It's FINALLY here! Skoda Enyaq 2025 review
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00:00Skoda's first battery electric vehicle is finally here. This is the Enyaq, it's
00:05available as a coupe SUV initially, with a few different versions to choose from.
00:09In this review I'll tell you everything you need to know including the EV
00:12driving range, the charging specs, the best competitors to this car and plenty
00:18more. So if you haven't already please ring the bell and hit like as well and
00:22let's get to it shall we?
00:26In Australia at launch there are two different versions of the Skoda Enyaq
00:31available. Both of them are the coupe style SUV, the more practical wagon style
00:36model is probably going to be on sale in 2025 and it will probably have a lower
00:42price tag. But let's talk about pricing for these coupe style models. There are
00:46two, as I said the entry-level one is called Sportline and it gets plenty of
00:50great features for its $69,990 RRP. So that includes 21-inch wheels, matrix LED
00:58headlights and LED daytime running lights, there's also LED taillights with
01:01sequential indicators, you get a panoramic glass roof, keyless entry, push-button
01:07start and on the inside you're also getting a 13-inch touchscreen media
01:10system with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, you've got a wireless phone
01:14charger in there, digital instrument display too and sat-nav is offered as
01:18standard as well, and a nice micro fleece trim on the inside too with
01:23driver's electric seat adjustment as well. Now if you want a little bit more
01:27you can spend $6,000 to get an extra package on the base model version which
01:32gets you the crystal face LED grille which I personally don't like but
01:36apparently people do, and it also gets you a Oomphier sound system, augmented
01:41reality head-up display, massaging and memory settings for the driver's seat,
01:46electric passenger seat adjustment as well, and a few other features that add a
01:50bit of value. And at the top of the range is the RS model which gets all of that
01:54stuff and it gets a sportier look on the outside, different 21-inch wheels and it
01:59also gets a front motor as well as the rear motor, so it's all-wheel drive and
02:03it does have a fair bit more grunt, we'll get to that later on, but let's talk
02:07about some alternatives to the Enyaq shall we?
02:12The obvious alternative here is the Tesla Model Y and it starts at a much
02:17much lower price point. It's a very practical electric family SUV with a
02:22huge boot and a front trunk and lots of space on the inside and controls that
02:27you might hate, but it isn't necessarily going to suit everyone, but the price
02:33might. It starts at about $55,000 so a fair bit less money than this. You can
02:38get a long-range version of that car for similar money to the entry-level
02:42version of this and the performance version of the Model Y is about the same
02:46price as the RS, so if you are a bit of an enthusiast you might want to go and
02:51check out the Kia EV6, it also has a bunch of different variants available,
02:55rear-wheel drive, all-wheel drive, a GT high-spec model that's a hundred thousand
02:59bucks but it is a very very fast and performance focused model that one, so I
03:05reckon that it does stack up pretty well the EV6 and there's a facelift for
03:09it on its way or probably might even be out by the time you watch this, so it
03:14could stack up beautifully for you. But another one I reckon you should check
03:18out is the Hyundai IONIQ 5. Now I think that the IONIQ 5 has a beautiful design
03:24inside and out, it's just been updated with some new features, a new look and
03:29it's still very very spacious but it does have a much smaller battery for its
03:33entry-level version and you can work your way all the way up to the IONIQ 5N
03:37if you wish, but that's like a hundred and twenty grand and it's a very very
03:41different type of car to this. But which one of those would you pick or would you
03:45wait because there's much much much more coming in the world of EVs, just to name
03:50a few you might want to wait for the Volkswagen ID.Buzz or the Volkswagen ID.4
03:55or the Volkswagen ID.5 or maybe the Cupra Taviscan or any number of other
04:01models that are coming soon. Maybe now isn't the right time to go and buy a
04:05brand new EV.
