David Seall Blog

So what came after the Tesla and did I make a big mistake?

I was amazed at how many people read my blog about Tesla ownership. I had a lot of views of it on LinkedIn and a fair few comments, both directly on the post but more so in conversations with people who had read it.

It’s been interesting to see what has happened with Tesla in the last six months but more of that later.

As I said at the time my reason to send that car back early was the result of finding a really good lease deal which was just too good to miss.

The car I chose to replace the Tesla was a Skoda Enyaq. This is a medium/large SUV car on the Volkswagen Audi Group (VAG) platform. I went for the specification at the top of the range, the Sportline 85x, with the ‘estate’ rather than coupe configuration. In fact the only model above this is the vRS performance model. We liked the extra interior space it had compared with it’s highly capable and cheaper sibling the Elroq

We also looked at the Hyundai Ioniq 5, Kia EV6, Polestar 4, Volvo EX40 and VW ID7.

The deal I managed was approximately a saving of over 30% of the cost of my RWD (now called Standard) Tesla and about half the price of a Tesla Model Y of the same specification. All of these quotes were for an annual mileage of 8000 miles. Additionally the car is on a 24 month lease rather than 3 years further reducing the risk of having to change tyres (very slim) or get an MoT completed before handing it back.

I have no idea how VAG are making money on these deals apart for pushing cars onto the second hand market, reducing their overall CO2 emissions scores and gaining market share.

I also got a nice refund back from my insurer as the car is classified as 32 band premium as opposed to a 50 for the Tesla. Performance is very similar. The whole process of changing the car over was very well managed by Select Car Leasing and they even delivered the car with a pretty full charge to my home.

So I have ended up with a great deal and saved a few pounds but does the saving result in a compromised experience?

Firstly, in comparison with the Model Y the Enyaq feels like a traditional car that just happens to have an electric drivetrain.

As I often say Teslas are like computers with wheels attached.

With the Enyaq this a different experience entirely.

Also the user interface feels more like using a Microsoft product than a more intuitive Apple one.

So let’s go through what I like about the Enyaq compared to the Model Y.

• The driving experience is a lot better
  • The ride is far more refined with no bumping and crashing from the suspension
  • The steering is direct and the four wheel drive gives more grip
  • The brakes are progressive and good for a heavy car.
  • There are various driving modes to choose from
    • Normal
    • Performance
    • Economy
    • Ice and Snow
    • Fully configurable to personal choice
  • One can choose a ‘regenerative’ transmission to harvest energy around town or on country roads. This gives ‘one pedal’ driving up to a point combined with the choice of a ‘drive’ mode. This is like a ‘freewheel’ system which means the car just rolls along on the motorway. The Tesla was always in ‘one pedal’ mode but this could bring the car to a complete halt unlike the Skoda which still rolls along slightly.
  • The Enyaq has paddles to manually adjust regeneration but I haven’t used those much.
  • Unsurprisingly the 77KwH battery on the Enyaq gives a longer range than the 57 KwH one on my Model Y . This makes up for the lack of the full Tesla SuperCharging experience. However for the first four months of ownership all of my charging was at home as I didn’t need to remotely charge.
  • A return trip from Surrey to Central Birmingham in January (when it’s cold and range is reduced) only needed a 20kwH top up and I still had good charge levels when I got home.
  • Also a trip home from Courmayeur in Italy required only three charging stops and then a charge at Calais which I think is pretty impressive.
  • Winter range is about 240 miles I expect to get about 280-90 in the Summer
  • The lane assist is very effective and re-activates if one signals and moves into another lane automatically. The Tesla didn’t do this. In this mode it’s really easy to travel long distances comfortably.
  • The turning circle is good and with very good sensors and cameras, including an interlaced overhead view of the car. This makes it a lot easier to manoeuvre and park in tight spaces.
  • The addition of a driver display and a brilliant ‘head up’ display projecting onto the windscreen means your eyes are more on the road than the screen. Tesla should embrace this.
  • The automatic windscreen washers work!!!
  • The switchgear on the steering wheel and column feel well connected and work well.
  • The auto dipping headlights are effective but don’t feel quite as refined as the Tesla. More people flash me now that they ever did with the Tesla so I’m more on dipped beam than I was.
  • Some proper switches in the car for things like fog lights and the aircon which is a good idea.
  • Once activated for a long trip the pre-heating of the battery to enable fast charger seems to keep the battery warmer for longer rather than the rapid warming up on the Tesla (on long trips if a battery gets cold fast charging speeds are rapidly reduced)
• The build quality is a lot better
  • Exterior paintwork is good and panels feel more robust and less prone to dents
  • Good car polish brings up a nice shine which has lasted through the winter
  • The interior is plush and comfortable and feels ‘solid’
  • It has massaging driver’s seat
  • The interior lighting is customisable
  • The car has proper door handles which will meet the new Chinese safety requirements with a mechanical internal release- unlike the Tesla flush handle design.
• Lots of interior storage space and space for five adults inside with loads of rear leg room.
• The addition of roof rails gives more practicality
• There’s a rear window wash/wipe!!! At sometimes if the rear camera was dirty the rear view on the Tesla was highly compromised.
• Comes with an organised boot space and puncture repair kit and pump unlike the Tesla
• The glove box opens conventionally rather than access through the screen on the Tesla!
• ‘Simply Clever’ features such as
  • The famous umbrella located in the front door
  • The clip on the windscreen to locate a parking ticket
  • The adjustable divider on the twin cup holders to take a larger cup (with a slot in it to locate a péage ticket!)
  • A case in the armrest to protect spectacles
  • Loads of hooks in the boot to hang shopping bags from
  • Velcro attached dividers to stop stuff rolling about in the boot
• A pretty decent phone app showing charge status, control of aircon, maps and vehicle data
• A comprehensive Infotainment system including
  • a multitude of menus
  • pretty decent audio system
  • builtin Spotify
  • DAB and FM radio
  • Apple car play including
    • Google maps
    • Waze
    • Spotify
    • BBC Sounds
    • Electroverse, ZapMap, ABRP and parking apps
• Software upgrades automatically like with the Tesla.
• The Electroverse charging system which is allied to our home Octopus energy supplier works pretty well to locate and pay at fast chargers. You can also use some Tesla chargers but not all- not being able to use Warwick Services is a pain!

