Skoda Enyaq

From the launch of the Enyaq iV, we were told that it had been 'designed from the ground up' by the brand to deliver 'a completely new driving experience'.

Inevitably, the reality was a little different.

Under the sharply suited skin, this was merely Skoda's take on the five-door upper mid-sized crossover EV design also sold by the VW Group's other marques; Volkswagen had it as the ID.4, Audi as the Q4 e-tron and CUPRA as the Tavascan. Yet even so, there was lots of interest here, the Enyaq being yet another Skoda that pushed the brand up-market.

There was even an alternative swept-back 'Coupe' version of the standard five-door SUV body style to emphasise the point.

In this car's standard form, it was from launch easily the most affordable of the quartet of Wolfsburg-financed EVs we just mentioned.

And, interestingly if you happen to be a follower of the Czech maker, it marked a return to the rear-mounted powertrain and rear wheel drive design layout not seen on Skodas since the infamous budget models of the '60s and '70s.

It was also the only VW Group EV not built in Germany: and the only one to be assembled in a factory still making combustion models. Skoda has always had an eye for electric car design.

It's first one, the Lauren & Klement E - brainchild of engineer and inventor Frantisek Krizik - dates right back to 1908, though that was actually a hybrid, with a 28PS petrol engine generating drive electricity.

But full-electric Skodas were to follow.

A compact truck in the late '30s, the Favorit-based Eltra 151L model for the Swiss market in 1981, the Octavia Green E Line development model in 2011 and, finally, Skoda's first production EV, the short-lived Citigo e IV of 2020. So full-battery power is nothing new to this Czech maker.

But it will be to many of its customers.

Which is why so much effort was made here to help ease them into this brave new world of electrified mobility.

The designers held back on some of the slightly futuristic exterior and cabin styling cues you'll find on some of the EVs in this class from this period.

And there are all the usual Skoda 'Simply Clever' practical touches to make ownership that little bit easier.

In 2023, just as the sporting vRS version arrived, the 'iV' part of this car's name disappeared and it was simply badged the 'Enyaq'.

Here, we'll focus on the early 2021-2024 versions of this model, the cars produced before the mid-term facelift that arrived in early-2025.

From the launch of this Enyaq iV, we were told that the look of this car was 'bold, futuristic and immediately recognisable as a Skoda'.

Well, that rather depends on what you recognise the Skoda to be.

It's safe to say that until 2021, this wasn't the kind of thing you'd have expected to find in one of the Czech maker's showrooms.

We're now in a new era though, one that was enthusiastically embraced here by Oliver Stefani's design team, who set out to create a powerfully elegant full-electric family SUV. It certainly makes a statement at the front.

A grille may be unnecessary to cool an EV but modern automotive design looks ugly without it and with this car's hexagonal appendage, flanked by angular LED headlights, Skoda went all out.

It's from the side that you realise the Enyaq to be a larger, slightly more up-market thing than, say, a MK2 Nissan LEAF or a Kia eNiro from this era.

The near-4.7metre length positions it closer in size to Skoda's spacious Octavia and the wheels - between 19 and 21-inches in size, the largest ever fitted as standard to a Skoda - remind you that this is the VW Group's Czech alternative to an ID.4, not an ID.3.

A bit like its cousin, the Audi Q4 e-tron, this Skoda is available both in conventional SUV form or also with a separate body style offering a slightly sportier silhouette; in that 'Sportback'-style guise, it's called the Enyaq Coupe.

A closer glance at the rear of the SUV version reveals why the more swept-back option was needed: the conventional version would look quite practical and boxy were it not for the way that its tailgate is framed by a matt black roof spoiler. The cabin will be nothing like anything you'll ever have experienced in a Skoda.

Either in terms of quality: or design.

For a start, you're left pleasantly confused as to exactly what kind of car this is, thanks to the way that the slightly raised seating height of a Crossover has been somehow combined with a windscreen that pushes so far forward you'd think you were in a big MPV.

Then there's the dashboard, unusually contoured in a series of layers.

It's all really very up-market, yet combustion engine converts will feel instantly at home, with none of the rather weird and futuristic trimming and design flourishes championed by some rivals in this segment from this period.

Otherwise, once you've worked out that the start button's hidden on the steering column and that the transmission is marshalled by this tiny button between the seats, your first impressions of this cabin are going to be centred around its screen technology. The Enyaq iV ignored the current trend for portrait centre displays, but its 13-inch landscape-orientated monitor is still fashionably big.

Nor, thankfully, was Skoda tempted here to follow the Tesla trend for mounting driving instruments onto the central monitor, these sitting instead in a conventionally binnacled colour screen you view through the steering wheel.

What else? Well the seats are as good as they look, generously proportioned and supportive.

And there's loads of storage space, thanks to a vast open 11.4-litre area below the lower centre console, deep carpeted door bins and a big 6.2-litre stowage box between the seats. Get settled in the back and, as usual in a Skoda, you'll find leg room that's difficult to better in segment.

Two six footers could sit comfortably behind a couple of front seat occupants of the same size.

This is also a wider cabin than you might expect a mid-sized SUV to be able to provide and with no central transmission tunnel to obstruct things, three adults could actually fit reasonably easily into the back of this car. We're going to finish by considering the boot - which by the way you'll have to use for all significant cargo storage because unlike with some other rival EVs in this class, there's no extra luggage room in the nose of the car.

Once the tailgate's raised, a big 585-litre space is revealed.

Despite the presence of an electric motor down under the floor, which eliminates any possibility of having the usual under-floor central storage area.

Or of course, any sort of spare wheel.

You do though, get a deep narrow well beneath the cargo base's leading edge, into which the charging leads can (just about) be stored.

Once the rear bench is retracted, there's up to 1,710-litres of capacity loaded to roof height.

