Impulse buy...

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Alzinho
Posts: 33
Joined: Wed Jul 14, 2021 7:12 am

Post by Alzinho »

Hello, just joined and glad to have found this place. Hopefully, I'll find out how to work this thing!

I spent months researching and test driving every EV under £35k, until the fateful day I drove past the Skoda dealer (19th June, Enyaq launch day). I saw all the banners and decided to go in and have a look. Two hours later I'd had a test drive and paid a deposit. Four days later I picked up my 60 Loft. Ten minutes later it was parked on my drive.

The last sentence is quite an important part of the story. The dealer gave me the key and said "enjoy" - I had absolutely no handover. I've never bought a new car before, so it didn't even occur to me that I should be given some clues as to how things work and how to drive it!

First impressions were NOT great. I knew I'd bought the 'basic' model, but there are SO MANY things that my car doesn't have that the test drive model had. Things that I'd (obviously naively!) assumed a new car costing over £30k would have. No keyless entry? No reversing camera? No electric tailgate? How do I change the driving mode? How can I increase/decrease the regen braking? (It had taken me a week to work out how to even engage the regen braking!)

I have now had the opportunity to go back to the dealer to ask some questions, but the salesman had no idea what my car was supposed to have or what was an optional extra. They sent somebody out to show me how to configure the home screens and he spent 10 minutes configuring it how HE liked it whilst I watched.

On a positive note, I LOVE driving the car. I've come from driving a 17-year-old diesel Merc, which was a great car, but this is like driving a spaceship in comparison!

So, this was a particularly uninformed, very naive, impulse buy and I'm now relying on you guys to get me up to speed! ;-)

Nick123
Posts: 66
Joined: Mon Jul 05, 2021 12:05 pm

Post by Nick123 »

Hi Alzinho, glad to hear that your (sort of) happy with the Enyaq 60. Good impulse buy! You got it very quickly - what country are you in?
Don't forget that about half the price of the car is the battery pack, so don't be surprised that it is basic.
Handover? - what handover? - the dealers know nothing and the owners are still scratching their heads on lots of points.
Regen. braking - I just leave mine in Automatic: it's the best option in my opinion and very intelligent as it reads the road ahead of you. If there's nothing in front of you and you take your foot off the throttle, the most economic solution is to coast, not to brake: the Enyaq does this very intuitively.
Driving mode - again, I just leave mine in Auto: I tried 'Economy' which doesn't seem to do much but limit the top speed for motorway driving, and it doesn't even override if you kick-down on the throttle.
Electric tailgate: I've never been able to afford an electric tailgate, not even in a petrol car, but I'm not into these 'bells & whistles' - I just use my arms.
Keyless entry/reversing camera - nice, but sorry it's not in the basic package: I think you should have done a modicum of research before purchase.
My advice is just to ignore a lot of the stuff: the only thing I had to configure was the AutoHold which can get jerky for slow manoeuvring in tight spots, but you can create an on/off toggle in favourites. Otherwise, I just ignore most of the knobs:
* flappy paddles on the steering column to change the regenerative braking level - useless as when you hit the throttle it goes back to automatic mode
* start/stop button for starting - I don't use it, just press the brake when you get in and it starts
* start/stop button for stopping - I don't use it, just open the car door or flip up the brake lever
Enjoy your new 'spaceship' :)
H_uue
Posts: 21
Joined: Fri Jul 02, 2021 3:34 pm

Post by H_uue »

Agree with many of those points. I also prefer arms to lift tailgates etc, they've not broken yet. .

I would play up the utility of the steering wheel paddles. For those that like manual control (and even those that do have adaptive cruise control presumably dont have it on all the time), the Enyaq/ ID4 was set up with drum only rear brakes in the expectation that regen would be active and the paddles allow regen to be used very flexibly anticipating the road, the oncoming traffic, junctions etc then clicking back down to minimum to coast when possible. I use them all the time. You have to switch 'Eco Assist' off in set up (just once) and then it works very well.
Alzinho
Posts: 33
Joined: Wed Jul 14, 2021 7:12 am

Post by Alzinho »

Nick123 wrote: Wed Jul 14, 2021 10:15 am I think you should have done a modicum of research before purchase.
Check the title of this thread Nick123! ;-)

Oh yeah, the start/stop button - what is it actually for? I never use it!
I guess out of all the things 'missing' on my car, the one I'm most baffled by is the lack of control over driving modes. I'm wondering if that might be available as a simple (although probably expensive!) software upgrade? Same for the ability to change levels of regen braking maybe?
scratch113
Posts: 186
Joined: Wed Jan 20, 2021 5:48 pm

Post by scratch113 »

Alzinho wrote: Thu Jul 15, 2021 7:23 am
Nick123 wrote: Wed Jul 14, 2021 10:15 am I think you should have done a modicum of research before purchase.
Check the title of this thread Nick123! ;-)

Oh yeah, the start/stop button - what is it actually for? I never use it!
I guess out of all the things 'missing' on my car, the one I'm most baffled by is the lack of control over driving modes. I'm wondering if that might be available as a simple (although probably expensive!) software upgrade? Same for the ability to change levels of regen braking maybe?
As Bjørn Nyland says in this Enyaq interior review video at 20:38 - what is with the Start/Stop button? It's actually labelled START - ENGINE - STOP.

Engine? WHAT ENGINE?!!!! :o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8p0B6rv62A
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Goaty
Posts: 1576
Joined: Sat May 22, 2021 3:27 pm

Post by Goaty »

/\ Perhaps the Start / Stop button serves a psychological purpose; pressing it perhaps switches off the A/C, lights, windscreen wipers etc like it would do in a modern ICE vehicle.
iV80 Loft, Black, 21” Betria, 125kW, Climate Plus, Asst Drive Basic. Tethered PodPoint. Ordered May 2021. Delivered Nov 2021. Regrettably returned Jan 2024 (Company car. Changed jobs).
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RichR
Posts: 1918
Joined: Thu Mar 11, 2021 11:53 am
Location: South end of North Yorkshire

Post by RichR »

Yes- it allows you to turn the electrics on or off manually rather than letting the car do it automatically based on the driver’s seat sensor. So if you are leaving a passenger in the car with the radio on for example. Or you want to sit in the driver’s seat with power off whilst waiting for someone maybe. It also is needed when doing maintenance as you need the car on with nobody in it.
Enyaq iV 80 Sportline, Energy Blue, Assisted Drive Plus, Infotainment Plus, Convenience Plus, Comfort Seat Plus, Transport Pack, Heat Pump, ME3.2, Built Nov 2021.
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