2027 Skoda Peaq review: Quick drive

The Skoda Peaq lives up to its name. According to company bosses, this large, luxurious, seven-seat electric SUV will take the Czech brand to a whole new level – the new EV representing the peak of its expertise, if you will.

Wearing the latest iteration of Skoda’s ‘Modern Solid’ design philosophy, which has already been seen on the much smaller and similarly new Epiq electric SUV, the Peaq is a smart-looking family mover thanks in part to the firm’s first flush-fitting door handles.

Whether you think they’re a good or a bad thing, they contribute to one seriously aerodynamic form – despite the Peaq’s bulk, it has a coefficient of drag as low as 0.249Cd at its slipperiest.

Available with two battery sizes, a choice of outputs and the ability to have two driven wheels or four, the three-row Peaq competes with any decent seven-seat EV you can think of, including ostensibly premium (and much dearer rivals) such as the Volvo EX90.

But, really, the main two targets in the Skoda’s crosshairs will be the excellent Korean duo, in the forms of the Hyundai Ioniq 9 and the Kia EV9.

We went to the Alpine borders of Germany and Austria to sample the Skoda Peaq for the first time and see if it has what it takes.

How much does the Skoda Peaq cost?

Prices and trim specifications for the Skoda Peaq in Australia have not yet been set ahead of its likely arrival here in 2027, but the SUV is going to be expensive.

The dearest model ranges Skoda currently sells here are the Superb Wagon (up to $69,690 before on-road costs), the Kodiaq large SUV (up to $70,590 plus ORCs) and the Enyaq Coupe (up to $77,590 plus ORCs), and it’s evident the Peaq is going to be positioned beyond those.

If it could come in at less than $100,000, that would give it an edge over both the EV9 and the Ioniq 9, both of which have starting prices into six figures.

But even if Skoda's new flagship SUV starts in the $90,000s (or less), top-grade variants with all the trimmings are almost certainly going to be priced beyond $100k. The question is, by how much?

What is the Skoda Peaq like on the inside?

At 4874mm long, and with nearly three metres of that (2965mm) packed in between its axles, the Skoda Peaq is a big beast and that contributes to a healthy air of interior spaciousness – with the company claiming the passenger compartment was created to mimic the comfort levels of a lounge.

We’ll come back to that point shortly, but in terms of material finishing and tech integration, the Peaq’s fascia is a winner.

Everything looks and feels superb, and what switches there are operate with a deeply satisfying tactility, while the 13.6-inch Android-powered infotainment touchscreen is a fine system.

The Peaq does run much of its in-car climate systems through the screen, unfortunately, but it always keeps the key features in a strip at the bottom of the display.

And there are three rocker tabs down above the twin MagSafe wireless phone charging pads that control the two front zones of temperature, plus fan speed. Neatly, when you make your side of the cabin hotter, an LED line in the switch briefly glows red, and if you go cooler it shines blue.

In other regards, there’s acres of space in row two of the Peaq, and even the sort of seating that should see three people able to sit side-by-side there, but the chairs in the final row are better suited to children and smaller people.

The pay-off for that is the big Skoda EV has a minimum of 299 litres of boot space, even with a full complement of human passengers.

That number increases to a vast 890L with the sixth and seventh seats folded away, and a simply gigantic 2075L in two-seat format. If that’s not enough, there’s 37L of under-bonnet storage as well.

Sitting above the passenger seats is, for Peaq variants with it equipped, the largest panoramic sunroof Skoda has yet fitted to one of its production cars.

Practicality-wise, there are lots of storage solutions and spaces throughout the cabin, as well as plenty of Skoda’s proprietary ‘Simply Clever’ touches – including a dedicated option pack of these helpful items if you want it.

The Peaq is also fitted as standard with a next-generation heat pump to maximise its electrical efficiency, while it also comes with bidirectional charging with vehicle-to-load (V2L) and vehicle-to-home (V2H) capabilities, although the latter requires a compatible bi-directional DC wallbox to work.

But the star showing is the Relax Package.

