Skoda Enyaq in 2026: the practical family EV that undercuts the German badges

When Skoda published its final UK prices and specifications for the new Enyaq in March 2025, my first thought was that the company had quietly stopped trying to be the cheap option and started trying to be the sensible one. A year on, in mid-2026 and with the range now priced from £39,520, that instinct looks right. The Enyaq isn’t the bargain-basement EV any more; it’s the family electric SUV I’d point most people at before they walk into a VW or Audi showroom, and the reasons are duller and more convincing than any badge.

The price still does the heavy lifting (Skoda Enyaq)

Start with the numbers, because they’re the whole argument. At launch the range opened at £39,000 for the SE L 60 SUV, with the Edition 60 at £40,100, the Edition 85 at £44,300 and the SportLine 85x topping the SUV line at £48,750. The Coupé adds a slice on top: £46,200 for the Edition 85, £50,650 for the SportLine 85x. For 2026, What Car? lists the range running from £39,520 to £52,470, and crucially the car is still on sale new with no sign of being wound down.

What matters isn’t the absolute figure, it’s the gap to the cars it shares a parts bin with. What Car? reckons an Enyaq 85 lands roughly £2,000–£3,000 under a comparable VW ID.4 Pro, and it undercuts the Audi Q4 e-tron on like-for-like trims too. These three are mechanically close cousins. You are, in effect, paying a couple of grand extra for a Volkswagen roundel, or considerably more for four rings. I’ve never found a satisfying answer to why you’d do that, and I’ve been asking the question for a while now.

Range that matches how families actually drive

There are two batteries and, mercifully, the choice is simple. The 60 uses a 63kWh pack (59kWh usable) for a claimed 268 miles WLTP. The 85 steps up to 82kWh (77kWh usable) and 359 miles in the SUV, or 365 miles in the slipperier Coupé. Go for the all-wheel-drive 85x and you’re looking at 332–334 miles, the traction and the second motor costing you a chunk of range, as they always do.

My read, after years of watching how real families use these things: the 85 is the one to buy. The 60’s 268 miles is fine for a second car or a short commute, but the 85’s headroom is what stops range anxiety creeping into a Friday-night motorway run to the grandparents. Autocar’s verdict on the Enyaq backs the sense that the bigger battery is where the car feels most resolved. I wouldn’t bother with the 85x unless you genuinely need four-wheel drive: a horsebox, a steep unmade drive, proper winters.

The boot is the bit that wins arguments

This is where the Enyaq stops being a spec sheet and starts being useful. Honest John’s figures from March 2026 put the SUV’s boot at 585 litres, expanding to 1,710 litres with the rear seats down. Five seats, three Isofix points. That’s not a number you admire in a brochure; it’s the difference between the buggy, the weekly shop and a folded travel cot all going in at once, or not.

I’ve sat in plenty of rival EVs where the styling clearly won the fight with the load bay. The Enyaq doesn’t have that problem, and the famous Skoda “Simply Clever” touches (the bits that hold cables and bags where you actually want them) are the sort of thing you stop noticing precisely because they work. For a car bought to do a job, that’s the highest praise I’ve got.

What changed for 2026, and what it means

The line-up has been tidied. Per Autocar, the entry-level 50 variant has been dropped on low demand, which is why the range now opens with the 60. The hot vRS in MY26 form is also no longer available new; it’s being replaced by the Enyaq RS arriving for MY27. So if you specifically wanted the old vRS, that window has effectively closed; if you want the fastest Enyaq, you’re now waiting for its successor.

For the overwhelming majority of buyers, none of this stings. The cars that have gone were the fringe choices. The core of the range, the 60 and 85 in SE L, Edition and SportLine trims, is exactly the part most families were going to buy anyway, and it’s untouched and still keenly priced.

So would I sign for one?

If you’re cross-shopping an ID.4 or a Q4 e-tron, I think the honest move is to buy the Skoda and put the saving towards a home charger, or simply keep it. The Enyaq gives away almost nothing in substance to its German relations and asks less money for it, and the 585-litre boot quietly out-families both. The buyer who shouldn’t bother is the one chasing the old vRS or badge prestige: the first is gone, and the second was never the Enyaq’s job.

My pick, plainly: the Edition 85 SUV at £44,300. It’s the trim where the range, the space and the price stop competing with each other and start agreeing. The thing that would change my mind is the MY27 Enyaq RS: if its pricing holds the same cheeky discount to the German performance EVs, this recommendation just gets an upgrade rather than a rewrite.