With the arrival of the ID3, Volkswagen is now really opening the electric ball for itself. But the brand is by no means the leader, because manufacturers in Asia have been involved in electric transport for much longer.
You can hardly have missed the fact that the Volkswagen ID3 has been on the market for a while now. As a newcomer, the car immediately made it to the first place in the sales lists in October 2020 with barely 2,800 sold, or actually ‘delivered’ copies. This indicates how many people had placed an early order without having driven the car one meter.
Far forward
The Volkswagen entered the market with some delay, due to both software problems during development and the corona crisis. The ID3 is the first of many models to rest on Volkswagen’s new MEB platform. Not only Seat, Audi and Skoda use MEB, Wolfsburg also sells the platform to other car manufacturers. For example, Ford has serious interest. But it all starts with the ID3, launched as the next step in VW history after the Beetle and the Golf. In any case, in addition to a Golf, it is quite large. Because of the proportions of the car, this is less noticeable in photos than in reality. But the wheelbase is the same as the Passat and it is the same height as a Golf Sportsvan. The cab is placed far forward, which provides extra space. On the back seat, this is noticeable by a striking amount of legroom and – despite the batteries in the carriage – a considerable headroom. But it is also a spacious whole in the front. However, the VW lacks a trunk at the front, something we sometimes encounter with EVs. The trunk of the ID3 is quite large with 385 liters.
Minimalistic
Behind the wheel we immediately notice how good the seating position is, despite the higher floor. Furthermore, it is mainly the emptiness that stands out. Volkswagen has extended the minimalist design, which is gaining ground in the automotive world. It looks clean, but on closer inspection the use of materials turns out not to be great. The screen in front of you only shows the speed, navigation instructions and the driver assistance systems, but no things like the on-board computer. A HUD system optionally adds a lot of information to this, but that is not yet available. The rest of the options are almost all hidden in the multimedia system, right down to the climate control and seat heating. You can also use voice control to say “I’m cold”, after which the car only turns on the heating on the side of the person who gave this command. Sounds fun, but you’d better turn a knob on the climate control or press a button on the seat heating, we think. It symbolizes many aspects of ergonomics in the ID3: overly cumbersome and complicated. Moreover, the system is not really fast and neither is it pleasant to operate. This is especially important when you are driving, because you have to take your eyes off the road longer than usual. Dangerous! We see the trend to increasingly accommodate a touchscreen at many manufacturers. We are not a fan of it, unless the touch works super fast and the overview is good. Unfortunately, we had too much annoyance in the ID3, even though the touchscreen looks hypermodern. The screen takes too much pressure from your finger, it reacts too slowly and sometimes you search too long for what to have. Amazing actually, because the Golf excelled in ergonomics for decades. Here the ID3 is seriously failing.
Nice and quiet
The ID3 has hardly any traction problems, despite its (very good) eco tires. The car has rear-wheel drive, a plus of the MEB platform. This allows him to lose his strength and is nice and fast in practice. The German feels fast and spry and its small turning circle makes it a nice car in the city. The controls are quite light, but direct enough. The Volkswagen is more sporty than the Golf. With the dynamic shock absorbers in ‘comfort’, the ID3 is already quite sturdy, which you especially notice at thresholds. It also helps the car’s road holding. If you put the dampers on ‘sport’, you can chase through corners bizarrely, before there is even the beginning of understeer. In tight corners you can certainly force some oversteer in wet weather before the electronics intervene. The steering is a bit too light to really speak of a sporty car, but dynamics are certainly there. Despite the sturdiness, the chassis is very refined: hard irregularities are well absorbed without the carriage being shaken up. It is also pleasantly quiet over the long distance; wind and tire noise are often noticeable with an EV and with the VW those noises remain in the background.
How far and how long
The range of the ID3 is on average 320 kilometers. This value was measured in fairly mild weather with 15 degrees Celsius; in winter the range decreases. If you want to recharge, you can do so at home with the VW with 3-phase power. All in all, it can be concluded that the ID3 makes a neat entrance with some very strong points, such as its driving behavior and its EV capabilities. The hardware is just very good. However, the rest of the car suffers from software problems that affect more new Volkswagen Group models, which is a shame. But that can be very different in a few months, although the poor ergonomics remain natural.