[Closed] Anyone own/driven the VW ID3

Harry's Garage review:

Not great. We've had the same problem in our ICE VW since new and they have never managed to fix it.

What problem?

VW were rushing these out to get them sold by the end of 2020 so there were good deals last month and plenty of pre-reg ones in dealers now at a decent discount.

Many are on earlier software but new revisions are rolling out now - you may have some quirks until the dealer can have your car back for a day to update it.

Was tempted last month to bail early on my eGolf lease for one - decided to sit tight for now though.

Thanks for sharing that @cheddarchallenged im assuming the issue you have is with the software.....still appears to me it could be the perfect EV for family duties.

@simon_g have been looking at used e-golfs funnily enough, how have you found yours?

Haven't got time atm to watch the whole video but, in the bits I scrolled to, he seems to be very concerned about the "variable" range.

But in my experience, ICE cars do that too, all dependent on how they're driven. Bit of a non-issue, if you don't regularly think "the cars telling me I have 5 extra miles than I need for my 150 mile journey, so I'll be fine without charging...."

It's great if you can live with the range - I figure on 100 miles before needing to plan charging stops. A bike on the roof takes about 15% off the range. Have done a few longer trips in it though, all fine with some stops planned. As I'm quite behind on the lease miles I'm thinking of doing a silly long trip later in the year (San Sebastian, perhaps) just to get them close to what's on the contract.

I've placed an order for one as my next company car. The phenomenally low BIK and personal contribution made it a no brainer.

A hybrid Leon was going to cost be 10x the price per month!

I'll put up with what ever shortcomings the ID3 has for that kind of financial difference, especially as it will spend most days sat on the drive looking at me through the study window as I work from home. That will be the case if / when the world returns to normality post COVID-19.

I’ve looked at getting one but you can’t fit a towbar for a bike rack.
You can get a bike rack for it which VW will install a special hitch but buying both from VW is £1500 and it won’t fit any other car. 🙄

I test drove one. I thought it was all right, but a bit spartan, and prefer the Korean offerings, but if you sit in it and like it you'll do fine. Very efficient. If you really only do that much mileage , how long are the trips? I do that every couple of months in an old style Leaf, mostly charging at home and am very happy doing that (because I'm 'frugal' with cash')

I don't really pay attention to Harrys garage reviews as they a bit 'whatif-ery' - I think on yotube Bjorn Nyland has tested this car inside out (but I live in Norway so look at his reviews a lot anyway)

@wbo its our 2nd car and i live 1.4 miles from work so cycle when i need to head into the office so generally only use the car for School run (school is 5 mile from home so too far for son to walk daily at 7) and then going to the shops etc. It would also be used on the drive to the local trails on the odd occasion (around 60 - 70 mile round trip).

1200 is based on between MOT millage so the year before i did 1900 so perhaps that's a more accurate millage but even still very low in comparison to most people I would imagine.

I have considered an old leaf etc but after spending fortunes fixing the Audi im keen for some warranty support etc on my next car.

Harry has a thing about the range calculators of EVs. He never spends so much time on the range calculator on an ICE car which is odd because they work exactly the same way with exactly the same foibles. And lets face it, Harry is the kind of guy you'd meet once in real life and cross the road to avoid him from then on.

If you fancy one take a test drive like wbo did and make your own mind up.

I'm running a Hyundai Kona just now and there's nothing in the ID3 spec or reported efficiency that would tempt me to change to the ID3- maybe the ID4 when they bring out the two motor version.

As im a super low millage driver (did 1200 miles or so last year) and that wont go up a great deal its deffo going to be an EV

I find this logic curious. I do a similar mileage but for exactly that reason I am sticking with my old petrol car. I only spend a few hundred quid a year on petrol & tax so there's not much to be saved there, and for the same reasons any environmental benefit of switching to electric is reduced (compared to others who drive more). Meanwhile, battery cars are still very much more expensive than similar size/age ICE cars, and the environmental impact of manufacturing a new battery EV is substantial.

Unless there is something special about the ID3, EV's normally don't offset their carbon emissions from the increased resources used in their manufacture until something in the region of 80,000 miles (obviously depends on the car, and not sure what the figure is for the ID3). I just say this an FYI, as if 'being green' is part of your reasoning, then it's probably not as green as you'd think- this would likely actually be worse for the environment.

I'd do what superficial has done and get a petrol car.

