Tesla Model 3 vs Skoda Enyaq
- by Carsguide.com.au
- Sep 20, 2024
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The Enyaq comes with one motor or two, depending on the grade.
The Sportline is powered by a single motor driving the rear wheels and it produces plenty of oomph - 210kW/545Nm.
The RS has two motors for all-wheel drive and a combined power output of 250kW. When it comes to torque the front unit delivers 134Nm and rear 545Nm.
Skoda doesn’t quote a combined torque output but says the dual-motor Enyaq is the most powerful production Skoda so far.
The 0-100km/h time for the Sportline is a pretty quick 6.7 seconds and for the RS it’s a noticeably faster 5.4 seconds.
Efficiency
Despite being heavier and gruntier, Tesla claims the new Performance Model 3 manages to be more efficient than the one it replaces, albeit delivering just a two per cent reduction in energy consumption. Claimed energy usage is 16.7 kWh/100km.
Tesla claims a total range of 528km on the WLTP, which is obviously going to drop if you drive it the way its makers clearly intended.
Using a Tesla Supercharger, you can add 228km in 15 minutes and... that's all Tesla will tell us. There are no official figures available for how long a full charge takes, on either a Tesla charge or a home wallbox of your own.
Efficiency
The Enyaq Sportline and RS share the same 82kWh lithium-ion battery and Skoda says the range for the Sportline is up to 561km after a combination of open and urban driving, while the RS can manage up to 530km.
The Enyaq has a DC charging capacity of 175kW and the battery can charge from 10-80 per cent in 28 minutes using a 175kW DC fast charger. Maximum AC charge rate is 11kW.
Driving
Very occasionally, one drives a car that makes the human body feel inadequate to the task. I would have worried that I’m getting old, that my body is simply too flubby and my brain too broken, to cope with the kind of wild acceleration and brutal g-forces the Model 3 Performance delivers.
But, fortunately, I had a videographer in the passenger seat, a much younger man who loves fast cars, and he kept threatening to vomit when I drove it hard, too.
I’ve driven quite a few cars that you can use make your passenger sick, or hurt their necks - one obvious competitor in the shape of a Porsche Taycan Turbo S comes to mind - but it’s very rare that a vehicle is so intense it can make you, the driver, feel bilious.
Yes, you do bring this on yourself, by choosing to push this Performance anywhere near its limits through particularly sharp and intestine-shaped roads like the canyons outside Malibu Tesla chose to launch it on.
On longer, sweeping bends it was far more of a joy, and less physically punishing, but in the tight stuff it often felt like corners were being thrown at you, as if you were driving behind the Millennium Falcon and being pulled along in its wake.
The brakes, special new sporting ones with track-ready pads, were up to the task, even though it often felt like they couldn’t possibly pull you up from the speeds you were doing.
And yes, it was entirely my fault that the very first time I even gently prodded the throttle and it launched me ahead past a California Highway Patrol officer, that was my fault too. Three minutes into the drive, holding an American fine, I had already deduced that perhaps this car was too fast for my own good.
But lots of EVs are fast in a straight line, you’re really comparing the length and depth of your “oooophhh” sounds at this point, but where this one succeeds is by being a lot better in the handling and ride and cornering departments than most.
Tesla’s stated goal with this car was to move beyond straight-line speed, to become more than a one-trick pony, and to do that it’s given the Performance a stiffer structure overall and updated the springs and stabiliser bars.
Aerodynamic changes have reduced drag by five per cent, delivered a 36 per cent lift reduction, and a 55 per cent improvement in front-to-rear lift balance.
Tesla’s own, in-house version of adaptive dampers, not an option but included in every Performance, work with the car’s 'Vehicle Dynamics Controller' through its various modes - 'Insane' and 'Track' being the most… ludicrous - to immediately respond to driver inputs.
The Performance rides well on LA’s awful concrete freeways but feels absolutely nailed down when you attack even a bumpy driver’s road.
This version also has a lot more power going to the rear wheels, to help it feel more sports-car playful and to fire out of bends the way an enthusiast’s car should. And make no mistake, I met them, the people behind this car are serious driving enthusiasts (although they demur, slightly, on whether their boss is one).
Track mode will allow some serious adjustability, drifting ability and fun, so the kind of people who want to hurl around a racing circuit in silence will love it.
Perhaps the only let downs are that it still feels a bit austere inside, just not very special, and that the steering is just a bit digital, soft and uninvolving, compared to the cars they clearly benchmarked against - BMWs and Porsches.
Driving
Electric cars tend to have good acceleration thanks to the whopping amount of torque their motors are able to deliver in an instant. The Enyaq’s acceleration isn’t supercar-like but the Sportline and RS offer the ability to pick up the pace impressively for overtaking and moving quickly at an intersection.
Great steering that feels accurate and weighted well, excellent forward visibility thanks in part to a low dashboard and an excellent seating position and a comfortable ride make the Enyaq an easy and enjoyable car to drive.
Electric cars make perfect sense in the city because of how easy, quiet and smooth they are in heavy traffic and also for energy consumption where they’ll use less power than on a motorway.
But if you do manage to find a lovely piece of country road you might find the Enyaq isn’t as athletic as it looks due in part to its 2.2-tonne weight, largely a factor of its heavy battery.
And so, at higher speeds on twisty roads the Enyaq’s suspension works well to keep the vehicle composed and the body under control, but there’s not the kind of lightness and agility of some high-performance petrol SUVs.
If there’s a silver lining to the weight it’s that it’s all positioned down low which aids handling balance.
So, easy and enjoyable to drive but not the most agile beast in the zoo, although better than most of its electric rivals, except for, say, the Kia EV6.
Safety
Tesla provided no information about safety for the Performance Model but it is assumed it will be unchanged from a standard Model 3.
Aside from Autopilot that means auto emergency braking, lane keep aids, and instead of blind-spot monitoring, it gets the surround radar view and blind-spot cameras when you indicate.
The latest Model 3 has an additional centre airbag for a total of seven, as well as additional bolstering where the doors meet the body in response to requirements in its American home market.
It should be able to carry its maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating, which the original version achieved in 2019.
Safety
At the time of writing the Enyaq had yet to be assessed by ANCAP but the level of safety technology on board is outstanding with AEB that can detect pedestrians, cyclists and other vehicles, as well as lane keeping assistance, rear cross-traffic alert plus front and rear parking sensors with braking.
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