2026 Skoda Elroq 60 Select review: Australian first drive

Skoda is finally ready to battle China and South Korea for its slice of the electric-car market.

After a soft launch with well-equipped, high-grade models, the Volkswagen-owned Czech car brand is filling out its electric range with two ‘standard-range’ versions of its mid-size SUVs: the Elroq 60 Select and Enyaq 60 Select.

The Elroq is the more affordable of the pair, priced from $49,990 drive-away – competitive with Kia and Hyundai rivals, and in the same ballpark as competition from BYD and Zeekr.

There are some compromises in equipment and driving range to hit that price, which could have you looking elsewhere.

We’ve had a first drive on Australian roads to see if it’s worth the money.

The Elroq 60 Select is the cheapest model in the line-up, priced from $47,990 plus on-road costs, or $49,990 drive-away.

Skoda classifies the Elroq as a mid-size SUV, but it is a curiously shaped vehicle. It has the width and distance between the front and rear wheels of the larger Enyaq, a Tesla Model Y competitor, but a shorter rear overhang means it is only as long as an SUV in the class below.

Its closest size rivals are, therefore, the BYD Atto 3 and Geely EX5, which also blur the line between the small and medium SUV categories.

A top-of-the-range BYD Atto 3 is about $49,000 drive-away in NSW, while a flagship Geely EX5 is just under $50,000 on the road in NSW. Both vehicles are better equipped, however, and quote longer ranges by about 25–55km.

It’s nowhere near a BYD Atto 2 or Jaecoo J5, both of which sit below $40,000 drive-away, but they are smaller vehicles with less advanced underpinnings.

Closer is the Hyundai Kona Electric, currently on special at $45,990 drive-away nationwide with a 340km range, and the Kia EV3, currently starting at $46,990 drive-away (usually $47,600 plus on-road costs) with a 436km range.

If you have more to spend, Skoda can offer you the long-range Elroq 85 Select for $59,990 drive-away, and 130 Years Edition for $69,990 drive-away.

Standard features in the Elroq 60 Select include 19-inch alloy wheels, LED headlights, a 13-inch touchscreen with wireless Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, fabric upholstery, heated front seats, leather steering wheel, an eight-speaker stereo, dual-zone climate control, and a suite of safety systems.

Optional is the $6000 Signature Package, which adds features from higher grades: a head-up display, 360-degree camera, Canton premium audio, matrix LED headlights, a power-adjustable driver’s seat with memory, and more.

It’s disappointing to see Skoda also package rear-side airbags into this package – to join the already-standard rear curtain airbags for head protection – rather than make them standard across the line-up.

Larger 20-inch wheels are a $1000 option.

The differences between the Skoda Enyaq and Elroq are almost exclusively found in the boot.

The Elroq’s shorter tail gives it a 20 per cent smaller boot than its sibling, but it’s hardly small. At 470 litres, it is competitive with many petrol-powered mid-size SUVs, and has more than enough room for suitcases, sports gear, and everything that comes with family life.

It is a deep and broad cargo area with plenty of handy features: pockets on each side, bag hooks, a 12-volt socket, tie-downs, a ski port for loading longer items without folding the 60:40 rear seats, and space under the floor for the charging cable and tyre repair kit.

Up front, it is an experience relatively light on frills, but it gets the basics right on ergonomics and comfort.

The front seats are only manually adjustable and trimmed in cloth, but I found them comfortable enough for my 186cm (6ft 1in) tall frame, and heating is a nice bonus for a base model.

Similar grey fabric is used to upholster the dashboard, armrests, and even the side of the centre console, and while the Elroq lacks the leather-look touchpoints and bling in Chinese rivals, there’s an understated quality feel that suits the $50,000 price.

The leather steering wheel feels great in the hand, and there is a lot of room in the footwell for drivers to stretch out, with plenty of steering column adjustment and good external vision. A sliding and tilting function on the centre armrest also aids comfort.

Small-item storage is generous, with a deep centre console compartment, roomy door pockets with flock lining – even in this base model – a slot beside the gear selector for keys and wallets, and a wireless phone charging tray.

The glovebox is small, however, and the cupholders are tight. Even with the divider adjusted, 600ml bottles will struggle to fit.

Features include two 45-watt USB-C ports, dual-zone climate control, and keyless entry and start – there is a start button on the steering wheel, but you don’t need to use it to set off – and Skoda signatures such as an umbrella in the driver’s door, a ticket holder on the windscreen, and a bin in the door pocket.

It is a spacious experience for six-footers, with ample head room and knee room for my 186cm (6ft 1in) tall frame behind my driving position, though toe room with the front seats set low is tight.

