Skoda Enyaq vRS 2023 long-term test
Will our latest arrival give us what we expect from a driver’s car, an EV and a Skoda?
*Why we’re running it:* To see if a vRS badge can make an electric car exciting and if the Skoda Enyaq vRS is a case-in-point
-Month 1 - Specs-
-Life with a Skoda Enyaq vRS: Month 1-
*Welcoming the Enyaq vRS to the fleet - 1 Feburary 2023*
Sometimes you get a subliminal sense of where a car is aimed at by reading the press bumf that comes with the launch. It’s like a politician’s speech: if he or she mentions ‘change’ 25 times in 30 minutes, you know there’s a transformation coming. Well, that’s what they would like you to think, at any rate…
With the Skoda Enyaq iV vRS, it’s not quite so clear-cut. Sure, there’s a healthy dose of “sporty” and “athletic”, but more where the design is concerned rather than the chassis or suspension. The power gets a look-in, but not with any headline claims; instead, we’re treated to a short intro on it being its maker’s first all-electric car and how sustainable it is.
So what actually is it? In summary, it’s Skoda’s first EV but with the wick turned up. At 295bhp, it’s the most powerful car Skoda has yet built, offering a 0-62mph time of 6.5sec thanks to its four-wheel-drive set-up (twin permanent magnet synchronous motors) and a battery with a 77kWh usable capacity.
That battery, mounted skateboard-style as a result of the Enyaq running on the Volkswagen Group’s MEB platform (pub ammo: it’s the first MEB car to be built outside of Germany), is good for a claimed range of 323 miles.
We’ve done only a few hundred miles in the car so far but, unsurprising spoiler alert, it’s not getting anywhere near that so far. It joined us in freezing conditions and stubbornly refused to move above 220 miles, even with pre-conditioning in the morning. When the temperature climbed to high single figures, it still failed to creep above 224 miles on 100% charge. My commute is 120 miles each way, so it’s going to be interesting to see how I get on with that.
The car has a claimed maximum charging rate of 135kW, so hopefully that will help out. Time will tell. Get further into the promo material and Skoda does start to talk more about the “dynamic” Enyaq. This is encouraging. The Czechs, with the vRS brand, have built a solid reputation for offering decent driver’s cars that don’t sacrifice comfort and usability at the altar of sports car handling. Hopefully the Enyaq will follow in that tradition.
To the specifics of our car. It’s largely free of options: only the 21in alloy wheels, with aero spats, are an extra. And even they’re not especially pricey, at £690. I would say that this demonstrates Skoda hasn’t lost its value edge, but in total the car costs £54,990, so not quite Dacia levels of value.
It’s interesting to see people’s reactions to that price. Because of the eye-searing Hyper Green paint (a no-cost option), the car certainly gets a lot of attention with plenty asking what it is. Tell them it’s a Skoda and they’re still intrigued. Tell them it costs £55k and there’s a lot of teeth-sucking. These EV prices are going to be bitter pills for a lot of the population to swallow.
All the vRS design addenda like deeper sills and bumpers come as standard, including the jazzy Crystal Face that performs a light show à la Audi when you unlock the thing. I think it’s a tidy-looking car, but let’s be honest, it could perform the hula and you wouldn’t see beyond the paint colour.
The interior is a bit more subdued, but I like the way some elements of the exterior are carried through, such as the green strip lighting across the dashboard and doors and elements of the door frames peeping through. It gives a sense that care has been taken.
The car does have the dominating touchscreen and tiny dash screen of other electric VW Group cars. Let’s just be positive and say I’m prepared to keep an open mind at this stage…
One early bonus of life with the Enyaq – and a coupé, remember – is that the boot is plenty big enough. I’ve already had kids’ bikes in it, dogs and luggage for a weekend away, and so far it has swallowed everything easily. It does mean having to take the parcel shelf out (I’m already missing the Honda Civic’s neat solution – see p64), but at 570 litres it’s only 15 litres down on the Enyaq SUV. Our vRS also houses the cable storage under the boot floor, which is a neat solution.
It’s going to be an interesting few months. I’m intrigued to find out if the lack of fanfare around the handling is a deliberate trick, a way to test people’s reactions to the car before going all in and declaring an electric vRS a driving hero. Certainly, the information around the Octavia vRS majors on chassis prowess much more prominently. Stay tuned to find out.
*Second Opinion*
I like the Enyaq iV vRS, because the Enyaq in general is a great electric SUV, and in my experience the vRS is simply a slightly faster, more dynamic Enyaq. Sometimes it can be that simple, but perhaps there are hidden depths to be discovered over a longer term.
*Piers Ward*
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-Skoda Enyaq Coupe vRS specification-
*Specs: Price New* £54,370 *Price as tested* £54,990 *Options *21in Vision anthracite metallic wheels,£620
*Test Data: Engine* twin permanent magnet synchronous motors, 77kWh battery *Power* 295bhp *Torque* 339lb ft *Kerb weight* 2183kg *Top speed* 111mph *0-62mph* 6.5sec *Range* 323 miles *Economy* 3.7mpkWh (WLTP) *Faults* None *Expenses* Screenwash £5.99
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