• One of the most spacious cars in its class
• Large boot, but not as big as a Skoda Karoq
• Impressive storage solutions available

How much space is there?

Skoda is proudly saying the Elroq is the electric equivalent of the Karoq, and without doubt that car’s greatest strength is its highly versatile and spacious interior. The good news is that the Elroq carries over much of the cleverness, and is one of the roomiest cars in its class. 

Despite its fairly compact dimensions, the Elroq has a long wheelbase, which goes straight into providing a roomy passenger area. There’s a great feeling of space throughout the interior, courtesy of clever use of materials and design elements – including a ‘floating’ centre console with lots of storage beneath.

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Space for those sitting in the rear is most impressive, with a generous amount of headroom and legroom, even with a slightly sloped roofline. It’s quite wide for an electric SUV at just shy of 1.9m, so there should be room for three adults across the rear bench in relative comfort. The rear seats are quite flat, too, meaning even someone taller can occupy the centre rear seat. Two easily accessible sets of Isofix sockets are also in the back, with plenty of space to fit even the chunkiest of child seats. 

Boot space and storage

At 470 litres, the Elroq has one of the largest boots of any compact electric SUV, if slightly down on that of a petrol Karoq. The older car also remains the more versatile choice, with its clever rear seats that can slide, tilt and even be easily removed altogether – the Elroq doesn’t have any of these features, though neither do any of its rivals.

But the Elroq performs better for storage, with a generous amount in the front courtesy of large bins and its floating centre console, which has plenty of storage spaces both within it and also underneath. Handy features include a parcel shelf that can be placed at two different levels to essentially split up the available room.

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Skoda also offers a highly useful Transport Package for extra storage, though it is a £250 optional extra across the line-up. It’s particularly useful for creating more space with the boot. The highlight of this is a parcel shelf with a storage net on the underside of it, which is ideal for storing the charging cables. If you’re an existing an EV owner that keeps the charging cables in the car, you’ll appreciate how much of a difference this makes, though we can’t help but feel it should be included as standard. 

Is it easy to park?

The Elroq is an easy car to park with its generous standard parking features and easy-to-place dimensions. As we’ve mentioned, it is quite wide for a compact electric SUV, so if you have a tight parking space or narrow street parking, you might want to give it a second thought.

That said, a reversing camera with rear parking sensors is included as standard, with the SE L model adding front sensors. A new feature for the Elroq is that it’s available with remote park assist, which through the MySkoda app enables you to park the car or manouevre with your smartphone. It’s ideal if you return to your car to find another motorist parked so close you can’t get in, or if you have a tight garage, for example. But, again, it’s an expensive optional extra as it’s only available as part of a ‘Maxx’ package, and will set you back an eye-watering £5,200. 

Safety 

• Yet to be tested by Euro NCAP
• Plenty of standard, useful safety kit
• But be aware of expensive optional extras

At the time of writing, the Elroq has yet to be safety tested by Euro NCAP. That said, we expect it to perform well considering every other Skoda on sale already has a five-star safety rating.

Standard features include a reversing camera, blind spot detection, lane assist and traffic sign recognition, though it is disappointing that you have to upgrade two trim levels to the Edition to get adaptive cruise control. Especially when it’s standard on the Kia EV3.