I’ve always wondered if an electric car would suit my lifestyle. Thanks to a contest I won a few weeks back, I got the chance to find out for myself. I drove the Skoda Enyaq 80x for three days. Here’s why answering that question proved to be more difficult than I imagined.
The performance
The car came in Sport Line clothes, meaning some mean body accents to match the 265 electric horses. I wasn’t curious to launch it from a standstill. The power was more than enough to easily merge onto a highway or to cross a busy intersection in town.
Since this was my first electric car experience, the power delivery took me by surprise. There are no revs that need to reach the optimum point. There is no engine noise to let you know you’re pushing the car to its limits. The power is just there, whenever you want it.
Range was also good. Not as good as Skoda promises, but close enough.
What you see above is a road trip I took on Saturday. I started just outside Bucharest, stopped at ATRA Doftana for lunch, then drove to Buzău, my hometown . After recharging the car for 1.5 hours, it was time to head back home.
In the three days I had the Enyaq, I managed to cover 571 kilometers.
Skoda claims the Enyaq 80x will cover 510 kilometers. According to my consumption figures and the battery size (77 kWh), the car is good for about 460 kilometers in the summer.
The looks
I like the front and the sides. I’m not so sure about the back. I can’t say I’m crazy about the lights on the grill. The 21-inch rims sure look nice, but I can’t help wondering whether smaller ones would have made the car more efficient. The best things about this specific Enyaq are the black body accents.
The interior
A 13″ display dominates the cabin. It controls almost every feature the Enyaq has and was responsive enough most of the time.
The main thing that bothered me was the lack of dedicated air conditioning buttons. Changing the temperature or the fan speed while driving is more cumbersome than it needs to be. It also hides the CarPlay interface. Speaking of CarPlay, it’s a shame Apple hasn’t worked on adapting its UI to larger screens. The icons are too big for a 13″ display.
I couldn’t shake the feeling that the central display was too big, especially compared to the one in front of the driver. The good thing is it doesn’t get covered by the steering wheel, no matter how you set it up.
The sports seats were excellent—plenty of lateral support and felt great to the touch. You’ll have plenty of Alcantara leather surfaces to look at.
The Skoda Enyaq is built on the same platform as the Volkswagen ID.4 and the Audi Q4 e-Tron. Although it’s the cheapest of the three, it’s also the roomiest. The boot measures 585 liters and it has plenty of hooks for shopping and a 12-volt socket (annoyingly it doesn’t have one in the front).
The charging experience
As a first-time user, the charging experience wasn’t that great. The first pit stop was in Buzău, at a station that promised 22 kWh. Unfortunately, after 1 hour and 38 minutes, it had only charged 18.3 kWh.
The second charging session was in Bucharest, at a station that promised 50 kWh. And it did just that, peaking at 48 kWh. The problem? When I got back to the car, I noticed somebody had unplugged it, which shouldn’t have been possible with a locked car.I It could have been just user error. Still, it managed to charge to 75%. Not great, not terrible.
Final thoughts, price, pros, and cons
I didn’t know what to look for when I picked up the car from the dealership. Three days turned out to be not as many as I needed since I wasn’t able to test the Enyaq’s every feature.
That being said, I have seen the light. Now I know why drivers who switched to electric cars are willing to die on the BEV (battery electric vehicle) hill. The power is intoxicating, corrupting even, the silence is unexpected and, in the Enyaq’s case, the comfort is remarkable (this is a Skoda, after all).
The model I tested starts at €50,295. Adding all the options brings the price to a total of €65,081.1. Even with the €10,000 government grant, this is a lot of money to pay for a Skoda—even an electric one.
Luckily you can spend much less on an Enyaq. To begin with, I’d go with the Enyaq 60. Based on my driving, it should give me a range of 340 kilometers between charges. I’d add a grey color (boring, I know, but I like it a lot) and keep the standard 19″ wheels and the Loft trim. Rather than confuse buyers with an endless list of extras, Skoda has bundled them up in a few interesting packs.
The CLEVER pack costs €3,414.11 and adds features like heated front seats and steering wheel, side assist, crew assist, 3-zone climate control, USB-C ports in both the front and the back, better soundproofing, and lots more. All of these together bring the total to €47,941.53. Subtract the government grant and suddenly the Enyaq becomes quite appealing.
Last but not least, here’s my list of pros and cons for the Skoda Enyaq 80x Sport Line.
Pros
- Good performance for a 2.1-ton car
- Cornering is good
- Good looking (save for the back)
- Despite the 21″ wheels, the ride is comfortable
- Quiet
- Classic buttons on the steering wheel! Skoda, use them everywhere;
- Bright and colorful displays
- Good visibility
- Spacious (this is Skoda’s party trick)
- Lots of room for storage
- Efficient
- Great seats
- Umbrellas in the front doors
- Nice feeling materials overall.
Cons
- The infotainment unit is laggy at times
- Lack of AC knobs
- Touch buttons—they’re not a great idea
- The Head-Up Display is useless if you’re wearing polarized sunglasses
- The wireless charger heats up the phone. I hope there’s a way to disable it from the car’s settings
- An extremely hard piece of plastic on the doors, right next to the window buttons
- The panoramic sunroof isn’t that panoramic
- Piano black surfaces
- Chrome details on the dash, that blind you if the sun is in the right position.
