Volkswagen ID.3 in-depth review | should you buy one now, or wait? 

Have a first Edition now for 2 weeks after switching from a Diesel Arteon. I am delighted with the change. The car is quiet and extremely efficient. I'm on night saver electricity for charging and have calculated that 6 euro of electricity is getting me approximately the same distance as 25 euro diesel. The car does feel like a hot hatch and it is fun to drive. You do have to be a little more organized in relation to charging, but in general I've found the switch seamless. I did a return trip to Dublin of 330km, with 50% day driving and 50% night driving and I had 80km range left on the clock. Systems are slightly slow but I can handle the wait for upgrade.

ID Tree? Love the Irish accent

Great review, well done.

Really useful real world review, well done.

Nice and calm review Thank you

Very good honest review 👍

Great review. I have this exact car and am loving it. Nothing i am disliking cant be fixed with software so ill keep fingers crossed all will be updated

Thanks, a good well balanced review. The first one I've come across that spotted that the infotainment screen was set up for left hand drive...well observed! Hopefully VW will sort this out for uk/ie.

On the UK Model I was surprised to see that the drivers seat has no lumbar support adjustment. For us old folk a glaring omission on a vehicle of this price.

Great review, car is very impressive. It’s on the list of cars I’ll consider to replace my daily car, a Seat Leon

Great review. Unfortunately it’s a couple of years away from Australia. 😕

An informative and balanced review, thanks. Surprisingly, I’m a fan of the white steering wheel and the orange trim - not for everyone, I know. I’m relaxed about the software issues, as long as they can be sorted by an update or two; they wouldn’t stop me ordering a car today, the day that the model range is increased here in the UK.

Great review. I will wait, for the second gen model , hopefully they will have sorted out all these bug bears. Seems to be to many issues. My dad always said, "never get the first edition, wait for the gen model ".

Nicely balanced review - absolutely right VW really know how to make cars, but the software has some way to go. I believe there is a major software upgrade due early in 2021. Your advice is spot on - just wait and see, give VW time to upgrade the software 🙂. This might be my next car, currently drive a Golf, but I'll be waiting until next year to decide.

I test drove an id.3 last week and they have configured the infotainment screen to right hand drive now. They must have made some software upgrades because I found the infotainment system very slick to use, responsive as an ipad, say.

Looks far better with the black steering wheel as apose to the white one that I've been seeing on others

The phone pocket is wireless qi charger on the top trim 😉 And the infotainement really makes more sense for left hand drive cars, don't know why they didn't mirror the home button

Will this car replace a diesel if you are doing 40k kms a year. I have a night saver rate at home. Will it make a major saving on fuel. Will these batteries handle 400k kms over its life ?

I will have to wait at least a year as I live in Kenya but I enjoyed your review. Can I eat that sheep?

I don't understand your comment regarding the HUD.It's not something that will be added at a later date,it is something that is in a higher trim level.

Waiting for the I.D Buzz

The ID Tree has tings

Great review for the best EV under 60.000€. Just love the car!

Realistic range for 58kWh battery is around 320km

It might be helpful if you were to mention that all the infotainment problems have not been kept secret by Volkswagen. It is well known they have had problems in their software, and that they have openly apologised and assured their customers that there will be a major update in January which will sort these bugs out, as well as include additional features, and switch on the over air updates, done by the dealer. You also mentioned it was noisy, which is very strange as most reviewers have said the opposite, commended the EV for being one of the quietest EV’s out there, even quieter than the Tesla’s. Nearly all the reviews have said how impressive the efficiency is with the ID.3. Other than those really important points I’ve just made, your review was good, but omitting the information I’ve mentioned, make Volkswagen sound negligent or unprofessional with what they have brought to market, this is just not the case!

My test ride and a friends model (which as been brought back) was a real mess, my friends had a horrible noise coming from the heat pump that was replaced 2 twice, but failed again in a heavy downpour, the infotainment screen is a mess, and both needs a recode as well as , the touch panel buttons don’t work half the time , it’s trim for me felt the definition of bland I would love to see something like the mk2 polo of old years to break up that sea of gray, in rhd they half the glove box ( a French thing) and don’t move the light button to both an easy access point or right side of the driver. In the id4 they did so why they didn’t in the id3 baffles me, it’s the same for the window switches the engineers should have overrode the account if skoda can do it why can’t id, if this is supposed to be the future I’ll stick with my mk7 in the U.K. . It’s not the fact that is electric is the problem, it’s the fact that 1) it’s slow and doesn’t feel like a 200hp motor pushing you back in you seat, 0-30ok good but it’s like buying 150tsi with 1 gear it will do the job but it’s not ev quick I’m not talking tesla quick , I’m talking enero quick , it’s not even Mach-e rwd extended range quick and that’s the problem it’s the definition of bland , would it hurt vw to do a gray trim roof liner so it doesn’t feel like your climbing into a dark depressing car. We know from both born and Id4 that more performance is an option why can’t we do a bigger motor and add 4x4 without the boy racer interior design it will just push buyers away , as far as I am concerned vw need to sort out the interior, fix the infotainment screen, just put a screen forget the daft buttons all reviews complaining about , add adaptive dampers option, and improve efficiency, the Koreans and Tesla regularly hit 4.4 to 5 miles per kw the Id short run’s 2.1 - 3 that’s not good

That white sweater on the presenter was a mistake. The camera constantly struggles with white balance.

Most reviews say the VW id.3 is much quieter than a Tesla Model 3. And silent, compared to any ICE car.

When will people wake up to the cost of these cars. Lovely car, but the price makes no sense. Ten years ago the cost per kw to make a battery was 1000 dollars per kw now it is less than 100 dollars. So why are they so expensive. It is a con job at the moment by the car manufacturers. We need to wake up.

Had one for a week, not my cup of tee. Way too hyped and doesn’t really deliver. 🙁

Rather a BMW M2 or a Focus RS....lol Way way to expensive these electric cars yet........When is the new Golf R coming...Mind you its boring compared to a A45 AMG

If I was Europe, I will never build any more cars with drive on the right. Its stupid

is the ID -Tree the Irish only model? 🙄

a toy !

I just think the styling is pretty bad. Blobby front with that weird black plastic at the back of the bonnet and the interior looks cheap. Disappointed

You’re surprised the software wasn’t done? Have you heard of a little delay-maker called “the global pandemic”? Seriously, I was enjoying the review up u til this point, and the absolute cluelessness and lack of situational awareness just was astounding...

Looks like a toy car and the interior is disgusting. VW deserve to fail after all they have done.