04:09It looks big this car and look it isn't that big, it's about 4.7 metres long so
04:15the same size as most other mid-sized SUVs but it just has a bulky look to it
04:20and I don't know whether I like the look of it personally but you can tell me
04:23what you think in the comments. This one is the base model but with the extra
04:27package so it gets that LED light-up grille. Yeah that's a bit too chintzy for
04:33my tastes but I do like the LED lights, I do like the 21-inch wheels and I mean
04:39I'm not so hot on the whole SUV coupe thing but you can tell me what you think
04:44about it in the comments. The back end design, again I think that the wagon
04:49model looks better personally but let's have a look in the boot and see what we
04:52are dealing with. It is a Skoda so practicality should be at the forefront
04:56and it is! So you can see on screen now the amount of cargo capacity that is on
05:02offer in here. That is a very very spacious boot area and you do get the
05:07cargo netting system as standard. It comes at no extra cost and also at no
05:12extra cost your charge cables. Yes you get a mode 2 and a mode 3 cable in this
05:17little Skoda branded bag which can stay holstered in there if you wish and
05:21you've also got other handy things in the back here. Some shopping bag hooks,
05:25some remote releases for those back seats if you want to fold them down and
05:29you've also got another set of shopping bag hooks and a 12-volt port. Alright I'm
05:36just gonna have to discombobulate this a little bit and move some of these nets
05:40so I can show you what's underneath this boot floor. Right the big reveal, storage
05:47space which is handy. You might want to put your cables in there so they're not
05:50up there in the way and underneath there more storage space. Just have a look at
05:54how much room there is underneath the boot floor but you guessed it that means
05:58there is no spare wheel in this car and that could be something that might rule
06:03it out for you but otherwise it's very very practical with plenty of space back
06:08there and a ski port too.
06:12Skoda Australia says that the whole point of the interior of this car is
06:16that it feels familiar to existing Skoda buyers and let me tell you I've sat in
06:22pretty much every other Skoda that's on sale and yes it does it does feel
06:27largely very similar and I love that about it because it doesn't feel like
06:30you're sitting in some kind of science experiment when it comes to the interior.
06:34Sure there are some changes that you need to be mindful of though things like
06:39this big screen this 13-inch touchscreen media system which does take a little
06:43bit more learning than some of the older tech systems in existing models in the
06:48range but I still think that you will get used to it pretty easily. Things that
06:53I like about it so you can set up some drop-down boxes here with your favorites
06:58all of that makes things a little bit easier so for instance if you wanted to
07:02set up the lane keep system to be in there as one of your favorites you could
07:07do that you just have to finish and then if you wanted to turn lane keep off you
07:11could just turn it off like that but there's also another shortcut there so
07:15you can just turn it off there and I mean not everyone hates lane keep as
07:18much as I do but I don't hate it I just think that it isn't as good as I am at
07:23driving. Look there's also a car settings menu here which has heaps of different
07:28information available to you so you can dive into the vehicle diagnostics and
07:32changes that you might want to make to the car itself and that's a bit of a
07:37glimpse of what to expect in terms of the efficiency stuff. There is a lot more
07:41there that you might want to play with there's also a home button here where
07:46you can adjust things to go back to this home screen and I mean there's lots and
07:52lots of menus on menus here which I don't think are necessary per se but you
07:57will get used to interacting with it otherwise if you've got CarPlay
08:00connected you just hit the bottom button down there and that will take you back
08:04to where you need to be and if you want to turn on your seat heating you have to
08:08do that through buttons on the screen yes the buttons are a little bit tetchy
08:14but you will get used to them and at least you get this home bar down the
08:18bottom which always on part of this screen is the climate controls but you
08:23still have to do a bit of diving in order to get into things that you might
08:27want to turn off so if you want to turn off the fan you well you have to put on
08:30on and then to that it's far less easy than if it was just an actual knob or
08:38dial but we're obviously past that point when it comes to these cars down here
08:42there are some buttons thankfully some quick buttons that you might want to
08:46play with obviously yes you still do have demisters available through there
08:50and that's a shortcut button if you want to go back into the climate screen you
08:54can just hit that climber button there and that one there is your assistance
08:58system so all your safety assist technology is adjustable in there or
09:03turn off of all yes it does have an attention monitor so if you take your
09:08eyes off the road there's a little camera somewhere here that keeps an eye
09:12on your eyes and says hey pay attention that can be a little bit annoying can
09:17even interrupt you from interacting with this screen when it thinks that you're
09:21distracted but hey too bad I guess there's your auto parking button if you
09:26choose one of the cars with the auto park system there's wireless phone
09:29charger down there cup holders here with a little card holder you can put your