Skoda says this transforms the Peaq into a “lounge on wheels” and it includes power-adjustable, heated front seats with a massage function and ergonomic certification from German back-health organisation AGR.

It also bundles in a 16-speaker, 755-Watt Sonos sound system, extendable legrests for the front seats which come out a long, long way, and even Velcro-on cushions for the head restraints.

We could question the safety logic of reclining the driver to such an extent that they’re almost lying down behind the wheel, then giving them a massage, a warming device and a pillow, but there is no arguing with how comfortable these seats are in practice – this might be the most cosseting and relaxing driver’s chair in any vehicle we’ve ever sat in.

And as if that wasn’t enough, the Relax Package also comes with a neat trick, allowing you to make a table out of the front cupholders in just a few easy actions.

What's under the bonnet?

Three initial variants of the Skoda Peaq are available: two single-motor, rear-driven machines, and a range-topping dual-motor, all-wheel drive version.

Things kick off with the Peaq 60, which has a 150kW/350Nm rear-mounted APP350 motor. Weighing in at 2156-2279kg, Skoda reckons this entry-level model of its biggest SUV will do the 0-100km/h sprint in 8.5 seconds and top out at 160km/h.

The Peaq 90 retains a single motor on the rear axle, but it’s the newer, more potent APP550 propulsion unit that has been seen in several other Volkswagen Group EVs in recent years.

This generates up to 210kW and 545Nm, enough to punch the 2334-2449kg Peaq 90 from 0-100km/h in a claimed 7.1 seconds, while the top speed increases to 180km/h.

Finally, the Peaq 90x we’re trying here is all-wheel drive, but surprisingly it reverts to the APP350 motor at the back. So even though Skoda won’t officially quote a combined torque output for this dual-motor drivetrain, if you add its two motors’ torque together, it still has less of the stuff (484Nm) than the rear-drive 90.

However, power climbs to 220kW and with the added traction advantages of all-wheel drive, the 90x is the fastest-accelerating Peaq of the lot with a claimed 6.8-second time. Its top speed remains the same as that of the 90 – and it weighs in at a startling 2407-2529kg.

Incidentally, all Peaqs can tow, with the rear-drive models rated at 1800kg of braked trailer, while the AWD 90x increases that to 2000kg.

Both batteries used in the Peaq family are nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) items, with the 60 model the only one so far to use the smaller pack, rated at 63kWh gross and 59kWh usable for a quoted range of 459km.

Its peak DC-charging speed is 160kW, which means a 10-80 per cent top-up requires 27 minutes.

The pair of 90 cars, though, whether fitted with one motor or two, run the larger 91kWh gross, 86kWh net unit, with a maximum 199kW DC rate. 

The significantly larger capacity of this battery pack means the 10-80 per cent charge is marginally longer at 28 minutes, but the official distance these variants can go between charges stands at 647km for the single-motor version and 613km for this AWD 90x.

All Skoda Peaqs have a fastest AC charging rate of 11kW, resulting in a 6.5-hour 10-100 per cent charging time for the 60, and nine hours exactly for both the 90 and 90x. Those times would extend to around nine and something beyond 12.5 hours, respectively, on a more typical 7.4kW domestic wallbox.

How does the Skoda Peaq drive?

Let’s get the major negative out of the way first: the Skoda Peaq 90x is not a machine which likes to be hustled.

Even in Sportline trim, with Dynamic Chassis Control (DCC) variable dampers fitted, the Peaq feels ill at ease if you start hammering it into corners in an enthusiastic fashion. There’s too much body movement and a general air of the whole car straining to contain its not-inconsiderable mass that takes the shine off the handling.

But nowhere does the Skoda betray its sheer mass more obviously than when you are on the brakes.

Unlike its pint-size Epiq cousin at the other end of the manufacturer’s EV lineup, the Peaq makes do with drums on the rear axle, rather than discs, and this leads to a brake pedal that can be quite mushy underfoot.

Indeed, approaching one left-turn junction on our test drive at a reasonable 80km/h, when we started trying to slow down for the turn a good distance out, we realised we had to bleed more and more and more pedal pressure on, because the Peaq was simply not slowing down.

