Skoda Enyaq iV 2021 Review

Intro, Price, Options and Verdict

Introduction

There have been a number of hotly anticipated EVs already this year, but one of the most surprising is the Skoda Enyaq iV. Electric enthusiasts know that it uses VW’s MEB platform, making it essentially the Skoda version of the Volkswagen ID.4. But, of course, being a Skoda, it delivers those VW underpinnings for a lower price. For a few decades now people have bought Skodas because they expected VW quality and reliability underneath. The Enyaq iV takes that expectation into the electric era. The question is, however, whether this is just a cheaper ID.4, or has Skoda cut too many corners to achieve that reduced price?

Price and Options

VW launched both the ID.3 and ID.4 with an initial 1^st Edition, and then with essentially just one choice of drivetrain, before bringing out lesser models. Skoda has instead delivered two drivetrains and three basic model types at launch. The cheapest option is the 60, which combines a 62kWh gross (58kWh net) battery with a 177hp motor. Next up the range, the Enyaq iV 80 has an 82kWh gross (77kWh net) battery and 201hp motor, and then the 80 SportLine has the same combination, but with lots of extras.

Skoda has cleverly priced the basic Skoda Enyaq iV 60 so that it can get the government plug-in grant, which means prices start at just £31,995 with the £2,500 discount. The other two model versions don't qualify for this, though, so the 80 is £39,350 and the SportLine £42,900. Then you add interior options and choose from a frankly bewildering set of optional extras. Since these don’t count towards the government grant cutoff, you can add as many of them as you like and still get the £2,500 saving with the Enyaq iV 60.

Interior trim options start with Loft, but for £525 extra you can get the Lodge trim. Then there is Lounge for £1,140 extra, Suite for £1,310, and ECO Suite for £1,570. The Sportline, however, only comes with its own special interior.

On top of this is an unbelievably complicated array of add-on packages so numerous we can only talk about the main ones. They also interconnect so that some options are only available alongside others. However, the 80 comes with a few of these as standard and the SportLine a whole lot more. The 80 includes the Chrome Package, Drive Package Basic with heated steering wheel, and Parking Package Basic, which adds front sensors and a rear camera. The SportLine loses the Chrome but adds the Climate Package Basic with heated front seats and tri-zone climate control. It also includes the Convenience Package Basic with keyless entry and wireless phone charging.

Virtually everything can still be added to the 60 or 80 that isn’t included already, though. You can add packs that incorporate features like electric seats, folding tables for rear passengers, heated rear seats, and a powered boot release. You can also specify individual upgrades such as a panoramic sunroof and a retractable towbar. Unfortunately, a heat pump is extra too – £1,005 extra. Faster DC charging is extra too, which we will discuss later in this review.

The 60 and 80 come with 19in alloys, with 20in available as a free upgrade, although the 80 has wider rears. The Sportline has 20in alloys with wider rears. There are, of course, some premium upgrade options available here too. The basic colour is blue, with various metallics and pearl black available for £595. An exclusive velvet red is £975.

You could easily add £10,000 in options to the Enyaq iV. However, we were sent a basic Enyaq iV 60 with just Quartz Grey Metallic paint as the only extra, and our advice is to try to avoid getting lost in all the upgrades. We would take the basic paint, but add the reversing camera, faster DC charging, and leave most of the rest alone, which would still make a car costing under £33,000.

The obvious comparison is with the ID.4, with the Enyaq iV 80 models comparing to the ID.4 Pro Performance models, which have the same drivetrain as the 80. The ID.4 Pro Performance Life is about £2,000 more expensive, although it comes with faster DC charging as standard. The 60 doesn’t have a clear comparison. The ID.4 Pure Life is about the same price, but has a smaller battery and less powerful motor, while coming with the front parking sensors and rear camera alongside faster DC charging as standard. Nevertheless, we think the basic Skoda Enyaq iV 60 is the better deal, with the upgrades we suggest, and we were glad this was the model we were sent for testing.

