Skoda's Elroq brings clarity to the roads

Satnavs are different, who knew?

It turns out there are good, bad and indifferent, but as we ply our familiar roads we seldom notice.

Often I plumb home into the satnav even though I know the way there just so I can be informed how far away I might be and what time I’ll arrive.

Come to think of it, in situations like this, satnav does try and send me the wrong way, perhaps down a single track road with grass growing through the asphalt just because it is 3mm shorter, which does make me wonder what it is telling me when I’m far, far away.

This is confirmed on a foray south, which, with closed roads and diversions, turns out to be 300 miles from the ranch.

The little Japanese hatchback we venture ‘darn sarth’ in starts to struggle with the complicated road structure of what I will describe as Greater London.

Why do southern roundabouts have so many exits for goodness sake and don’t even get me started on all the lanes.

It is stressful and I’m not enjoying it very much. On the worst days I get a headache. Then I swap to Skoda’s latest EV, the Elroq, and everything is okay.

The stress dissipates, the headache lifts and I start enjoying myself again because the satnav is so clear and brings clarity as to where I should actually be driving.

This is never more evident than on the way home. The A3 is a metaphorical car crash especially where it joins the notorious M25, probably the last place on the planet you would wish to be on a Friday afternoon. What day is it? Friday. What time of the day? Afternoon. Right, we won’t go that way then.

So we give the Elroq concise instructions to take us the shorter way through towns, villages and leafy suburbs, which cuts the distance to be travelled, keeps our wheels moving and is more interesting as you get a feel for how people actually live down south outside the tourist spots.

The roads are strangely quiet, probably because all the cars are stuck on the M25 and we pass a lot of nice houses, which eventually thin to become rural roads of Oxfordshire.

Before you know it we pop out on the M40 somewhere near Silverstone and Birmingham is within easy reach.

I am annoyed with myself. Before we set off we waste 15 minutes downloading the Tesla app to recharge the Elroq in Guildford so the battery level is only 90 per cent when we leave. It’s not quite enough to reach home. It would have been had the car been fully charged as the range is a most impressive 360 miles – now you are talking.

So we have to dip into the services on the M6 toll road and guess what? All four chargers are taken. I was not expecting that, I thought the infrastructure was getting better.

By the time we have a toilet stop and order a burger for the boy the chargers have suddenly all become free so we decide to plug the Elroq in and surprisingly quickly we have 200 miles range again.

My turn to be a passenger now and it allows me time to reflect on what a brilliant car the new Elroq is. It looks fabulous, especially in SportLine trim with 22in alloys and a body so sleek the drag coefficient is just 0.26.

Inside is a peerless exercise of useful design making it truly intuitive to operate. The touchscreen is so easy to use, the digital dash clear and simple to understand, the ergonomics perfect for a comfortable long ride.

The boy is happy in the back where he stretches full length across the car watching his digital stuff in perfect comfort.

The car bristles with clever design, such as the brolly in the door, the clever use of the parcel shelf to store the charging cables, the multiple cubbyholes and boot storage which prevents shopping spillages. It screams well thought out.

It is also great to drive. The 286PS of power makes it rapid, great for pulling away from southern roundabouts where other drivers seem hellbent on killing you. The 545Nm or torque also makes Elroq a monster overtaker when conditions allow you to nip by the slow movers.

With 360 miles in the ‘tank’ there is little range anxiety to fear and the consumption of 4.0 miles/kWh is the equivalent of 160 miles per gallon in a petrol powered vehicle, so it is cheap to run too.

All this and the price of just over £41,000, with deals to be done, should have you setting your satnav for the nearest Skoda dealer. I just hope it gets you there.