When it comes to electric cars, the choice is getting bigger and bigger. However, most of the newcomers are SUV's.
Take these two for example. The Skoda Enyaq has been designed from the ground up to be an electrical car.
The Mercedes-Benz EQA however, is based on an already existing model. Just like Peugeot has their 208 and e-208.
So this is a converted EV and an EV that has been designed as one.
When it comes to the price, they're very close. That means you've got a Skoda that almost costs the same as a Mercedes-Benz.
But that's about the only similarity they have.
If we look at the size of the cars, we can immediately conclude that the Skoda is a lot bigger.
It's 23 centimetres longer than the Mercedes, which has quite the effect on the boot. In the Skoda, it's much more spacious.
The Skoda has 585 litres of luggage space, whilst the Mercedes only has 340 litres. That's a lot less than what the GLA - which the...
EQA is based on - had to offer. That's mostly because of the battery pack, but it's something you have to take into consideration.
You can see it in the interior as well. The Skoda has a longer wheelbase and it's bigger as a whole, so you've got more legroom.
In here, it's not too bad either when it comes to both head- and legroom, but you kind of have to pull your legs up because of the battery pack.
That's not very comfortabel. Something both cars have as well is an electrically folding towing hook.
It appears underneath the rear bumper when you press a button. But again, there's a difference in towing capacity.
The Skoda is allowed to tow 1.000 kg, whilst the Mercedes is only allowed to tow 750 kg.
So if you want to tow a caravan, you can, but it should be a very light one. Otherwise, it's only small trailers for you.
The architecture of this car is already known. It's pretty much the same as that of the Volkswagen ID.4 and ID.3.
That means the battery pack is incorporated in the floor with an electric motor mounted at the back, producing 204 horsepower and...
301 Nm of torque. That's more than enough, despite the car weighing over 2.000 kg. You never get the impression it's not powerful enough.
Of course, there are other battery packs available. A smaller one for example, which only has a capacity of 58 kWh and in time,
there's going to be a version with an even smaller capacity. I personally wouldn't encourage you to choose that version,
because it's very nice to have a big range in a car like this. And this version, with a 77 kWh-battery pack, is a good solution.
Charging can be done up to 125 kW, which is relatively quick, and it's got an indicated WLTP-range of 504 km.
Of course, you'll never be able to reach that, except for when you're driving at 80 km/h going with the wind.
However, now the weather is nice and all, you're easily able to get 300 or 400 km out of it.
Looking at the dashboard, it all looks very good. In this particular car, it has an artificial leather upholstery, but if you get a different...
trim level with a fabric interior, you can expect different elements. Fabric on the dashboard for example.
The door panels and the sides haven't been forgotten either. It all looks pretty good.
As per usual, there are two screens. A big one in the middle and one that's integrated into the dashboard.
Some other cars have a separate screen for that as well, but in the Skoda, it has been nicely integrated.
It doesn't have a lot of information, but it shows you what the driving assists are doing and it shows the speed and range as well.
What I like about this car, and what's different than in the Volkswagen, is the way you operate it.
The Volkswagen has a panel on the left for the lights and demisting the windows and so on.
In here however, that panel has been moved to the middle. Also, it has regular buttons, so you can easily access the functions.
And the same goes for the big screen. The climate control-buttons are always present on the screen. You don't have to dive into...
menu's or anything. They're always visible. Besides that, the system works nice and quickly, and you're able to connect it to Apple CarPlay...
or Android Auto. That feels familiar. So after a rough start, I think this VW-system finally works fast and smoothly.
It's intuitive and you can get all of the information you need in the blink of an eye.
Other than that, you're able to control some of the functions through the steering wheel. For the rest, you'll have to use...
the touchscreen. That's not really ideal, but it's nicely within reach. It's not far away, so it can be handy.
The satnav then. It's connected to the driving assist, which is something you'll see in more and more cars these days.
That means it'll know there's a junction or roundabout coming up, and it'll automatically start braking for you. And it does so...
in a regenerative way, which means you'll win back some energy.
What's less handy is that you can't operate the cruise control through the steering wheel. Instead, you've got a prong behind the wheel.
You always have to think about how to use it. Forwards, backwards, you name it. There's even a button on the end of it.
You'll have to save it in your head, and eventually you'll get used to it.
Then there's the driving. Like I said, this is a rear-wheel drive car with an engine mounted at the rear.
Rear-wheel drive doesn't always mean that it's better to drive, but electric cars tend to have a lot of torque and power...
on the front wheels, this car is able to dose it very nicely. The front wheels only have to steer, which means the steering is very smooth.
The drive is really nice.
The seating position is very good in this car. I mean, it's big and very spacious. The only thing to compain about is the fact...
that your knee might touch the middle console. Besides that, there's more than enough room in the interior.
Both in the front as in the back. And the car feels very solid. The springs have a very nice setting, especially since this very Enyaq...
doesn't have adaptive dampers. And I can't think of a reason to get adaptive dampers, because it's very good as it is.
We also have to talk about the regeneration. You can control that by the flappy paddles, which means you can let it regenerate a tad more.