Other competitors you might be considering are the Kia e-Niro and Hyundai Kona, both of which can be purchased with up to 50 miles more range for similar money. However, the Enyaq is a much bigger car, so if you need the greater interior space for passengers and cargo, we’d go for the Skoda. Our main criticism of the Enyaq is that massive and confusing options list. Skoda is like the Ryan Air of EV makers – you think the car will cost one amount, but the options could mean you end up paying a lot more. It’s the complete opposite of the Tesla buying experience, which only offers a few choices.

Design, Comfort and Storage

Exterior Design

Skoda has taken a different route to its Volkswagen parent company when it comes to the Enyaq iV’s appearance. Where the ID. cars signal themselves as pure electric by having no front grille, the Enyaq iV looks like every other recent Skoda from the front. The grille is obviously pointless, because there is no internal combustion version of this car. The only purpose it could serve is if you go for the optional Light and View Package that includes “Crystal face”, which is an LED lighting system for this grille, to add a bit of bling.

However, this is still a car based on Volkwagen’s MEB platform and you can see some of the family resemblance in the roof line at the rear. The general reaction we got from passers-by about the Enyaq iV’s looks was positive. For some buyers, the fact that it doesn’t shout about how different it is from non-electric cars will be a bonus. It’s just a reasonably attractive big SUV and pretty similar in appearance to the Skoda New KODIAQ, KAROQ or KAMIQ.

As we hinted earlier, keyless entry isn’t standard, it’s part of the £725 Convenience Package Basic, although this is included with the SportLine. However, electronically folding mirrors are included across the entire range, so you might consider this something you can live without.

Interior Comfort

Before we discuss the interior, we should mention one novel feature that is included with all cars. Inside the driver’s door is a compartment holding an umbrella, which could be invaluable in British weather. The passenger side door also gets the compartment but no umbrella, and strangely this is one thing you can’t add as an optional extra, at least according to the Enyaq iV brochure.

We’re not entirely convinced by the materials used in the base Loft interior. The grey fabric and aluminium feel a little cheap. Suite switches to piano black with artificial leather. Lounge offers actual leather combined with suede-like microfibre, also primarily in black. Strangely, the Ecosuite option also offers leather, this time brown, but tanned with olive tree leaf extract, which is allegedly more ecologically friendly. The SportLine interior mixes black leather and Alcantara.

The seats themselves have a decent feel, and there is a lot of headroom. But they are mechanically adjusted as standard, and if you want electric adjustment, you need a Comfort Seat option. The £440 Basic one includes just the driver's seat, and a more expensive £880 Plus one adds the passenger seat alongside a massage function. But you need to have some other optional packages at the same time to specify either, which is extremely confusing.

To add to the confusion, heated seats are part of a different set of options – the Climate Packages. The £400 Basic one adds heated front seats and tri-zone air conditioning, although the SportLine includes this as standard. The more expensive Plus option (£710 for the 60 and 80, £310 for the SportLine) adds heated rear seats and windscreen. Skoda needs to have a think about all these interlinking options because they make specifying the car you want a nightmare, and this will be even worse in the second-hand market where you won’t be able to choose.

Interior storage includes a compartment underneath the central armrest, which is on a ratchet so you can adjust the height. You have to pull it all the way up to get it back down again. There's a long open space in the middle, then further forward are some cupholders, although they're a bit narrow. The compartment up front is perfectly designed to fit two phones the size of an iPhone 12 Pro Max. But you don't get wireless charging unless you have chosen one of the Convenience Packages, which start at £725.

Sitting in the rear of the Enyaq is where you begin to feel the benefits of this car's size. An adult sitting in either of the two outer seats has plenty of head and leg room, even if the person sitting in front is quite tall. The middle rear seat is a little wider than some, too, although you won’t want to be an adult sitting there for a long journey. If you only have two rear occupants, you can pull the middle seat back down to reveal an armrest and can open the front section for a couple of cupholders. This also includes clips for an optional tablet holder.

