Skoda Enyaq long-term test: report 8
Is it possible to live with an electric car even if you can't charge it up at home? We're finding out with the help of the Skoda Enyaq iV electric SUV...
The car Skoda Enyaq iV 60 Loft Nav Run by Darren Moss, deputy editor
Why it’s here To show that it’s possible to use an electric car as your sole vehicle, even if you can’t charge it at home
Needs to Have enough range to not need charging every day, be comfortable for longer trips, and function as a mobile office when needed
Mileage 2443 List price £34,850 Target Price £34,850 Price as tested £40,005 Test range 194 miles Official range 256 miles
14 March 2022 – The soft touch
When I was at school, I hated design and technology classes. I was all right when we worked with wood and metal, but terrible when we worked with fabrics. I could never get the stitching right, so whatever I ended up making looked less like a coin purse or pencil holder and more like the innards of some alien organism.
Thankfully, whoever built the interior of my Skoda Enyaq was a lot better at it, because the fabric used on the upper dashboard is one of my favourite things about the car.
It feels more homely to touch than the soft plastic you’d find in plenty of rival SUVs, and although you can pay more to swap it for artificial leather in Suite or EcoSuite versions, they cost more than my Loft model and, in my opinion, don’t look as good.
Indeed, the fact that the fabric is also a contrasting colour to the rest of the interior makes it look like a proper design feature of the car, and not just another piece of trim. It also helps my Enyaq feel more premium, and that’s important, given that justifying its price point is now a lot harder because it no longer qualifies for the Government’s plug-in vehicle grant.
All is not well elsewhere, because an annoying problem with my car’s stereo has emerged in recent weeks. When I play music through Apple CarPlay, the car’s speakers will stop about two minutes in, and then sound will only come out of some tiny speakers at the front of the car, rather than from all around. At this point the sound is terrible, like it’s coming from a speaker in another room.
The issue lasts for less than a minute, before the sound switches back to coming out of every speaker, but it happens without fail, and only when I’m streaming music from my phone. It’s an odd but annoying issue, and a real shame, because the Enyaq’s stereo delivers rich, crisp sound most of the time.
If it keeps happening, a trip to my local dealer beckons, but for now I’m just convinced that my car doesn’t like my taste in music. Which, considering that 99% of it is musical theatre soundtracks, is fair enough.
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