Styling
With the usual black exterior detailing flourishes, the 'Skoda' wordmark badging instead of the Czech outfit's old 'flying arrow' roundel logo and a big set of 20-inch alloy wheels, the Skoda Enyaq vRS immediately marks itself out as the most serious model in this zero-emission SUV's range. But when it comes to the crux of what has changed with it for 2025, the most obvious thing is that entirely new 'Tech Deck' face, part of the Modern Solid design philosophy.
There's no danger of you mistaking this for a pre-facelift variant. In fact, so wide-ranging is the aesthetic overhaul of the Enyaq's nose that you might be tempted to think it's an all-new, Mk2 generation, rather than simply a Mk1.5. But a facelift of the 2021-launched original it is, and it's a largely successful job because - while it obviously looks all shiny and new and fresh, which'll satisfy those who only want the very latest gadgets - at the same time it doesn't immediately render the
old Enyaq as out-of-date and ugly.
Principally, though, with its illuminated strip up top, secondary and separate lamp units beneath, the abolition of a 'radiator grille' of any sort and a much larger 'airdam' down below, the new vRS instantly catches the eye. As before, you can have it as this regular SUV body or, for a few quid extra (er, nineteen-hundred of them, to be precise), as a
Coupe, and both these EVs are suitably slippery characters; it's a 0.251-0.266Cd aerodynamic bracket for the SUV depending on spec, and an even-more-impressive 0.239-0.253Cd range for the Coupe.
Finally, some suitably bright and appealing colours are offered, including Skoda's signature Hyper Green for £0. That's one of two solid entry-level shades, along with Meteor Grey, but then there are five metallic hues (including desirable Race Blue and Olive Green) which are all free-of-charge as well. In fact, the only finish that'll cost you extra is the Velvet Red 'Exclusive' metallic you can see in the pics here, which'll set you back £410. Worth it, though, as it's a splendid colour if you don't feel you could live with searing Hyper Green instead...
Interior
Little has changed in the hot Enyaq's cabin as part of this update, but that's no bad thing. Material quality is lovely, the integration of the three main pieces of digital real estate (the 13-inch touchscreen, five-inch instrument cluster and huge augmented-reality head-up display) is pretty neat and intuitive, and the ergonomic correctness levels are high because Skoda sees fit to put at least a bank of eight physical buttons on the centre stack (one of which is a handy shortcut for the climate controls on the display above) that means not every onboard operational function involves desperate prodding at the infotainment to get it to work.
The vRS touches are also enhancing, with some lovely branded bucket seats up front, a 'vRS'-badged steering wheel for the driver, and - depending on which of two main interior ambiences you go for - either lime-green or grey accent stitching and seat piping, complemented by microfibre and man-made hide or proper leather upholstery. All in all, it's a high-quality and pleasant atmosphere inside the Enyaq vRS, so top marks from us in this department.
Practicality
In the catch-all category of 'performance vehicles which can do 0-62mph in less than five-and-a-half seconds', there can be few vehicles more practical than the Skoda Enyaq vRS. It is vast inside, thanks to its near-2.8-metre wheelbase and 4.66-metre-long body, and so there are no complaints from us (or surely anyone of sound mind) about the amount of rear passenger space there is on offer, nor the cavernous 585-litre boot which sits out the back of the vehicle. Beyond that, useful storage solutions and Skoda 'Simply Clever' features abound elsewhere in the passenger compartment, so the Enyaq vRS should have all your daily requirements covered on the practicality front.
Yet it's practical in other ways, too, as it has good visibility out in all directions for the driver (thanks to its relatively slim C-pillars, among much else) and it can tow up to 1,200kg of braked trailer if you need it to. That's on 12 per cent slopes; stick to gentler eight per cent inclines and you can up that cargo to 1,400kg. All very handy.
Performance
The Enyaq vRS, and indeed everything in the Volkswagen Group which uses MEB, and of course some of those companies
outside the VWG (*cough* Ford *cough*) that also deploy this particular electrical skateboard as a platform, already gained the more potent AP550 electric motors in its pre-facelift format. These were used from 2023 onwards by VW and all the follow-ons, so the 'bad' news, if it can be termed as such, is that the facelifted vRS has precisely no more power nor torque than it had before.
Yet, with chunky outputs of 340hp and 545Nm, that's hardly a drawback and it means the Enyaq vRS is comfortably the joint-most-powerful factory road-going Skoda we've yet seen. And no, the one-off
Superb Sleeper doesn't count. One slight improvement in the shift from pre- to post-facelift Enyaq vRS is that the new version is said to be a tenth-of-a-second quicker from rest to 62mph, with a 5.4-second sprint equalling the Elroq vRS with the same platform and outputs. These two electric vRS models are therefore the fastest-accelerating Skodas of all, as well.
In all honesty, you really don't need any more speed than this. The Enyaq vRS is remarkably rapid for something with a hefty kerb weight that's only 23kg shy of 2.4 tonnes, and in fact you could say that even this amount of straight-line pace is gratuitous for what is a family SUV at its heart. Nevertheless, this Enyaq is purporting to be a vRS and so it has grunt in abundance, with it all as easily and instantaneously accessible as you'd expect from a dual-motor EV with a single-speed reduction-gear transmission. It's a shame there aren't any real noises to go with it, though, which is odd because in the set-up menus for the configurable drive mode, there's something which says 'Engine Sound: Sport' as a step up from 'Normal'. We couldn't hear any audible difference between the two settings, though.
