Styling
If the regular Elroq's appearance can be a little reserved and maybe even verging on the forgettable, its sleek 'Tech Deck' face notwithstanding, the vRS treatment gives it a massive aesthetic shot-in-the-arm. Helps, of course, when the car in question is finished in blazing Hyper Green paint, as not only is this colour impossible to miss against any background we can think of, but it really makes the most of all the black detailing that marks the vRS out within the Elroq family. This would ordinarily include the standard-fit 20-inch 'Draconis' alloy wheels, but our test car was rolling on the optional 21-inch 'Vision' anthracite rims (£620), easily denoted by the silver outer section on their faces.
Other colours are available beyond Hyper, of course, and the only one of eight which costs any extra money is Velvet Red metallic (£410), but whatever paint you put on it, the Elroq vRS has far more purpose and instant kerb appeal than any other model in its own range. Indeed, with the shorter rear overhang it has compared to the Elroq vRS, we'd be inclined to say it also looks better than its larger relation in equivalent sporty spec. It's slightly less aerodynamic, though, with a 0.267-0.276Cd range, and even that former figure is higher than the most, um, 'brick-like' Enyaq vRS specification (0.266Cd).
Interior
Again, vRS specification lifts the Elroq's interior, because we were rather underwhelmed by the last one we drove, a 60 SE L. But with the luscious vRS bucket seats in microfibre and faux leather, augmented by a sports steering wheel and lime-green detailing everywhere, the Elroq's cabin feels as upmarket as you'd expect of a grander Skoda. It also has the same 13-inch touchscreen and five-inch digital instrument cluster bolstered by an augmented-reality head-up display inside as the Enyaq, all of which works slickly enough and has pleasingly crisp graphics. The overall ambience and material quality in here, and the ergonomic correctness too, means the interior of the Elroq vRS is a big hit.
Practicality
Like any good Skoda, there's plenty of space inside the Elroq, even if it's by no means the most capacious machine the company makes. But if you peruse the data carefully, the difference in wheelbase between this and the Enyaq is a mere 3mm in favour of the latter, so the extra length of the bigger car is all behind the rear wheels (Elroq 4,488mm versus Enyaq 4,660mm, +172mm). This is good news for the Elroq buyer, because rear-seat passenger space is almost on a par with its electric relation. Where it clearly loses out is with a smaller boot, but at 470 litres with all seats in use and up to 1,580 litres available when the second row of chairs is folded away, by class standards the Elroq is a highly practical thing.
Performance
The Elroq vRS uses the same dual-motor plus 84kWh gross, 79kWh net battery-pack set-up as the bigger Enyaq vRS, which results in the same 340hp and 545Nm peak outputs. Alarmingly, despite being the 'smaller' car, there's only 35kg between them and the Elroq vRS with a driver onboard tips the scales the far side of 2.3 tonnes, hence the 0-62mph time is identical on the electric vRS SUVs at 5.4 seconds. Nevertheless, that still makes the hottest Elroq the joint-most powerful and joint-fastest accelerating production Skoda in the company's history.
Where this vRS immediately makes more sense, though, is that it's the only four-wheel-drive Elroq in its family, whereas the Enyaq vRS isn't in its line-up. And so the Elroq, with its blistering speed and all-corners traction, feels that touch more special. It still doesn't really make any significantly memorable noises, electrical or synthesised, to go with its blinding straight-line speed, but the way it picks up monstrously and instantaneously from midrange velocity more than makes up for that.
As it is slightly less aerodynamic than the Enyaq, the Elroq vRS doesn't quite match the quoted range figure of the bigger EV, but something in the range of 340 miles is still mighty impressive for this size of zero-emission machine. Unfortunately, we were driving the Elroq vRS pretty hard down a wonderful road in the Elan Valley at sustained higher pace, so we only saw 2.5 miles/kWh from it across 35 rapid miles. At that rate of electrical consumption, the car would manage less than 200 miles between charges, but if you could eke it up to something more like 3.8 miles/kWh (which shouldn't be too hard unless you're having fun on a quiet Welsh mountain road) then 300 miles to a charge ought to be easily attainable in the real world.
More pluses in the Elroq's dynamic column include blended brakes that have a good level of both regenerative deceleration and then proper pedal bite when you need them, and competitive charging times for the 79kWh battery. Admittedly, Skoda doesn't offer 22kW AC charging, peaking at the more typical 11kW, so you'll need 12 hours for a total top-up on a 7.4kW wallbox and more like 8.5 hours at its fastest AC, but a strong 185kW DC peak means a 10-80 per cent charge should only require 26 minutes of connection to the mains.