You can also put the gear lever in B. If you want to use the flappy paddles, you always have to reset them. If you put it in 2 and...
you brake, you'll have to put it in 2 again if you try engine braking again. It's easier to just put it in B.
That way, you're able to one-pedal drive this car.
A big difference with the Skoda is that the electric motor in the EQA is mounted at the front, and thus it's a front-wheel drive car.
And it's not a rare thing, because a lot of cars have this kind of drivetrain-setup. But like I said, electric cars sometimes have it the...
other way round. Because of the torque, and this car is no exception.
Especially when you put it in Sport-mode. It then has a sharper throttle response, so if you put your foot down in a corner, it'll always have wheelspin.
When you're just driving around, you won't suffer from that. On the other hand, front-wheel drive is better for regenerative braking.
This particular car produces 190 horsepower and 375 Nm of torque, which means it's got more torque but less power than the Skoda.
And in time, there will be more powerful versions. One with 250 horsepower and one with 292 horsepower. Both of which...
will have four-wheel drive, so they'll get the 4Matic-label.
The battery pack in this car is a tad smaller than in the Skoda. Not by much, but this has a 66,5 kWh-battery pack.
Charging can be done up to 100 kW, and the WLTP-range is just above 400 km. 424 km to be precise.
And just like with the Skoda, you won't really reach those numbers, but the actual range isn't that bad.
You're always able to get more than 300 km out of a single charge. And in the real world, you never really need anything more.
You can see an average power consumption of about 20 kWh per 100 km. Both in this car as in the Skoda.
Also, if you're trying really hard, you can get the Skoda to use even less electricity.
If you're going for longer journeys, you can try it in here as well. Anyway, if you consider 20 kWh per 100 km, you'll be alright.
Right, the interior. It's like we're used to from Mercedes-Benz in the past few years. It's absolutely great.
It feels premium, it has beautiful materials and you operate it through their MBUX-system.
And you can customize it to your own liking. I always prefer some round dials in front of me, so I've selected them. In those dials,
you're able to select certain things as well. On this side, there's a screen with the satnav and all of the other car-related functions.
If you select a destination in the satnav that's a tad far away, it'll neatly show you routes which have possible charging stations for you.
In that calculation, it has also taken charging times and such into consideration. That's a very nice feature, based on the Ionity-network.
Operating the car can be done in four different ways. Through the steering wheel, through the touchpad, through the touchscreen...
or through speech command. It all works really fast and it graphically looks amazing. Mercedes is clearly ahead of Skoda here.
Sometimes you can get a little wheelspin in tight corners, but other than that the driving characteristics in this car are just fine.
But when you're just driving around, there won't be anything wrong with it.
This car doesn't have adjustable shocks either, but you're able to alter the way it responds to the accelerator with a button.
You can make it feistier that way. You can also put the button in Eco-mode, which takes away a few climate options.
That way you use less energy, but there's less comfort as well. Anyway, the handling is pretty decent. Springs are good, especially considering...
the weight. Despite the fact that it weighs more than 2.000 kg, it feels very solid on the road.
The performance is nicely in line with what you'd expect from an EV. Both cars can do 0-100 km/h in under nine seconds, which is quick enough.
You might have to get used to the lower top speed. On the other hand; who even drives 200 km/h anymore?
EV's usually can't go beyond 160 km/h. So what's the deal with the regeneration in this car?
When you get in, the default setting is a very naturally feeling way of regeneration.
It does so in a very intelligent way, taking the amount of traffic and such into consideration.
Again, it's connected to the data coming from the satnav. Besides that, you're able to increase or decrease the amount...
of regeneration with the flappy paddles. If you press the Plus-icon, it barely regenerates at all.
If you release the throttle, it'll roll out like it's in neutral. If you press the Minus-icon, regenerating becomes much stronger.
If you press it a couple of times, you'll reach the strongest amount of regeneration, which lets you one-pedal drive this car.
You won't need the brake pedal anymore, because the car will take care of things for you.
So as a whole package, the electric characteristics of this car are at a level you'd expect from Mercedes.
In the near future, Mercedes-Benz will start presenting cars that have actually been developed for a dedicated EV-platform.
The first of them will be the EQS, which is really close to being presented. In time, smaller cars will follow.
And in those new cars, the interior will have a more practical design. Because in here, the legroom just isn't as good because of the battery pack.
Comparing a Skoda with a Mercedes-Benz. Who would've thought that would ever happen twenty years ago?
But in this case, it's not a very weird comparison. They're really close to each other, even when it comes to the price.
This Enyaq will cost you €62.000 as a First Edition, and it comes with all of the available options.
Prices for this Mercedes-Benz start at €55.000, but with the options, it'll set you back €65.000. So it's more expensive than the Skoda.
The build quality of the Mercedes, and especially the interior, is exceptional and there's absolutely nothing to complain about.
Having said that, the interior in the Skoda looks very good as well. However, it's also more spacious, it has a bigger battery pack,
it has a bigger range, and it has a bigger boot. So it actually does everything better than the Mercedes. And to top it...
all off: it's cheaper. So it might sound strange, but in a direct comparison the Skoda is the better choice.