Styling
The Elroq's styling is a curious one. It's the model which debuted Skoda's new corporate look, known as 'Modern Solid' and - in the case of this particular SUV - the 'Tech-Deck Face' grille arrangement. So in that regard, it's arguably the most visually standout product in the current range, accepting that the related Enyaq has recently adopted the same front end as part of its midlife facelift. The rest of it, though, is rather conservative, especially at the back where it's more like a
Kamiq or
Karoq than one of the company's electric efforts. Perhaps it's simply the fact the rear plate is higher mounted on the bootlid, in turn pushing the 'Skoda' lettering higher, that makes the Elroq appear prosaic. But if you opt for an SE L, like our test vehicle, on its simple 19-inch 'Proteus' alloys and painted in a reserved colour, the Elroq is perfectly inoffensive - but not very striking, all told.
Interior
Inside the Elroq is a very pleasant cabin which is well put-together and rendered in a nice mix of material finishes, enhanced in the case of our example with the £600 'Lodge' Design Selection Package - which clothes some of the door cards, fascia, seats, centre tunnel and front armrest in a lighter fabric to contrast the remaining charcoal surfaces. You also get natty orangey-red seatbelts, too. But, like the design of the body, it's not particularly flashy inside. That's perhaps not a major drawback, as everything operates intuitively - including the 13-inch central touchscreen for the infotainment, the assorted switchgear on the centre stack and the buttons on the attractive two-spoke steering wheel - and is easy to read at a glance; that includes the small but clear digital driver's cluster. So it's a fine cabin in all, if not Skoda's finest hour for interiors, if you get us.
Practicality
As with any self-respecting Skoda, there's a lot of space in the Elroq, especially in the second row where there's plenty of legroom for taller passengers, albeit the headroom is acceptable rather than astonishing. The floor is flat in the back too, so taking three passengers abreast in the back wouldn't be out of the question - and Skoda also provides a clever, removable combination storage tray and cupholder construct (part of the Transport Package, see Value section) that slots into the centre of the floorwell to boost stowage space if the total human complement in the car only numbers four. The door pockets are good and large in the back, if slightly more pinched in the front (yet they're scalloped at the front to take a large drinks bottle in an angled position), and there are cupholders on the top of an arched central storage area, with a large platform concealed beneath. Add in a healthy 470-litre, flat-floored boot behind 60:40 split-folding rear seats (maximum cargo capacity: 1,580 litres) and it's clear the Elroq is as eminently practical as you'd expect of a car from this particular marque. About our only bugbear is that the glovebox is poky and half-sized when you open it, like the old right-hand-drive Peugeots and Citroens where they couldn't be bothered to move the fusebox out of the way. Harrumph.
Performance
Skoda does three basic powertrains for the Elroq, known as the 50, the 60 and the 85. These roughly relate to the capacities of the battery packs used, which are 55-, 63- and 82kWh (all gross figures, incidentally). Associated with these, the power output of the e-motors stands at either 125-, 150- or 210kW on the two-wheel-drive Elroqs, with a solitary 4x4 an evolution of the 85 at 220kW. That means you're talking about 170hp for a 50 and a range of about 230 miles, rising to 204hp and a theoretical one-shot maximum of 265 miles for the 60, and then 286hp for the 2WD 85 and 299hp for the 4x4 variant, the former of which'll purportedly go up to 360 miles in one hit.
What we're driving here is the middle ground, the Elroq 60. And it's swift enough for the target market's requirements, there's no doubt about that. It'll run 0-62mph in eight seconds flat and go on to a limited 99mph top speed, and with 310Nm to call upon pretty much all of the time, it's more than capable of keeping up with traffic flow without the driver having to mash the throttle to the floor all the time. And it's not as if the two 85s are much quicker, the single-motor variant managing 6.6 seconds for the benchmark sprint and the 4x4 6.9.
Also, in this specification, the Elroq weighs a kilo shy of two tonnes on the button, which isn't too bad for a sizeable electric SUV these days. This allowed it to achieve an excellent efficiency level of 4.1 miles/kWh across 258 miles of testing, which in turn meant that we could bank on a realistic 200 miles to every charge of the 59kWh usable battery. OK, maybe not the 265 miles of the official claimed figure, and semi-urban commuters and owners will be happier with the 60's capabilities than those who regularly go on the motorway for long stretches at a time, but in general this mid-spec Elroq didn't feel as if it would be significantly restricted by its one-shot driving range.