So what’s not so good

• In traffic the brakes can be very grabby making all sorts of noises. The pedal is also a bit ‘long’ but they work fine.
• Unlike the Tesla theres ‘no picture of the car and surrounding things’ on the screen. At first this feels like a Tesla gimmick but it does tell you what the car is seeing around it. I’m sure the Skoda is monitoring everything and his has an icon for the view ahead on the head up display but you have to learn to trust this. It doesn’t say clearly what the sensors see
• The infotainment screen a bit boring with lots of menus- as I said before it’s not very intuitive
• There’s no frunk or underboot storage area. In the Model Y this gives a lot of interior storage space- great for long trips.
• The car doesn’t predict remaining charge at the next charging stop, although if the satnav is on it does advise you where to charge next on your route. This is ok if you have a passenger who can work it all out but not so easy when you are driving alone
• The car also thinks sometimes you are going off of a dual carriageway or motorway and wants to slow you to 40mph, there may be a work around this but it’s a bit annoying.
• You can’t remotely heat the battery from the app. It’s good to do this when the car is plugged in at home before a winter trip.
• There’s no security mode to view the cameras whilst the car is parked. It’s a battery drainer on the Model Y but it gives you a sense of security that you will be video recording anyone messing around with your car or and parking ‘dings’.
• There’s no dog mode to aircon and disable internal alarms on the car on a hot day with a dog or whatever locked in the car.

So, after driving the car for over six months, including a road trip to Italy, I am pretty impressed.

I would buy this car.

One thing which has surprised me as I haven’t missed the Tesla Supercharger network (which is superb) as much as I thought I would have.

Having said that, my only truly long trip has been in France and they have a charging network which embarrasses us in the UK. I also used Tesla Superchargers a couple of times on the trip.

So in my opinion the Enyaq is certainly a better car than the Model Y on almost all fronts.

However, i have found that it’s a lot harder to decipher the systems than a Model Y, going back to my Microsoft v Apple comparison. I’m still discovering things it can do all of the time.

I’ve spent a long time going through menus to sort things out. A small example being setting the lights for driving on the right. The Model Y does this automatically you drive on French tarmac. It’s a manual intervention through two levels of screen on the Skoda. It’s just a bit clunky and requires more effort.

As for Tesla, as a brand they continue to underwhelm. They have only two cars in the range now after the S and X were discontinued in the UK and those two cars are beginning to look tired. There is the extended wheelbase 6 seater Model YL which at present is only sold in China and a lot of talk about the $25k Tesla re-emerging on the scene. The current cheap option cars are just stripped down Model 3s and Ys and most people in the automotive industry are of the opinion that doing this just devalues the normal car and consumers just wait until one of those is available second hand.

Regarding their aged products and lack of innovation it feels like Tesla is now becoming the legacy brand for EVs and if people traded in their Teslas because of Elon Musk’s antics it’s highly unlikely they will let one of his robots into their home, ride in a Robotaxi or put up with his Grok AI in their car.

Removing features such as automatic lane control to get folks to upgrade to expensive self driving doesn’t really respect current customers.

If the Chinese manufacturers were facing lower tariffs in the USA market they would be doing great business there. Protectionism doesn’t lead to global competitiveness.

This video pretty much sums up Tesla at the moment and the guy who made it is a fan.

The Tesla pricing ‘strategy’ is also all over the place so one could find out one has a great deal one minute and then that you might have got ripped off the next. I ended up paying more for the benefit in kind (BIK for company car tax) of the grey metallic paint as an option and then that became the standard colour. They don’t seem to care and as I’ve said they steadfastly refuse to fix some of the faults in their cars which annoy their customers and tarnish the experience. A decent small instrument panel in front of the driver or a head up display is common practice on virtually every EV now, there’s still no rear wash/wipe and the auto wipers are hopeless.

However, despite all of this, for those looking at EVs for the first time, a Tesla Model 3 is still, in my opinion, a great car to start with and should be considered. It thoroughly mitigates any range anxiety a new owner may still have by connecting the car to the Supercharger network and managing any long journeys without any stress.

So, looking ahead, from my perspective it looks like the market leader has sadly given up on selling cars and has ceded the market place to the Chinese and Korean manufacturers and some of the leading European manufacturers who have caught up.

For example the new BMW ix3 looks like an amazing car with a quoted range of over 500 miles and the Renault 5 has cracked the small car conundrum with great value for money. There are a few competent cars with great styling such as the new Fiat Panda and Polestar are becoming tech leaders ahead of Tesla.

I was very impressed to find out that when driving on the motorway the iX3 automatically turns on the indicators when the driver looks into the side mirrors. So now there’s no excuse for a BMW driver not to indicate. Audi should follow suit!

I’m sure that in about a year’s time when I will be looking to replace the Enyaq, the technology and electric efficiency of cars will have moved even further ahead. and will make the choice even more difficult.

There’s going to be even more choice, more tech and some difficult decisions. If Tesla want to be in that mix they have their work cut out!