By Gareth Butterfield 
Back in the early days of Skoda’s renaissance, we’re talking the very start of the millennium, the vRS badge was only bestowed on the big-selling hatchback, the Octavia.
Popularity saw it granted a second showing on the Fabia, which was fair enough, but for the best part of 20 years, it remained a pretty revered set of initials on a small selection of cars that were genuinely worth aspiring to.
Fast forward to the current decade, and the vRS badge is being handed out a bit too liberally. I drove the latest version of the Octavia vRS the other day and it’s completely worthy, but there’s also now a Kodiaq vRS, which just didn’t give me the same kind of fizz. Sporting up a seven-seater has never quite worked, in all of automotive history.
And now Skoda has badged up two of its all-electric cars with those three important letters, the Elroq and the Enyaq. Now, I’m all for sporty EVs, but I do feel they need to add something genuinely exciting into the mix, beyond the usual surging torque you get from pretty much anything with a battery.
I’ve just spent a week in the Enyaq Coupe vRS and I really don’t think it meets the vRS standard. This is not, just to be clear, because the Enyaq is a bad car. Far from it, in fact it’s one of the most finely packaged Skodas in the stable, and a facelift last year has made it look incredibly stylish – especially in its coupe form.
It’s also not exactly slow. Its 84kWh battery and dual motors serve up a rather vivid 335bhp and it can get from 0-60mph in just 5.4 seconds. But, as I’ve already said, that’s becoming par for the course in an EV.
The stiffer suspension, bigger wheels, sporty interior touches, and dynamic chassis control system are all present and correct in the Enyaq, but they can only do so much to hide the fact that this car comfortably tips over two tonnes on the scales. And it’s quite bulky for a coupe, too.
It’s also annoyingly expensive, too. £53,860 is the entry price and that’s a lot to try and justify when you can get the Octavia vRS for as near as dammit £40,000. And, trust me, the Octavia absolutely runs rings around the Enyaq in terms of sportiness.
Where does that leave us, then? In many ways, little has changed in the Enyaq vRS; it’s still an incredibly likeable car, very easy to live with, plenty of clever design touches that we’ve come to expect from a Skoda, and a range of up to 347 miles thanks to a claimed 3.9 miles/kWh. On a long run, on a cold day, I managed 3.6kWh, so these numbers are obviously not unrealistic.
The vRS treatment also gives you some seriously decent equipment, with everything from self-parking to lovely sports seats and ambient lighting. It all helps to justify the price.
The 20″ wheels unsettle the ride a bit, but not by as much as you’d think, and while the dynamic chassis control does an admirable job of keeping the car in check when you’re having a play, it always feels softer and less agile than a vRS should.
Perhaps, then, it’s a vRS for those constrained by the necessity to go all-electric. This makes it a concession rather than a contender, but plenty of people will welcome a sportier trim in their EV, even if a sportier trim really is the main benefit.
Vanity aside, there’s just not enough to love about the vRS, though. The Enyaq is such a brilliant option already, if you want a sporty-looking coupe with great range and practicality, but adding the badge doesn’t add the excitement you might be hoping for.
As a range-topper, it’s still excellent. But as a vRS, it’s just not quite up to the job.