Ride & Handling
Like all the Volkswagen Group EVs on the MEB platform, any single-motor Elroq is rear-wheel drive, not led from the front. And despite only being an SE L, which is not a sporty spec and which comes with tyres running on plump 55-profile sidewalls, the ride is firm on this Skoda. Sadly, we're not about to reveal this is a surprisingly engaging machine for handling as a result of this intransigence; rather, we're going to opine that this is not the company's best-ever effort at rolling refinement and comfort.
The Elroq SE L is weirdly fidgety on poor surfaces at lower speeds, amplifying washboard tarmac and crumbling yet shallow potholes into rather loud thumps and bumps in the cabin - both in terms of the noise of the suspension trying to muffle out such intrusions and the big wheels themselves coping with sharp edges in the asphalt, and also the feel you receive through the base of the seat. To a degree, the electric SUV does settle down a little more at higher speeds, say in excess of 50mph, but its ride is never as comforting nor cosseting as any model of Enyaq we've driven so far. It feels like the dampers on this car are either an inferior spec or an inferior tune, but either way the Elroq can jostle its occupants about a fair bit on poorer roads and therefore it doesn't have the best ride going in this class. Not by a long chalk.
Even if it then handled with some vivacity, we'd still lament the fact that there's an Elroq vRS on the way and, strictly speaking, we're thus not that bothered if the SE L can link up a series of bends like some kind of zero-emission hot hatch in disguise. But, of course, that's not the case when it comes to the roadholding anyway. Like so many compact SUVs and crossovers, this car is safe, staid and sensible, and not particularly memorable as a result. The body control is adequate, with a degree of roll present at times, and the overly light steering of the Elroq only teams with that lean in the shell to give the sense that the Skoda is somewhat imprecise. The Enyaq is sharper and more composed in this regard, but it would appear those traits have not quite filtered their way down to the Elroq without being significantly diluted.
You also don't really notice it is pushing from the rear rather than dragging from the nose, so its RWD status is lost in the soft-focus blur of the chassis set-up, and ultimately the Elroq neither excels at comfort nor at cornering. It kind of feels dynamically like it is in an indistinct middle ground of both, so it's not quite as rewarding nor relaxing to drive as other Skodas - and, indeed, other electric SUVs of a similar stature. It's not bad, of course, and many people will happily live with the way the Elroq goes about its business. Perhaps the fault is with us; given what Skoda has achieved with some of the regular models of its larger product lines recently, we were expecting more kinematic polish from the Elroq, and we didn't really get it.
Value
A line-up that sits more in the £30,000 to £40,000 bracket, rather than in excess of the latter figure, is most welcome when it comes to the Elroq. Our 60 SE L retails from a very reasonable £33,350 and, with just a few choice options (the aforementioned Lodge interior plus metallic paint at £680 and the handy Transport Package at £250), still managed to come in at less than £35,000 as tested - £34,880, to be precise. Standard equipment is good on the SE L as well, with highlights including (but not limited to) the 13-inch infotainment with satnav and wireless Smartlink phone connectivity, plus a Digital Cockpit instrument cluster, the 19-inch alloy wheels, heating elements for the front seats and the leather steering wheel, dual-zone climate control, cruise control with a speed limiter, front and rear parking sensors with a reversing camera, keyless entry and go, LED headlights... oh, and an umbrella, obviously, as this is a Skoda. Incidentally, the 60 version can charge at 165kW DC maximum, which'll take about 24 minutes for a 10-80 per cent charge. On a typical 7.4kW AC domestic wallbox, expect a full 0-100 per cent battery top-up to take around eight hours.
Verdict
Much of what makes a good Skoda these days is present with the Elroq. It's excellent value, it's well built, generously equipped, smartly styled on the outside, blessed with a large passenger compartment within, practical and, in the main, easy to drive. Strangely, though, it's not quite as rewarding to steer or travel in as some of the larger models in the manufacturer's product array, and there are areas where we wish the Elroq was a bit more distinctive to make it stand out from the petrol-powered SUVs in Skoda's line-up. Ultimately, it's a decent electric crossover, this, but unlike other Skodas in other vehicular classes, not the first thing we'd recommend to you if you're after a vehicle of this particular type. At least it preserves one of our long-held automotive axioms, which is this (and we're bizarrely and needlessly going to paraphrase Henry Jones Jr's opinion on scorpions here): when it comes to Skodas, the bigger, the better, kid.
