Skoda Elroq Select (2025-2026)

Great small SUV for the price. Pros - drives superbly, like a knife through butter, plenty of pickup - not as squirty as the Volvo EX30, but comparable to the EX40, BMW ix. Feels a little more lively than the Kia EV3. Brakes are a little sluggish as they are for all EVs - on par with the Kia and Volvo.

After 10 years driving a Golf the transition was surprisingly pleasurable. We love the tight turning circle and easy Reverse, Drive and Regen button.

We love minimal bings and bongs and the option to one button on the screen switch off Lane Assist, Start Air Con, or recycle air.

The default sensor warning start to brake is excellent as is the side mirror blindspot warning and standard reverse parking camera. If you’re a nervous parker upgrade to experience the front and overhead cameras of a Polstar or BMW which also has a wide angle front view if you live on a blindspot.

Standard manual seats are very comfy - more than the BMW and Kia. No headrest pushing your head forward, or side swaddlers giving you a hunchback…

And the Cons? Sound system is average in all the cars we tested except the upgraded spec BMW. Our test drive rattled on the driver side and our own rattles on the left! Opening the window helps. Better than the pathetic EX30 tho…

Hate to join the pedantic haters but the driver cup holders are pathetic and too small. The door bottle holders are at 45 degrees so no help with open coffee.

The MAG phone charger is great but not quite enough room for 2 iphones side by side. And if you want to save power, you can’t switch it off and there’s nowhere else obvious to stash your phone.

Boot is slightly wider and deeper than our Golf and much higher - with handy side cubbies, reversible mat and netting in various forms for who knows what - Skoda’s “Simply Clever” is bizarre at times. (I’d rather have a button to switch off the air con without having to press twice and reach over to the far corner of the screen… Talking of Right-hand driving - google maps speed limit is on the far left so not much use for the driver) It’s a shame the rear seats don’t fold down flat. Boot is heavy and you have to really give it a thump to close - so if you’re short, old, often have kids in the back and you care about their longterm hearing - upgrade to the electric boot which also has the foot wave to open. As a surfer and muso and like most Aussies we often have laptops, surfboards, guitars in the car, so the $10k upgrade also has some useful if slightly daggy built in rear side window blinds - also great for littl’uns.

All these slight let downs and annoyances are totally acceptable for us - the swings and the roundabouts - when we consider all the EVs we researched and tested. However one showstopper/elephant in the room remains stubbornly, reminding us that despite hours watching youtube reviews and reading car mags and drooling over the Skoda website and several Saturdays in the company of some sometimes beyond useless car salesman, we may have picked a lemon… nor did our top sales person mention that much of the “Simply Clever” functionality on the info and navigation system is NOT available for Australia. With no date confirmed by VAG if we’ll ever have connected services, and for this reason - there is no MySkoda app. No MySkoda app means you can’t schedule charging from midnight to 6am to only pay evil AGL 8c rather than the usual 37c. (Unless you set a good old fashioned alarm to head out to the car in your pyjamas to start charging.) The car has a clock for christ’s sake - how hard is it? We don’t care about losing out on keyless entry, driver profiles for settings, but needing to have a phone on bluetooth - CONSTANTLY - to play music or use maps is annoying. And if you live in regional or remote Australia and you’re not with Telstra - you won’t have any maps! Do we care about wifi updates? Maybe not but it means and annoying visit to Skoda Service when they spruik service only required every 2 years… Our Skoda salesperson said “I just use Apple car play”, not oh BTW Ignore everything you read about the app and the location functionality on the infortainment where you would nort program in a “home” location with a charging schedule 12 midnight to 6am…. If MG and BYD can do it for about 33% cheaper, and offer free charging on the Evie network and a 10Y warranty , it beggars belief that VAG are taking Australian drivers seriously. #LemonEmoji