Skoda Elroq - long-term review

Slightly fewer miles in the Elroq than usual this past month, but for good reasons.

Last month’s Top Gear magazine cover star, the Evoluto 355, needed some company in the studio in the guise of an OG Ferrari F355. Regular readers might recall that I’ve co-owned one of these since 2010, a 16-year period that’s seen the car go from well-regarded classic to sanctified epitome of peak analogue. Ours is a 1995 car, so it has the open gate six-speed manual ’box, pre-airbag wheel, and the early Bosch ECU which means more power.

It also has the melty interior switchgear, memorably compared to Haribo by TG guv’nor Jack Rix. He also used the adjective ‘vintage’ to describe aspects of the driving experience, but then I had to explain what an immobiliser was to him. And the concept of a land-line.

Anyway, if he thinks a Nineties Ferrari is vintage he needs to try the other Barlow historic, a Mercedes-Benz W123 280E. I’ve just spent way more than I paid for the car resurrecting it, having been reassured it was worth doing from old Merc expert Elliott Casswell at EC Classic Cars. Actually, Elliott can turn his hand to most things, given that there was a Ferrari 550 Maranello, Dodge Charger and Mercedes SLS at his place the last time I visited.

W123s date from the era when Merc over-engineered everything, but they also corrode like crazy. Mine is now like new in that regard, and everything else is slowly returning to life after a long period sitting idle. I’ve alternated between it and the Ferrari most days, two wildly different cars that nonetheless represent design and dynamic peaks for their respective makers.

Returning to the Škoda has been enlightening, though. How quickly we forget what it’s like to fire up an actual engine, with lots of reciprocating parts and temperamental personality traits. Both the Ferrari and Mercedes are grumpy from cold starts, and need time to warm up. The Merc’s power steering and brakes can still be cranky thereafter. I got back in the vRS, give the Alcantara-swathed dash a quick caress, and off we went. Instant, near-silent performance, roughly the same amount of power and way more torque than the Ferrari – from an electric Škoda – and not far off its pace on a back road, all with the full connectivity we now take for granted. In the Merc, the nearest thing to a worldwide web is the spidery one clinging to the door mirror on a dewy morning.

The Elroq vRS is also a great looking car, in the modern idiom. Big wheels, strongly surfaced, planted stance, its front end only disrupted by the split headlight graphics that all car designers seem obsessed with right now. There’s a fair bit of visual noise out there, but Škoda’s design language keeps that in check.

So if you’re bemoaning the rise of the EV, worry not. They’re getting better and more characterful with each iteration. The car biz is doing what it always does: finding a way. And my two old classics – combined age, 72 – are a portal through time to an era when an ashtray was still an important feature.