Skoda Elroq - long-term review

“The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there,” wrote British novelist L.P Hartley. So true. Millennials and Gen Z won’t recall, but in the Seventies and Eighties Škoda provided bed-rock material for a certain type of British comedian (along with casual racism, homophobia and misogyny… fun times). Look at the Elroq vRS, though, and you’ll find scant trace of any Iron Curtain-era corner-cutting. This is state-of-the-art circa 2026.

It’s also the fastest accelerating car Škoda has ever made. This claim is per the EV script, although zero to 62mph in 5.4 seconds is actually relatively subdued for a dual-motor electric car. Such is the rate of progress and level of expectation these days. How fast it can go, and how often this particular aspect of its armoury will get tapped up, is one of the things we’ll explore over the next six months.

Anyway, the Elroq vRS’s spec is pretty tasty. It’s supposedly a small-ish car but lands with each wheel pushed to the corners for satisfyingly meaty stance and chunky character. It’s strongly representative of contemporary design trends, especially so if it’s wearing the optional aero-influenced 21in wheels.

Various lysergic colours are available including a vRS-specific Hyper Green, but that seems an unnecessarily OTT treatment of a shape that actually suits a more monochromatic approach. Anyway, ours is red, which works just fine and doesn’t frighten the neighbours or small children. (It’s an option, as are the larger wheels – £410 and £600 respectively.)

The Elroq sits on the group MEB platform, and is fitted with an 84kWh battery (79kWh useable). No-one in their right mind could be anything other than sated by a power output of 335bhp and 402lb ft of torque. Suspension is via McPherson strut at the front and a multi-link rear, but in vRS guise it gets a more meaningful tune. The springs are shorter, so there’s a 15mm drop in ride height at the front, 10mm at the rear. That dual motor set-up also gives it an edge over in-house rivals the Cupra Born VZ and VW ID 3 GTX.

But the vRS appellation might be a little misleading. Initial impressions suggest that this Elroq is more comfort-oriented than you’d imagine, which may or may not be a problem depending on customer expectation. Personally, I value an EV’s ability to waft above its appetite for brain-mashing acceleration or cornering chops. Flinging two tonnes-plus from apex to apex is a slightly daft pursuit, although dispatching overtaking moves without breaking a sweat is always valuable.

Škoda might not thank me for it, but so far the Elroq’s fabulous seats and the micro-suede on the dash – which juts out unusually for easier fondling – are two of the stand-outs here. If there’s full-on driver entertainment to be had here, I think I’ll be digging deeper to find it.