A wide cabin allows three adults to sit shoulder to shoulder as required, and the floor is flat, with space to clip in a plastic tray that adds two cupholders and space for small items. Under-thigh support is excellent, as the seat base is angled upward to meet your thighs.

However, there is a big problem: the payload, the maximum mass of passengers and cargo the vehicle is rated to carry, is just 397kg,

That is not sufficient to carry four 100kg occupants, and would need five people weighing an average of no more than 79kg to ensure the vehicle remains legal to drive on the road. Having roomy rear seats is useless if the car isn't rated to use them.

Rear amenities include phone and map pockets on each seatback, spacious door pockets, two USB-C ports, rear air vents, three top-tether and two ISOFIX anchors, and a fold-down centre armrest with cupholders. Sunshades are optional.

Standard in every Elroq is a 13-inch touchscreen with wireless and wired versions of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, plus FM and digital DAB radio, and voice control.

A bright screen and contemporary graphics help it present well, response times are respectable, and once you’ve gotten a hang of its menus, it’s easy enough to navigate.

A customisable shortcut bar along the top edge – with space to pin commonly used functions, including lane-keep assist toggles and various settings menus – helps with usability, as do further shortcuts available by swiping down from the top of the screen.

However, in-built satellite navigation is absent, as is any form of route planning feature to map out a long drive around charging stations.

Skoda has routed the air-conditioning functions through the screen – with fan speed at least a tap away – though you get temperature and heated seat controls pinned to the bottom of the display, and there’s a physical shortcut on the dashboard to open the climate menu.

It sits between switches to manage the safety systems, drive modes, parking sensors, and defrosters, though there is no volume dial for the passenger, only a fiddly, unilluminated touch slider under the screen, and a roller on the steering wheel.

There is also no companion phone app like you get with Tesla, BYD, Zeekr, and myriad competitors, nor the ability to schedule charging at home.

It is possible to set a time to automatically precondition the cabin, but it must be set from inside the car, rather than remotely via a phone app. These features are drawcards of rivals, which many repeat electric-car buyers have come to expect.

Wireless Apple CarPlay worked well on test, but we’re less enamoured by the eight-speaker sound system, which lacks punch such that pop and rock music peaks at only two-thirds volume.

The 5.0-inch instrument display is on the small side for a car this large, but we like the way it’s integrated into the dashboard, and it shows basic information such as speed, range, and cruise control data without going overboard.

The Skoda Elroq has earned a five-star safety rating from Euro NCAP in Europe, but it is yet to extend to Australia.

The larger Enyaq is covered by a five-star rating in Australia – albeit with a 2021 date stamp, as it was tested under less stringent 2020–22 criteria – and given the similarities between the two, it would be reasonable to expect a similar level of crash protection locally.

The vast majority of the Elroq’s safety features are well calibrated and don’t annoy, whether that’s the smooth adaptive cruise control – adjusted via a steering column stalk – or intuitive lane-centring assist that doesn’t ping-pong between the lines.

Unlike Chinese rivals, the lane-keep assist tugs at the steering wheel gently when the car strays over a white line – rather than ripping it out of your hands – though tight lanes, as well as unmarked rural roads, can see it intervene more frequently than we’d like.

Thankfully it’s easy to turn off, with a shortcut button on the steering wheel that opens the safety assist menu, as well as icons you can pin to the top of the infotainment screen.

The driver attention alert works by locking the human behind the wheel out of the touchscreen if the system detects they’re looking at it for too long and starting to wander in the lane.

Absent entirely is speed sign recognition, and you’ll need to pay extra for a 360-degree camera. The resolution of the rear-view camera fitted as standard is poor.

Seven airbags are standard, including front and rear head-protecting curtains, with the $6000 Signature Package needed to get airbags for the rear occupants’ torsos. It’s disappointing to see these are not standard.

The Elroq 60’s smaller nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) battery pack quotes a capacity of 59kWh usable – or 63kWh total – for a claimed driving range in European WLTP testing of 395km.

Interestingly, it is slightly shorter than the same battery in the larger Enyaq, possibly due to inferior aerodynamics from the Elroq’s shorter body and stubbier rear end.

Skoda claims energy efficiency of 15.9 kilowatt-hours per 100 kilometres. Over a 160km loop comprised mostly of highway and enthusiastic country-road driving, an Elroq 60 I tested displayed consumption of 18.2kWh/100km for a relatively short estimated range of 325km.

To hit the claimed range, you would need to get consumption down to 15kWh/100km, which is achievable in favourable conditions around town.