09:33parking ticket in and there's another parking ticket holster up there yes you
09:38do have a decent sized center console bin here some spots for coins if you
09:42need to put coins in there down there you'll see that there's a pretty decent
09:47sized console area as well for extra storage and in here there's another
09:54storage area with a little section down the bottom there which is actually
09:58removable if you want to take it out so there's plenty of little storage gadgets
10:03and gizmos and options in this car and I guess we've come to expect that from
10:07Skoda haven't we now these seats they are very very comfortable supportive
10:12and offer a lovely trim this micro fleece trim is really really lovely if
10:18you want or need leather you'll need to step up to the higher grade version you
10:22still get some leather accented elements to these seats but they super
10:25super comfy and the interior trim I mean I think it's very very well done it's
10:31not necessarily blingy or too outlandish but I think that's exactly what it
10:36needed to be for a Skoda customer there's also decent sized bottle holders
10:40in the doors as you can see with a nice finish that runs up the door and yes it
10:46all feels pretty nice there is a digital instrument cluster as well and that
10:49gives you a bit of an info at a glance view of things you can adjust the way
10:54that looks if you don't like that but it is a very small screen but if you choose
10:59the version that has the augmented reality head-up display that's it there
11:04it sits in your line of sight and when you have your sat-nav instructions on
11:08they'll come up there and sort of point which way you're supposed to go it's
11:12kind of neat technology that I would say now also up here you do have illuminated
11:18vanity mirrors good to see there's also these touch sensitive lights which are
11:23very very handy to use no sunglasses holder just might be a bit of a shame
11:29for some but you do get this massive panoramic glass roof sadly no shade on
11:34there but the brand says that you don't need a shade because it's got some
11:38protection built into the glass but even so might be a tester on a really hot day
11:43all right let's check out the backseat space shall we just before we jump in
11:47the backseat yeah of course you also get an umbrella in the door very very
11:52tidy this seat is set for my driving position I'm 182 centimeters or 6 foot
11:57tall I've got plenty of foot room decent knee room as well but let's talk about
12:01headroom it's okay it's a little bit tight if you are really tall or if you
12:06have really tall kids they might not be as comfortable back here but this big
12:11glass roof does give that feeling of airiness really nice sky out there right
12:16now and I mean I think it'll be okay for most people's needs you do get nice
12:21things like these grab handles with a coat hook and also these touch sensitive
12:25lights that's really bright in the back as well now other backseat amenities
12:30that you want to know about there are ISOFIX points in the window seats
12:33there's three top tether points as well that flip down armrest with some cup
12:38holders and someone spilled something there and the ski port there as I said
12:44now yes you've also got these directional air vents and there's
12:49climate control back here as well and you get seat heaters as well if you
12:54choose the base model with the option pack or standard if you buy the RS now
12:58it does have a flat floor but for some reason Skoda has decided well let's fill
13:02that gap up with something that gets in the way up it's okay it's a removable
13:06tray and it's got some cup holders and a bit of storage caddy stuff going on
13:10there so I mean you'll probably get rid of that if you don't like it but it is
13:15still adding a little bit of practicality to what is otherwise still
13:19a pretty practical backseat now there's also these sun blinds as standard on all
13:25grades which is nice to see and you've got decent sized bottle holders in the
13:29doors soft finishes on the elbow pads like to see that mat pockets on the
13:34seat backs as well with little device holders so yeah it's a pretty practical
13:39backseat
13:42all right let's talk about powertrain options for the new Enyaq there is a
13:46single motor rear-wheel drive entry-level version which has 210
13:51kilowatts and 545 Newton meters of torque that is plenty and it's rear-wheel
13:56drive comes with a single speed transmission and let me tell you it's
14:00gonna be enough for most people's needs you'll see the 0-100 time on
14:03your screen now it's no slow thing it is a bit heavy though I'll put the weight
14:07on your screen now as well and if you are wondering what the RS adds to the
14:12equation well it adds an extra motor and that means a fair bit more power 250
14:17kilowatts but more torque as well all combined it could end up being 679
14:23Newton meters if it all works together but they don't state that as an official
14:27number yes it's all-wheel drive still with a single speed transmission 0-100
14:31for it is a fair bit quicker as well but it's also heavier because it's got extra
14:36weight from that electric motor and a few extra specs as well and if you're
14:40wondering the RS can tow a little bit more as well I'll put the figures for
14:44both versions on your screen now so you can see for yourself if you could make
14:47that work for yourself all right let's talk range and charging stuff
14:53right so the rear-wheel drive versions of the Enyaq have a very very good amount
15:00of EV driving range you'll see the WLTP stated combined figure on your screen
15:05but I'm also going to put up the city figure for the rear-wheel drive models