Ride & Handling
Let's start with the on-road impressions, because - let's face it - even with 4x4 and an SUV title, hardly anyone is ever going to use a Skoda Elroq vRS away from the tarmac for protracted periods of time. And sorry to keep mentioning it, as it's not the same class of vehicle, but given we drove the Elroq vRS immediately after piloting the Enyaq vRS around on much the same roads, then it's very hard to split the driving experience of the two. In fact, they're almost identical.
However. Without wishing to sound too contrary, the regular Enyaq models drive beautifully, so the vRS doesn't feel quite such a step up from the rest of the range. Whereas the regular Elroqs we've tried are OK but nothing special... so the vRS feels like it makes far more sense. In terms of the pleasing blend of ride comfort and rolling refinement mixed in with a bit of handling acuity, the Elroq is in a sweet spot that makes it a delight to deal with. It's still maybe not very exciting, and there are better
vRS models in the manufacturer's portfolio for the keenest of drivers, but as electric SUVs go, the Elroq vRS is one of the better efforts out there right now. It's comfortable and quiet when you want it to be, and swift and capable when the devil takes your mood on the right roads.
When it comes to off-roading, Skoda is not synonymous with green-laning, rock-crawling and mud-plugging; it is, instead, renowned for its rallying exploits over the decades. To that end, the company laid on two cars for a bit of rally-type fun at the fabled Sweet Lamb complex in west Wales - an Enyaq vRS Coupe in the classic Monte Carlo striped livery that the old 130 RS competitor used to wear, and then an Elroq vRS in a similar get-up to the Fabia WRC that the late, great Colin McRae drove in the 2005 World Rally Championships.
All these two cars had had done to them to cope with this rough-roading treatment were the fitment of chunkier all-terrain tyres, to prevent cuts to the sidewalls, and then some underbody protection plates to prevent the crucial electric motors from being damaged. We were then instructed to drive round a challenging 1.1-mile circuit on gravel, with the only run-off being Welsh moorland studded with some big rocks. So while it didn't test the Skodas' ability to get through rougher terrain, it did show how balanced, capable and genuinely surprising they were travelling at up to 70mph in such conditions. These two almost-standard EVs really did stand up to the test, but once again it was the Elroq vRS which triumphed in these unusual circumstances. The weight and wheelbase differences might only be small, but there's a lot less metal hanging out over the rear axle which allows for easier placement of the Elroq and accordingly makes it feel more agile when swinging through some notable oversteer angles (although you can never fully deactivate the traction control on these electric Skodas, more's the pity).
So, um... if you ever somehow find yourself, by accident, at the start of a gravel stage in your electric Skoda vRS, then it's the Elroq which you'd want to be in most of all. Yes; proper, sensible consumer advice, there.
Value
Again, we keep going on about the Enyaq vRS, but the reason we've given the Elroq vRS another half-star in our overall rating for almost exactly the same looks, interior and driving experience as its big brother is all down to context. First of all, the Elroq isn't beyond 50 grand, it's comfortably this side of it at £46,560. Now that is, granted, a huge £4,950 more than the next-most-expensive model, an Elroq 85 Sportline at £41,610, but as we've said the vRS treatment here seems to elevate the smaller Skoda electric in several areas, such as performance, interior ambience and all-wheel-drive traction, and it's only the vRS which can deliver these things. So the price seems appropriate.
There are also fewer direct rivals for the Elroq vRS in its own class, so it becomes a good value and highly desirable vehicle as a result. And when you factor in a long, generous standard equipment specification, then the vRS becomes the first model of Elroq we'd be looking at if we were going to buy one, rather than one of the last.
Verdict
We've made a few references to the Skoda Enyaq vRS in this review and we understand that's sort of comparing apples to oranges; these are two cars in separate classes from the same manufacturer. However, given they share almost everything and drive in almost exactly the same fashion, it's worth referencing the bigger car here.
Because there's something else which has surprised us with this particular newcomer. If we're talking about regular Elroqs versus regular Enyaqs, then we'd go for the larger Skoda every time; it just feels a more polished and cohesive vehicle, and supports our long-held theory that the bigger a Skoda, the better. Yet that supposition inverts with the Elroq vRS versus Enyaq vRS, because the former is better priced, stands out more in its own range and, arguably, looks even better on the outside.
So we find ourselves more genially predisposed to the Elroq vRS, and while we wouldn't say it was the most gratifying driving experience ever - this Skoda performance badge still makes clearer sense on combustion-powered models, and even more so on the magnificent Octavia - it is regardless one of the more enjoyable hot EVs we've sampled yet. Just make sure you take a brave pill and order it in Hyper Green for maximum effect.