There are air vents for the rear passengers, but rear USB ports are unfortunately part of the £330 Family Package. Another optional extra is seat-back tables for rear passengers, part of the £475 Family Package Plus. Either way, you get rear seat magazine holders, and there’s a smaller section designed for phones. Both outer rear seats have ISOfix points, as does the front passenger seat.

Storage and Load Carrying

Alongside bullying other road users, rear passenger space is one reason for buying a large SUV, and cargo carrying capacity is another. The Enyaq iV excels in this area as well. The boot opening mechanism is manual, and you need the Convenience Package Plus (£1,240 on the 60 and 80; £515 on the SportLine) to add electric opening with kick activation. But once you’re inside the rear, storage is capacious.

The basic capacity is 585 litres, 42 litres more than the VW ID.4. There’s a small compartment underneath the boot floor with just enough space for all the charging cables. For £305, you can add the Transport Package, which includes a raised boot floor with extra compartments, or you can add this on its own for £45. There are pockets on either side of the boot, with some Velcro dividers on the left and a tyre fixing kit on the right.

We like the attention to detail in the boot, which includes four fold-out hooks – two on each side – for hanging shopping backs. There’s another hook on the right that clamps shut. The spring-loaded boot cover is also easy to unfurl and remove, once you figure out how it works. There’s a 12V power socket in the boot too.

The rear seats fold forward with a typical 60/40 split, although the middle section has a section that can be opened for long items, leaving the two outer rear passenger seats still available. This is great for skis, tent poles, or your festive Christmas tree collection. Remote folding rear seats are an option, part of the aforementioned Transport Package. With the rear seats down, the space is a massive 1,710 litres, 135 litres more than an ID.4. If you need an SUV for transferring large amounts of cargo, the Skoda Enyaq iV fits the bill extremely well.

If you need even more cargo capacity, you can also tow up to 750kg unbraked and up to 1.2 tons braked, depending on the max gradient. That is, assuming you went for the towbar option. A preparation for a future towbar is £170, whereas the electronically retractable pre-fitted option is £775.

In-Car Entertainment and Controls

The Enyaq's controls are fairly similar to a non-EV, but with a few nods to the VW ID.4. There is a start-stop button, but you can actually start up the system by just pressing the brake pedal, which is also like a Tesla. The steering wheel has large buttons and a couple of rotating wheels for various functions, including hi-fi volume. One thing we noticed was that the radio could be on but if the system had gone to sleep you couldn't adjust the volume without starting it up again.

There are steering wheels with more functions including control over regeneration levels and drive modes available as part of the Drive Packages. The Drive Sport Package Plus also includes dynamic chassis control. The steering wheel stalks for windscreen wipers and lights on left and right respectively are typical. However, the light stalk on the left also houses the buttons for the cruise control, which is a little fiddly but works well once you get the hang of it.

Drive functions are operated with a tiny joystick in the central console, which you push forward for reverse and back for forwards. If you pull it back once more this engages B mode for extra regenerative braking. However, this joystick doesn’t include Park. Instead, there is a separate parking brake to exit drive or reverse. The Enyaq also supports Auto Hold so you won’t need to engage this every time you are at the lights and want to take your foot off the pedals. There aren't any different power modes in this car as standard.

The information behind the steering wheel is minimal but has the bare essentials. You get driving alert information on the left, speed in the middle, and sat-nav turnings on the right. A small numerical display shows you the remaining range with an even smaller icon giving you a graphical display of relative capacity. You can add a head-up-display, however, with the £740 Infotainment Plus Package.

Luckily, one thing that isn't an optional extra is dual-zoned air conditioning, although tri-zone is part of the Climate Packages. You do get a few separate buttons for some functions like window demisting. The majority of climate controls are via the central screen, but there’s a physical button to call them up, which brings us to the infotainment system.

The 13in media screen is another thing that is thankfully not an optional extra. You also don't pay extra for the sat-nav. Both Apple Car Play and Android Auto are supported as well, if you prefer using your phone for navigation, but we found the built-in sat-nav easy to use. There's a DAB radio as standard, and you can stream media from a connected phone as well. The system menu is reasonably well laid out and easy to operate. Finding options is relatively straightforward.