A firmer and slightly panicked prod of the left-side pedal was finally required to prevent us missing the turn and sailing on down the road.

So, the Skoda is not great for handling, although because it is grippy, reasonably composed overall and blessed with positive, communicative steering, it’s also by no means actively bad in this department either. Happily, there’s an enormous pay-off.

We can’t think of many vehicles this side of $150,000 which ride better than a Skoda Peaq fitted with DCC adaptive damping. It is astounding how graceful, how utterly subdued, and how relaxing this SUV is on the move.

It doesn’t matter whether you're in town, out on the open road, or cruising along a freeway at 110km/h and more, the king Skoda is imperiously sumptuous and enormously refined. It’s an absolute delight.

And it manages such dignified grace in all conditions, even when it’s running on a set of whopping 21-inch alloy wheels.

We want to get a Peaq on our home roads as soon as we can to see if it can replicate this glassy, unruffled showing on our patch as well, but based on our initial drive all we can say about this grand Skoda EV is that this is precisely how you want a family-conveying machine like this to ride. It’s magnificent.

What do you get?

We’re still awaiting confirmation of the specifications for Australian-market Skoda Peaqs, but we’d expect even the base-grade variant to come with the following equipment as standard.

2027 Skoda Peaq equipment highlights:

• 19-inch alloys
• LED headlights, DRLs and tail-lights
• Privacy glass
• Tailgate spoiler
• Heated, folding and power-adjustable door mirrors
• Heated front and rear seats
• Heated two-spoke multifunction steering wheel
• Electrically adjustable front seats with memory
• Auto-dimming rear-view mirror
• Electrically sliding parcel shelf
• Front and rear parking sensors
• Reversing camera
• Adaptive cruise control
• Keyless entry and go
• 13.6-inch Android vertical infotainment touchscreen
• 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster
• Twin 25-Watt wireless phone chargers
• Satellite navigation
• Wireless smartlink
• Nine-speaker sound system
• Tri-zone climate control
• Heated windscreen
• Bidirectional charging socket in boot

Is the Skoda Peaq safe?

The Skoda Peaq hasn’t yet been assessed by either ANCAP or Euro NCAP, although it comes with a standard roster of advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) including traffic jam assist, front assist with emergency braking (vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists), lane assist and emergency assist, blind-spot detection with door exit warning, turn assist, crossroad assist, traffic sign recognition, crew protect assist, and speed assist, among more.

How much does the Skoda Peaq cost to run?

Skoda Australia provides an excellent seven-year, unlimited-distance warranty with two years of roadside assistance – a level of cover which is automatically extended for another 24 months every time you have the car serviced at an official Skoda dealer.

Skoda also recommends its EVs are serviced on a longer, biennial schedule than its combustion-powered cars, making a Peaq look much more tempting than a Kodiaq.

During our test, the only slight question mark was around real-world efficiency, as the Peaq 90x Sportline returned 21.8kWh/100km across a 190km mixed-roads route in warm, dry conditions. That’s some way off its official figure of 15.8kWh/100km, but in mitigation it did spend a good portion of that test route heading towards its 180km/h limiter on the autobahn, as well as climbing some Austrian Alps later in the day for good measure.

Even at that rate of consumption, an easy 400km between charges ought to be possible, yet we think only moderately gentler and more sympathetic driving in representative conditions will see the Peaq hitting 500km or more at a time, all year round.

CarExpert's Take on the Skoda Peaq

While we await pricing for the Skoda Peaq, we’re nevertheless more than impressed enough by this newest, grandest Czech EV to proclaim it among the class-leaders in its market segment.

Okay, so it doesn’t like a taxing workout on a challenging road, it can feel hefty on its at-times spongy brakes, and for all its exterior size you’re still not going to get adults of an above-average height to sit comfortably in row three of its cabin.

But if you want a car that is nigh-on unbeatable for rolling refinement and unflappable ride comfort, the Skoda Peaq is the only car for you.

As family transportation goes, it absolutely smashes its design brief into smithereens, because it’s a genuinely brilliant seven-seat electric wagon.

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