Small but perfectly formed reviews. The best of this month’s drives

8/10

SKODA ELROQ SE L 60

£33,350

THE ELROQ IS DESPERATELY hard to fault. And believe us, we’ve tried. Basically a shrunken Enyaq, it looks tremendous, drives neatly, is efficient and roomy, balances tech and switchgear, and still dares to be cheaper than rivals. Its one weakness is that its smaller footprint hasn’t unlocked any magic in the handling. Pity. The Born VZ proves the MEB platform can deliver...

JH

6/10

ABARTH 600e SCORPIONISSIMA

£39,875

LIKE THOSE LITTLE JARS OF yeast extract you’ll love this or hate it, but if you insist on one you should get a limited run Scorpionissima before all 1,949 are gone. Doesn’t make sense unless you get the silliest fastest version. The drive is a surprise – feels like you can tip it into a corner at any speed and it’ll drag you through – just a shame they had to start with such a boring donor car.

SB

7/10

MERCEDES-AMG CLE 53 CABRIOLET

£79,660

FOR Drop top suits boisterous character

AGAINST Interior tech painful, why so many drive modes?

CAN’T JUST BE US WHO FINDS THE MERCEDES LINEUP A CONFUSING smorgasbord these days – this is the old two-door C- and E-Class cabrios combined into one. While entry level CLEs are available with a range of 2.0-litre turbo fours, the AMG CLE 53 turns the volume up with its 3.0-litre inline straight six, complete with electric turbo and 48V starter generator for a total of 443bhp and 413lb ft of torque.