15:09because that's almost 700 kilometers of EV driving range because you'll call on
15:14those regen brakes quite a bit more in city driving the all-wheel drive RS has
15:19a bit less range it is heavier and it's prioritizing power over range but hey
15:24it's still very much usable you'll see the numbers on your screen now let's
15:28talk about charging because you do have fairly good charging specs for this car
15:33you've got a type 2 combination plug yes that means AC charging up top and a
15:37maximum rate of 11 kilowatts and that is pretty good it means that you will need
15:42three-phase power in order to take advantage of the 11 kilowatt max charge
15:46rate you'll see how long it should take at 11 kilowatts on your screen now and
15:51if you're wondering yes there is DC charging if you want to go to a rapid
15:55charger and top up the maximum rate is actually pretty good for this car it's
16:00better than the previous versions that were available in Europe in fact so I
16:04guess we've had some advantage for waiting and there's no difference
16:07between the all-wheel drive versions and the rear-wheel drive versions when it
16:11comes to the charging capabilities so even the rear-wheel drive entry-level
16:16versions seem to stack up pretty well when it comes to the charging specs and
16:21definitely when it comes to EV driving range so let's go for a drive and see
16:25how efficient it really is
16:29okay so right now I am in the rear-wheel drive version with the option pack I
16:34don't necessarily think it's the one I would buy I would buy the base model
16:38yep no option pack needed and no adaptive suspension needed because I'm
16:44impressed with the suspension in the standard car that one just seems to be
16:49the pick in terms of the level of driving joy that you can find you don't
16:54need the adaptive suspension sure it's nice to have in some situations but the
16:59standard passive dampers are actually really really impressive and the
17:04rear-wheel-drive system just gives you more feel through the steering it's got
17:09a lighter action in terms of the steering feel and it also means that it
17:13feels a bit more dynamic and a bit more nimble like I know that the RS model has
17:18more power but more power is not always more fun it just means that you've got
17:23more to deal with more to handle more to think about and this rear-wheel-drive
17:28version of the Enyaq for that reason is the one that stands out to me because it
17:32just does a really good job of managing the power and in terms of the handling
17:37the ride the steering I think that it's just a really sweet combo that base
17:41model car and for that reason it's the one that I would wholeheartedly suggest
17:46you take a look at first and foremost if you decide that you want those extra
17:50features in the option pack sure fine it's only six grand more it doesn't
17:54necessarily make it a bank breaker so it could be worth it to you but for me I
17:59just find that you know 70,000 bucks is still a lot of money for an electric car
18:03and I think that the rear-wheel-drive base model would probably be still the
18:07best car in the range in terms of the drive experience on the whole now look
18:13you do have to pay a little bit of a penalty with anything that's this large
18:16this heavy and that has 21 inch wheels with low-profile tires that's just
18:21physics right so it doesn't have necessarily the most perfect ride but it
18:26does have a pretty comfortable ride and surprisingly comfortable considering the
18:31size of the wheels I think that for most people's needs in most driving scenarios
18:36it's going to be absolutely amenable to day-to-day life we've done a mix of
18:42driving today on this test drive outside of Sydney and I've come away
18:48from it really really impressed by all versions of this car but like I said the
18:52rear-wheel-drive ones are the ones that stand out a little more I did drive the
18:56RS model in some spirited situations and yeah you do get a fair bit more snot
19:01there is a lot more power and torque available to you but it does feel a tad
19:06heavier and it does also feel like you don't get the same sort of natural
19:11progressive steering that you do in the rear-wheel-drive versions because it has
19:15to do steering and powering at the front axle so all of that means basically what
19:21I already said the rear-wheel-drive one is the one I would suggest you look at
19:25now what about other elements of the drive experience across all versions
19:28well there's a little bit of road noise to contend with but it's not too bad
19:32considering that you know 21 inch wheels full EV so it's silent but it has road
19:37roar so that's something you want to keep in mind and also the brake pedal
19:41feel I just still struggle to get to the point where I really really trust that
19:46the brakes are going to do what I want because they have regen braking built
19:49into the system what that means is the top of the pedal always has this sort of
19:53airy feeling you never feel quite like you've got the same sort of bitiness
19:57that you might have experienced in other Skodas in the past so if you are
20:02thinking about trading up from an existing Skoda you might find that the
20:05brakes are the thing that maybe take a little bit more getting used to than you
20:09might have otherwise thought but that regen braking system also has a few
20:13different settings available so you can set it up to be basically almost a
20:18single pedal driving mode it won't come to a complete stop when you do lift off
20:22but if you put the shifter down here into B mode it will come to almost a
20:27complete stop let's do it now so we're in B mode the regen brakes are on their