We'll focus on the standard SUV body shape here.

In this form, Enyaq iV prices start at around £16,050 (around £18,450 retail), which gets you a 62kWh 'Loft' version on an early '21-plate.

Try and stretch to the larger-battery 82kWh version, which on an early '21-plate with the same base 'Loft'-spec values from around £19,950 (around £22,250 retail).

The vRS version which arrived in 2023 values from around £28,250 on an early '23-plate.

All quoted values are sourced through industry experts cap hpi.

Click here for a free valuation.

Try and avoid entry-level 50 models whose original owners didn't upgrade the DC charging speed from the standard feeble 50kW level to a more acceptable 100kW.

In terms of ownership issues, we've heard of various problems.

Software glitches seem to be relatively common, like infotainment screen freezing and app sync failures.

Some owners have reported a drain on the accessory 12V battery; and issues with the driver assistance systems, like over-aggressive Lane keeping.

There are a few reports of inconsistencies with the KESSY keyless entry system; and occasionally incorrect speed limit recognition by the car's intelligent speed assistant.

We've also heard of interruptions to charging sessions.

And problems with the projection of the Skoda logo from the side mirrors.

The touch sensors on the door handles can be unreliable in wet or wintry conditions.

And check the media screen's touch input, which occasionally is prone to stop working.

A few owners have reported jerky braking. Otherwise, it's just the usual things with EVs.

Do a thorough charging session.

Make sure that the charging lead hasn't been run over or damaged.

And that the latching mechanism works when you plug and unplug it.

As usual, check for scratched alloys and interior child damage - and insist on a fully stamped up service history.

[based on a 2022 Enyaq iV 60 VAT - autodoc.co.uk] A cabin filter will be priced in the £6-£21 bracket.

The front brake discs we came across sat in the £55-£100 bracket, with pricier-branded discs costing up to £155.

Front brake pads are in the £32 to £135 bracket for a set.

A rear shock absorber is in the £33-£67 bracket.

Wiper blades are in the £6-£11 bracket and a wiper motor will cost in the £37 to £132 bracket.

You ease away in an Enyaq, rather than needing to moderate the kind of frantic forward thrust that seems more normal of an electric vehicle these days.

That doesn't really suit any 2.0-tonne SUV and it certainly wouldn't suit this Skoda, the relaxed drive dynamics of which, it's immediately clear, are geared towards lowering the heartbeat rather than raising it.

Which of course maximises drive range, from launch originally quoted at 256 miles for the volume 62kWh Enyaq iV 60 model - the one most original customers chose, which uses a 180PS rear-mounted electric motor.

From the launch of the larger 82kWh battery Enyak iV 80 model, the range was quoted at 326 miles.

That 80 model has a 204PS rear-mounted motor, but can also be had in AWD form with an extra front-mounted motor, boosting power to either 256 or 299PS, depending on your selection between the '80x' and 'vRS' versions available in this format. Most Enyaqs though, will be rear-motor, rear-driven, a format that prior to this Enyaq iV's launch hadn't been seen on a Skoda since the brand's budget models of the '60s and '70s.

It's one that benefits this car enormously in town, where it offers an impressively tight 10.2-metre turning circle.

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, CUPRA 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. On to charging.

Unfortunately, from the launch of this car, Skoda sought to save a few pennies by downgrading the charging capability of the base Enyaq iV 60 model to just 50kW.

Original buyers had to pay an extra £340 to upgrade this to the proper 100kW level that'll enable you to properly use faster public charge points; make sure that this has been done with any iV 60 model you look at.

From this Enyaq's original launch, the bigger battery iV 80 rear-driven models got 100kW DC Charging capability as standard; with those, original owners could pay £340 more to upgrade to the 125kW DC Charging capability that was standard on the top AWD variants, this allowing use of the new generation of ultra-fast public chargers. AC charging for this 60-series model takes 9 hours and 30 minutes to 100% using a 7.4kW garage wallbox: it'd be 12 hours and 45 minutes for the '80'-series version.

Find a 100kW DC public rapid charger and you can replenish either variant from 10-80% in about 34 minutes.

Note that Skoda upgraded the pre-facelift Enyaq throughout its life between 2021 and 2023, so DC charging speeds (and therefore charging times) will vary slightly, depending on the age of the car you're looking at.

Make sure you know what you're getting.

If you're looking for a family electric car from the 2021-2024 era, for us the Enyaq iV represents a sweet spot in the market - or at least it does in volume Enyaq iV 60 form.

In this guise, your EV buying proposition is super-sized.

The kind of money that would usually get you something family hatch-shaped here gives you a car sized more closely to models in the pricier class above.

Yes, a few notable equipment features are missing in order to achieve this kind of value proposition, but it's still impressive. A Volkswagen ID.4-sized model for the price of a little ID.3 you might say - and you wouldn't be too far wrong.

Skoda certainly made very good use of that same German engineering here, though it's annoying that the drive modes and adjustable brake regeneration paddle systems that come with it are usually absent here.

More significantly, the charging speeds of early versions of this model were woefully slow at the bottom end of the line-up.

A typical Skoda customer might not mind all of that though.

Or the rather relaxed way that this car goes about its business on the road.

These people may well value more this Crossover's impressive cabin space, superb ride quality and neat 'Simply Clever' practical features.

They'll also like the excellent build quality, the accuracy of the range predictions and the way that pricier trim levels finish the cabin in a really classy way. The Enyaq iV was supposed to open up a fresh era for this Czech maker - and to some extent it did.

Future EVs from this brand have since proved to be a little more Skoda-like, but this one set welcome a trend for its successors - that of offering more for less.

It's an approach that's characterised the company for as long as we can remember and we're pleased that it continued here.

More importantly, we think you will be too.