions you’d like easy access to.

The driver display is much more minimalist – at just 5.0 inches across, it’s positively dinky compared to the huge screens you get on some alternatives. But truly, you don’t need digital manifestations of physical dials in an electric car – all you really need on the move is a digital speed readout, your remaining range, and some indicator lights, and that’s just what Skoda gives you. There’s also a high-def head-up display available on upper models.

Quality up front is very nice indeed, especially considering the Elroq’s price point. Lime the Enyaq, the dash is fully covered in soft-touch imitation leather, and though we’d expect this to be monochrome on lower models it will doubtless come in a selection of nice shades to really give the interior a lift. Material choices elsewhere are good, though you do feel cheap ones moving lower on the dashboard and in the rear seats. But that’s to be expected and is true of all the Elroq’s alternatives.

Electric range, charging and tax

Official range figures for the Elroq are pretty competitive. There are three battery sizes available, named 50, 60, and 85. The entry-level 50 gets a 52kWh battery, good for an official range on a full charge of 230 miles. That’s competitive with what you get from many smaller electric cars, and makes this entry-level Elroq really useful if you need a large vehicle but don’t need to travel too far.

The 60 battery is 63kWh in capacity and has a 250-mile range – it comes with a bump in trim specification too. The long-range option is the 85, which has an 82kWh battery for a 360-mile official range. The Renault Scenic E-Tech and standard range Peugeot E-3008 can do 379 and 326 miles respectively, so the Elroq’s figure is competitive – though the E-3008 is available with an extra-large battery pack for more than 400 miles of range.

The Elroq can charge at up to 175kW, which gives the 85 battery the ability to top up from 10-80% in 28 minutes at a suitably powerful fast charger. The 50 and 60 batteries charge slower, but they’re smaller, and manage the same charge in 25 minutes. As an EV, vehicle excise duty and company car tax on the Elroq will be very competitive.

Power outputs are linked to the battery sizes. The basic Elroq 50 gets 170hp. The 60 model boosts this to 204hp – and both have a limited top speed of 99mph. Go up to the top 85 model and you get 286hp and a top speed of 111mph. All Elroq models will be rear-wheel drive to start with, but we’d expect a range-topping 85x to introduce a front motor for four-wheel drive.

Safety and security

The Elroq hasn’t been tested by Euro NCAP just yet, but it’s very closely related to the Enyaq which scored a very high five-star rating when it was tested back in 2021, with excellent protection in all four categories.

With up to nine airbags and the usual array of safety equipment, we’d be surprised if the Elroq didn’t repeat its bigger brother’s performance.

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