20:31most assertive level and we are crawling to a well walking pace 5 k's
20:39an hour or so so look I mean there are other EVs out there that might tick your
20:44box a little bit more in terms of the regen brakes and having the single pedal
20:49driving mode with full stop and start capability but I think that this still
20:53is very very good in terms of the brake usability in terms of the regen brake
20:59usability like I said the brake pedal feel just needs maybe a little bit more
21:03work but otherwise I am impressed I think that the Skoda Enyaq does offer a
21:09different level of driving joy that some of those other rivals maybe don't and I
21:15certainly think that it does stand out to be a nicer car to drive and a nicer
21:19car to sit in than a Model Y for instance
21:24Alright so what about efficiency figures? Well the on-paper numbers for this car
21:29are very very impressive considering it is a pretty large SUV that's pretty
21:35heavy and has pretty large wheels with low-profile tires which never
21:39necessarily aids the efficiency that you can get out of a car like this but the
21:44numbers that you'll see on your screen for the rear-wheel drive and all-wheel
21:47drive models show that this car is efficient at least in the WLTP testing
21:53but on this test that I've been doing I've driven all three variants and I'm
21:58gonna put all three numbers on your screen but we'll do the rear-wheel drive
22:02ones first so the rear-wheel drive standard and with the pack and yeah I
22:06was absolutely blown away with that figure that really impressed me and also
22:11the all-wheel drive RS which you know it's the performance one and it's still
22:16very very efficient this car surprisingly efficient I would say and
22:21look I haven't had a chance to do a full long-distance range test but the
22:26range numbers seem to stack up pretty well and like I said earlier on the City
22:31claimed EV driving range at almost 700 K's because it calls on the regen brakes
22:37a lot more in city driving that could be the thing that gets you across the line
22:41for this car. Impressive!
22:45This car has a 5-star Euro NCAP safety rating from a few years ago and also a
22:505-star ANCAP safety rating but that's for the New Zealand delivered versions
22:55there is no ANCAP rating for Aussie cars at the time I'm filming this but that
22:59may change very very soon. Now all versions do come with heaps of standard
23:04safety technology and equipment things like autonomous emergency braking with
23:07pedestrian and cyclist detection there's adaptive cruise control with traffic jam
23:11assistance and that means that the lane keeping system can steer for you while
23:16the adaptive cruise stops and starts for you in some situations that's pretty
23:20high-tech stuff. There's blind spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, a
23:24reversing camera, parking sensors and if you choose the optional package on the
23:29base model you also get a surround view camera sorry about the crows and also
23:33there's a self parking system if you option that package all that comes
23:38standard on the RS grade and it does seem to stack up pretty well from the
23:42tech perspective none of its annoying as well which is really really handy and
23:45there's eight airbags fitted to this car dual front, front side, rear side and
23:49full-length curtain coverage. Nice!
23:53Skoda is the only European brand in Australia to offer a seven-year
23:58unlimited kilometre warranty that's the same level of cover you get if you buy
24:01an Enyaq but you also get an eight-year 160,000 K warranty for the battery pack
24:07the high-voltage battery pack which has a degradation guarantee of 70% so if you
24:12have heard those rumours about EV batteries not being reliable and not
24:16lasting a very long time well that should put your mind at ease when it
24:19comes to that kind of nonsense. Now in terms of the servicing intervals it's
24:23every two years and 30,000 kilometres yes EVs do require a lot less maintenance
24:29and the brand is offering eight years or ten years of prepaid servicing available
24:35for this car and both of those packages are pretty cheap you'll see the prices
24:39on your screen now. Another thing I just want to call out about the Skoda option
24:44here is that you do have the choice to finance through the brand and you'll be
24:49able to set a guaranteed future value. Now I know that resale values for EVs is
24:53something that plays on the mind of a lot of potential consumers and this
24:58could help you maybe put your mind at ease a little bit because you can sign
25:02up to a one, two, three, four or five year term and you can set the parameters for
25:07how much you'll drive the car and guarantee how much it'll be worth at the
25:10end of that loan. So all of that seems to stack up pretty well in terms of the
25:14consumer and ownership side of things but tell me what you think in the
25:18comments section below.
25:21There's no denying that the new Skoda Enyaq is a very good thing. I really like
25:26how it drives especially the rear wheel drive models and in fact I think that
25:30the base model with no extras no options is the one I would go for. Not just
25:35because it's the best price but because it seems like really good value. Tell me
25:39what you think about it in the comments section below. Would you choose the
25:41entry-level model, the RS or one of those alternatives I mentioned earlier on? If
25:45you haven't already please ring the bell and stay tuned for more content. Let me
25:50know if there's any other EVs that you'd like me to review in the comments as
25:53well. Thanks for watching and I'll see you in the next one!
26:05you