Performance, Running Costs, Range, and Safety

Performance and Driving

The Skoda Enyaq iV is not particularly fast by EV standards. The 60 takes 8.4 seconds to reach 62mph and the 80 models are only a little bit quicker, taking 8.2 seconds. However, the Enyaq is rear-wheel-drive with the motor over the rear wheels, so traction is good, steering light, and there is no torque steer. So even though this is a big car, it's actually quite pleasant to drive around town, which seems to be the natural environment for SUVs anyway.

Being an EV, it does have immediate grunt off the lights, so it can still pull off faster than most petrol cars. But the Enyaq iV is much more of a laid-back cruiser than an exhilarating driving experience. This is a car you don't notice you're driving rather than one that engages your attention in every bend. The fat profile tyres on our test vehicle, and a ride that errs towards comfort rather than stiffness, mean that poor urban road surfaces and speed bumps are dealt with effectively. However, if you want a more tactile setup, sports suspension available that is a £175 option on the 60 and 80, and standard on the SportLine.

We had the chance to drive this car extensively at motorway speeds and it proved to be accomplished at 70mph. It sits very dependably on the highway, and the estimated range doesn't drop that much compared to city usage as long as you leave the accelerator alone, giving you plenty of confidence that you can use the range display to plan your next charging stop. Overall, the Enyaq iV is not exactly fun to drive, but it’s undemanding, which is perhaps what you want in such a utilitarian vehicle.

Range and Charging

We have already mentioned that there is a slight difference in performance between the Enyaq 60 and 80, but the range is the main differentiation. The 60 has a 58kWh usable capacity battery and the 80 has 77kWh, which give you WLTP ranges of 256 and 330 miles respectively. The SportLine drops to 327 miles. These are all respectable figures, with the 60’s range being okay for the money while the 80 and SportLine are very competitive.

However, charging is an area where Skoda has been a bit stingy. Only 50kW DC is supported as standard. If you want faster, it's a £440 extra, which will give you 100kW with the Enyaq 60 and 125kW with the 80. Our review car didn't have that option, but we think it's an essential upgrade if you do long distances a lot. With 50kW DC charging the 60 takes 55 minutes to reach 80% and the 80 takes 1 hour 10 minutes. Add the fast charging, though, and this drops to a much swifter 35 and 38 minutes respectively. On a 7kW home AC supply, the 60 takes 9.5 hours to hit 100%, and the 80 takes 13 hours.

Running Costs

On a 14p per kWh supply, the 60 costs 3.2p a mile and the 80 only slightly more, so this is quite a cheap car to run. Insurance groups are also reasonable, with 23 for the 60, 26 for the 80, and 27 for the 80 Sportline.

The service interval is 24 months. You get three years warranty, with the first two for unlimited mileage but the third up to 60,000 miles. While that's standard for a European car, it’s not as good as Korean ones, which often extend to seven years. You can extend the Skoda warranty, but like everything about the Enyaq iV this requires a considerable extra fee. The battery has an eight-year, 100,000-mile guarantee for 70% capacity, which is pretty typical these days.

Safety

Safety is yet another area where there are numerous optional extra packs available. However, the baseline features are reasonable. All cars have automatic braking, lane assistance, and rain sensing wipers. The headlights are automatic too. However, you only get rear parking sensors on the 60, no camera. You need the 80 for front sensors and a camera, or a £505 option. Even the basic Life VW ID.4 trim includes a rear parking camera. If you want a 360 view, that's another optional extra, and not a cheap one either. It's part of the £770 Parking Package Plus.

You get basic cruise control with speed limiting across the range, but adaptive cruise control requires one of the Assisted Drive packages. The £685 Assisted Drive Package Basic adds blind spot detection and traffic jam assist as well, which provides stop and go capability. The £915 Plus version augments this with Emergency Assist, which detects an incapacitated driver and can bring the car to a stop if they don't respond to warnings.

Key Specifications

*based on electricity costs of 14p per kWh