It also looks like the claimed 344-mile maximum range isn't pie-in-the-sky, because we managed to elicit a very reasonable 3.4 miles/kWh from the Enyaq vRS from a 58-mile route through some of west Wales' most beautiful scenery - and that included using plenty of acceleration and no real extended periods of steady-state cruising. With a larger 84kWh gross, 79kWh net battery than any other Enyaq (the next-biggest power pack is 82kWh, 77kWh respectively), some quick fag-packet maths suggests that's a real-world range of nearly 269 miles in testing circumstances, so with more care and extended gentle driving, 300 miles-plus between charges shouldn't ought to be too hard for the considerate Enyaq vRS owner. And charging speeds are still 11kW AC max (12 hours from 0-100 per cent at the typical 7.4kW wallbox) and 185kW DC, the latter allowing for a 26-minute 10-80 per cent top-up at its swiftest rate of electrical replenishment.
Ride & Handling
Everything the revised Skoda Enyaq vRS does, it does it well and it adds up to an overall satisfying driving experience. There's a solidity and assurance to the way it handles corners, keeping its heavy body under control during extreme compressions and crests, that means you can really hustle the vRS through twistier sections at a surprising lick. However, we could do with a little more genuine weight and feel from the steering, and we'd like to discern just a tad more that the rear axle was the dominant part of the AWD proceedings, to enjoy it enough to call it an unqualified vRS success.
There's no real detriment to the everyday comfort, though, because while its low-speed ride is just a little more firm-edged and unyielding than you'd find on the regular Enyaqs below it in the range, the vRS never becomes crashy or outright uncomfortable. It has the 15-setting Dynamic Chassis Control (DCC) adjustable dampers that you can play with to soften off or toughen up the chassis as you so wish, but the main overarching drive modes of Comfort, Normal and Sport do a fine enough job of separating out various aspects of the Skoda's dynamic character - even if we reckon there still should be further contrast between the three of them. But in terms of noise suppression, overall rolling refinement and general comfort levels, the vRS is rather splendid.
In summation, the Enyaq vRS dynamically does a lot of what it needs to do. It certainly feels that bit more tied-down and focused than any other Enyaq. It also puts egg on its German overlords' collective faces, because it's more edifying to drive than the
ID.4 GTX source material. Although, you could say the same about the
Ford Explorer AWD and, whisper it, the highly contentious
dual-motor Capri too. But is the Enyaq vRS enough? Is it, rather like the petrol-powered
Kodiaq vRS, a case of having the badge but not necessarily the requisite kinematic ability to go with it? We have nagging doubts that it's not quite capable and enjoyable enough to truly merit those three letters on its rump, you see, even accepting that vRS Skodas are not meant to be hardcore performance brutes. In other words, the Enyaq vRS is very, very good... but there's not quite enough of a talent gap between it and the other models in the line-up to justify the exalted asking price and moderately reduced driving range.
Value
Speaking of pricing, the new Enyaq vRS is happily £1,470 less than the model it directly supersedes. Less happily, it's still beyond £50,000 before options, with an opening ticket of £51,660. And while that price places it very favourably among the direct 340hp competitors with the same EV gear from all of Volkswagen, Ford and Cupra, in the context of other Enyaqs it's harder to make sense of that figure.
The 286hp 85x in Sportline trim is £48,670, a saving of £2,900, and it'll do 0-62mph in 6.5 seconds and go a little further on its electrical reserves. You could even go for an Edition 85 (£44,310) and probably get 95 per cent of the vRS ownership experience for a good chunk less cash. Sure, right at the very limit of handling, the vRS would find something else to engage the most demanding of pilots, but how often do people drive family EVs such as this right at the very limit? For the rest of the time, unless the interior and exterior styling of the vRS have won you over completely, the hottest Enyaq doesn't feel special enough to justify the additional outlay required to own it.
Verdict
There are two chief problems with the Skoda Enyaq vRS 2025MY, and they are these: first, the general brilliance of other, 'regular' variants in the Enyaq's family; and second, the fact that it doesn't feel quite...
vRS-ish enough to merit that very three-letter badge. There's no doubt there's a lot to like about the Enyaq vRS, though, because it's remarkably swift, good to look at inside and out, and possessed of both a solid real-world range and comfortable driving manners. It also, in further embarrassment for parent company VW, drives, operates and feels better than the
very GTX vehicles it is based upon.
So while we wouldn't say it's a clear no-brainer to go for the vRS ahead of any other Enyaq, especially when you factor in a starting price that's the wrong side of 50 grand, if you did end up with one of these big EVs then you'd definitely not be disappointed. For us, we'd either go for the smaller and slightly more intelligible Elroq vRS, or - if you want the best 'fast Skoda' experience - simply forget about EVs altogether and pick up the sublime
Octavia vRS instead. Preferably as the magnificent
Estate.