On paper, Skoda claims the 60 Select is more energy efficient than the 85 Select on the same wheels (but narrower tyres in the cheaper car), but my anecdotal experience from time in various Elroqs and Enyaqs is that the 60 variants with the 150kW electric motor aren’t quite as efficient as the 85s with a 210kW motor, but both are pretty decent.

DC charging in the cheaper 60 variants is rated at up to 165kW, for a claimed 10 to 80 per cent recharge in 24 minutes.

It is four minutes slower than the 85 variants, which only claim a DC charging peak of 135kW, but hold that figure for longer than the 60 charges at its best, so the difference is mostly related to the difference in battery capacity.

AC charging is quoted at 11kW.

In a sea of Chinese electric cars with annoying safety features and unrefined ride qualities, the Elroq is a refreshingly simple and settled car to drive.

The 150kW/310Nm electric motor in the 60 Select lacks the punch of the 85’s more powerful 210kW/545Nm unit, but it’s hardly slow.

It is perky enough for zipping into gaps in traffic, the tuning of the accelerator pedal’s response is fantastically smooth, and the 60 isn’t as keen to spin the wheels out of junctions like the 85. Only when overtaking at freeway speeds does performance start to feel modest.

Drivers have more limited control of regenerative braking than in more expensive variants, with a standard D and more aggressive B mode to choose from. Neither brings the car to a full stop without touching the brake pedal like a Tesla, Kia or Zeekr.

It means you’re required to use the brake peal, which is soft and lacks bite, needing a fair amount of movement in your leg to pull the car up. The point at which the regen blends with the ‘friction’ brakes – discs up front, but old-school drums at the rear – is not as obvious as in other Enyaqs and Elroqs we’ve driven previously.

Smaller wheels and chubbier tyres lend the Elroq 60 Select a more supple ride than the top-of-the-range 130 Years Edition. It's comfortable over potholes and big bumps, and at higher speeds on country roads, the body is impressively settled over crests and dips.

Where it is tripped up is over rough tarmac and smaller imperfections in the road, which can cause the Elroq to bobble and jiggle as the suspension controls the car’s weight.

It is not as firm as other variants in the range, and it’s a common problem in electric cars – which have more weight for the suspension and tyres to manage than a petrol vehicle – but it’s something you’ll notice on a longer drive.

A tight turning circle – 9.3 metres, smaller than a Suzuki Swift (9.6m) – is a boon in car parks, helped by quick and accurate steering that’s easy to twirl at low speeds, but confidence-inspiring at higher speeds, with Sport mode dialing up the weight.

The Elroq is adept on a country road, as you’d expect of a European car, with taut suspension and good grip from the Hankook tyres that lend it confidence and composure in corners.

The reduction in power means that, when you’re driving with a bit of verve, the car’s electronics aren’t working as hard to smother wheelspin and keep the rear tyres in check.

It’s a surprisingly enjoyable car to drive. One that gives you the sense it’s been engineered by a company that did not start building cars yesterday, and knows how to make a well-balanced vehicle.

There is some tyre roar and wind noise at highway speeds, but it is relatively modest, and even the below-average stereo can drown it out.

On paper, the Skoda Elroq 60 Select isn’t the easiest car to justify.

The real-world driving range is short, it lacks EV-focused tech like a phone app, and it’s missing the glitz and glamour of Chinese alternatives that are brimming with features at a lower price.

But many of those rivals are upstarts with irritating safety features, interiors that are hard to interact with, and aren’t spectacular to drive, whether that’s a wobbly ride or unremarkable handling.

The Elroq is very spacious inside for its size, the technology isn’t overwhelming, it’s easy to drive, rides and handles with confidence, offers Skoda’s seven-year warranty, and is priced in the ballpark of its rivals, without feeling like a rental car on the equipment list.

There's one important caveat that sours the proposition: the low payload. It is a surprising miss for an established brand like Skoda, and significantly hampers the Elroq's ability to load up all five seats – defeating the point of having such a roomy cabin.

If you’re after an electric car that feels normal – and you don't need to carry four or five adults regularly – it is certainly worth a look.

Alex Misoyannis has been writing about cars since 2017, when he started his own website, Redline. He contributed for Drive in 2018, before joining CarAdvice in 2019, becoming a regular contributing journalist within the news team in 2020. Cars have played a central role throughout Alex’s life, from flicking through car magazines at a young age, to growing up around performance vehicles in a car-loving family. Highly Commended - Young Writer of the Year 2024 (Under 30) Rising Star Journalist, 2024 Winner Scoop of The Year - 2024 Winner

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