Skoda’s chunky EV ‘Coupe’ makes electric life easy

One glance at the Skoda Enyaq should be enough to make you realise that the word “Coupe” has pretty well lost all meaning. Okay, so words and their meanings evolve and alter over the years but just go and Google “1971 Maserati Ghibli” or even “1969 Ford Capri” if you want to see what an actual, real coupe looks like.

It’s true that as far back as 1967, Rover was calling its V8-engined P5B a “coupe” even though it was entirely obviously a four-door saloon with an altered rear roofline whose difference to the saloon version could be measured only in microns. Even taking that into account, though, I feel that Skoda is really taking the mickey in calling this slant-roofed version of the Enyaq a “Coupe”. It’s so big and chunky that when I parked it next to an Alfa Romeo Stelvio SUV on my street, the Italian car seemed dwarfed.

So it’s not a coupe. What the Skoda Enyaq “Coupe” is, though, is a very good electric car. That sloping tailgate means that it is, by the tiniest fraction, more aerodynamically efficient than the taller-roofed SUV variant of the Enyaq, and that improvement in aero slipperiness means that it has a slightly longer range – 552km on a full charge of the 77kWh battery, compared to 544km for the equivalent high-roofed version.

That makes it a spectacularly easy EV with which to live. Fully-charged, and driven on a mixture of motorway and city streets, the Enyaq Coupe will pretty easily put a real-world 450km between visits to a charging point. Given my continuing lack of a home charger (terraced house, no hope for me post-2030) that’s a reassuring figure, and the Enyaq Coupe has been one of the easier EVs with which to live given my domestic shortcomings. It charges pretty quickly too – less than 30 per cent charge to 80 per cent took just 25 mins at a high-speed DC charging point when I needed it.

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You can make such pleasant use of that decent range, too. Motorways were once no-go areas for electric cars (lots of battery drain, little chance for a braking-energy-recuperation top-up) but the Enyaq makes a dual-carriageway its natural home. It lopes along with an insouciance born of the impressive 17.8kWh/100km electric consumption we recorded, and even during the recent warm spell, the heat-absorbing glass in the windscreen and the panoramic roof meant we only needed an occasional burst of energy-sapping air conditioning to remain cool. Refinement is excellent, as is the comfort of the front and rear seats, but there was annoying buzzy rattle from a plastic panel, which hides the heads-up display projection.

The big 13in touchscreen seems a little easier to use than those of some of its VW Group stablemates, and the huge storage spaces dotted around the cabin mean that the Enyaq easily lives up to Skoda’s reputation for making practical cars. Even the boot remains sturdily useful. Coupes are supposed to be impractical cars, but this one’s only giving away 15 litres of boot volume to the chunkier, regular Enyaq.

There must be faults, surely? Oh yes, we’re getting to those. Anyone expecting a car with a coupe badge to be more engaging to drive will be disappointed. Actually, the Enyaq has pretty solid chassis responses, and way more front-end grip than you might expect, but the lifeless steering and general sense of hefty deportment blunt any enjoyment you might extract from it. At 2.1 tonnes, it’s not quite the heaviest electric SUV around, but it’s sure no Superleggera.

The weight, for the most part, aids the ride quality – you’re practically rolling the road flat again with that much bulk – but the 19in wheels do mean a bit too much bobble and fidget over poor urban surfaces. Given that EVs will tend to spend most of their lives in town, wouldn’t a tad more focus on low-speed ride quality be appropriate, hmmm?

None of this will bother you too much, as you’ll be luxuriating in the optional caramel-coloured leather seats, while those in the back enjoy copious legroom and – surprisingly – almost no serious degradation in headroom.

There is – appropriately for a car with this kind of bulk – a big but coming. It’s the price tag. Fitted with the optional “Advanced Pack”, which includes, among other niceties, the light-up “Crystal Face” grille, which sounds like a Batman villain, and which looks either really neat or appallingly tacky (I still can’t decide) this Enyaq Coupe runs up a price tag of €72,225. Okay, so you could forego the Advanced Pack and save yourself €8,740 (and that’s probably not a bad idea, Crystal Face and the ear-bleeding Canton sound system notwithstanding) but this is still a heck of a lot of money for a car with a Skoda badge.

It’s not that Skoda and big money can’t go hand-in-hand – clearly, the brand has long since left its cheap-o, former communist car roots long behind – but just recently I also tested an Audi Q4 e-tron Sportback, which is effectively the same car (same chassis, same 204hp motor, same 77kWh battery, same range), but which cost €68,133 on the road, and with a badge that – sorry, Skoda but it’s true – will impress the neighbours rather more.

Were it actually my money, I think I’d still go for the Skoda. I prefer the Czech brand image to that of the Audi, and the Enyaq’s cabin looks nicer and feels more welcoming than the dark and slightly gloomy Audi interior, but for many people the four-ringed badge will be the deciding factor when the prices are this closely matched. Even if you were to remove all of the optional extras from both cars, the Skoda would only have a €645 price advantage over the Audi, and that is a very tough game to play.

Plus, the Audi’s called a Sportback – a made up word that only means whatever Audi wants it to mean. Skoda’s decision to use coupe leaves it on much thinner ice.

Skoda Enyaq Coupe 80

• 150kW e-motor developing 204hp and 310Nmof torque, poweringthe rear wheels via a single-speed automatic transmission.
• CO2 emissions (annual motor tax) 0g/km (€120).
• Electric consumption: 15.2-16.6kWh/100km (WLTP).
• Electric range: 552km (WLTP) 0-100km/h: 8.5 sec.
• Price: €72,225 as tested, Enyaq Coupe starts from €54,710.
• Our rating 3/5.
• Verdict: A really good EV but it’s very pricey in this form, and it’s certainly no true coupe.