If you wish to gaze at the seeds of time and see which grains will grow, look no further than the Volkswagen ID 3. It’s tomorrow’s Golf, after all, and when it was launched in 2020 it was the flagbearer for Volkswagen’s industry-leading electric car offensive.
Now we have the ID 4, the ID 5, the ID 6 and the ID Buzz. It’s quite possible that soon there’ll be more IDs in the showrooms than there are IDs backstage at a Rolling Stones gig.
But it’s the ID 3 that arrived first and, given it’s an electric family car, it’s very likely that it will become VW’s future best seller. It’s built on a bespoke electric vehicle platform, has a drag-busting Cd of 0.27 and there’s not a petrol, diesel or hybrid in sight.
The entry-level battery choice is the Pure Performance 45kWh. It has a 148bhp motor that gives a claimed 0-62mph time of 8.9sec. Next up is the 58kWh battery, which is available with two power outputs: in Pro form it’s 143bhp, but if you opt for the Pro Performance variant it has 201bhp. Finally, the larger Pro S 77kWh battery powers the same 201bhp motor.
Life trim is sufficiently well equipped, and as standard you get a multifunction heated steering wheel, heated front seats, adaptive cruise control, powerfolding door mirrors, front and rear parking sensors and a 10.0in infotainment system.
Stepping up to Family trim introduces some useful extra equipment, including two-zone climate control, while Max trim gets all the goodies, including adaptive suspension and progressive steering as part of a Sports pack. It’s more expensive, though, even used, and so too is Tour trim, which is only available with the largest battery.
The ID 3 has an excellent turning circle and light steering, so manoeuvring it around town is a breeze. It doesn’t give much finger-tingling communication or weight build-up when cornering in the default Comfort driving mode, but if you select Sport you get a bit of useful extra heft.
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Spend that bit of the budget for a better looking, feeling interior, who wants to sit a plastic box?
Spend that bit of the budget for a better looking, feeling interior, who wants to sit a plastic box?
Instead of putt useless, not often used extras in like a heated steering wheel, electric seat adjustment, spend that bit of the budget for a better looking, feeling interior, who wants to sit a plastic box?!