And my personal opinion, but if you're only doing 1,200 miles a year, why fork out to get something new and fancy? I'd just get a 2nd hand Polo or something (also, good for the environment as you're recycling instead of getting a whole new car produced!)

Edukator

Harry has a thing about the range calculators of EVs. He never spends so much time on the range calculator on an ICE car which is odd because they work exactly the same way with exactly the same foibles.

Probably because most ICE cars, even inefficient high-performance ones, will easily do 300 miles+ in any and all weathers, unlike an electric car where you start with a lot less and then lose another 15-20% when the weather's cold.

For me the range issue with most EVs is a bit of a fallacy - I've had petrol cars with a 200 mile range, but they only take 5 minutes to refill rather than 60 minutes. To me, that is the actual issue. I don't want to add another hour to a 4 hour journey.

But these things will improve quickly, and fwiw, we are about to order an iD3 as a second car, seems a decent option at the moment. We thought it drove well enough, seemed spacious and easy to drive.

Range isn't the issue for me. With the Kona I get bladder anxiety before I get range anxiety. What I have instead is charger anxiety i.e. will the bloody thing be working when I get there and will it be available?

Old Leafs are pretty bulletproof - not much to go wrong at all on say a 2015. Change the tyres and a very basic, cheap service. Exact opposite of Audi.

About 30000km I think to offset the manufacture of the new car to replace a new one , but that's assuming 100% renewable, which I have .

I'd also get the Kona instead.... that has circa 500km in the summer, which is far as I ever drive, and that's not often.

until something in the region of 80,000 miles

It depends on where you live. Most of the quoted calculations come from places like the Fraunhofer institute which do their calculations based on the German electricity genetation mix. And we all know how much brown coal contributes to that. Live in Scotland and the renewable part of the energy mix is much higher so the EV overtakes the ICE at much lower mileages. Mine runs on solar panels when it's sunny and a mix of hydro and nuclear when it's dark or cloudy.

Wherever you live you reduce local air pollution and noise pollution.

Had a seat in one at the showroom early December, thought the seat fabric felt a bit funny and might be a bit small in the times I need to take all 3 kids at once or them doing the move to from uni accommodation. Other than that I thought it was pretty smart.

being green’ is part of your reasoning, then it’s probably not as green as you’d think- this would likely actually be worse for the environment.

The reasoning for the majority of folk buying one is either tax saving or green washing.

"oh we drive a Tesla so we can go on to that Eco retreat in the Maldives with a clear conscience."

Doing some stuff with local vw at the moment who kindly offered to lend us the new E Transporter T6.1 to try out but warned us that the range was only 80 miles 'on a good day'. Pretty poor compared to what Nissan and Vauxhall say they get from their electric vehicles (well vans we looked at). VW have said they can't lend us one now until late Feb as they are all waiting for a software update from Germany. All seems a bit rushed getting them out. Much as we like the idea we couldn't justify it, certainly the price anyway, maybe things will get better in a few years.

I've test driven an ID.3 also other EV hatchbacks e2008, kona, eniro, Leaf (currently running a Tesla model 3 for a year now but want a hatchback longer term). Perfectly good car and drove quite nicely and the platform means it's a good use of space, but given the same money or lease deal I think I'd go for a kona or eNiro. I suppose if you really like the look of them then that's a big factor. Given your mileage use I'd just get a basic Leaf 40. Pretty sure you can easily get a lease for £200 PM on them. Or buy a 2nd hand leaf 30 / 40. Also on that annual mileage you've no need for a bigger battery (assuming you're able to have home charging).

if you buy a 2nd hand leaf from a nissan main dealer you get a 1 year warranty that can be extended for an extra 2 years. Seems like a no-brainer for that kind of milage, if you're scared of repairs

That said, I'd be amazed if you could wrack up repair bills of 10k (which is what an ID3 costs over 3 years) in 6000 miles. I'd just buy something old, petrol and japanese for a grand and run it into the floor, and spend the other £9k or so on a nice shiney bike (source : my last car cost £1500 and did 7 years/70k on <£1000 of garage costs)

5lab
Free Member

if you buy a 2nd hand leaf from a nissan main dealer you get a 1 year warranty that can be extended for an extra 2 years. Seems like a no-brainer for that kind of milage, if you’re scared of repairs

That said, I’d be amazed if you could wrack up repair bills of 10k (which is what an ID3 costs over 3 years) in 6000 miles. I’d just buy something old, petrol and japanese for a grand and run it into the floor, and spend the other £9k or so on a nice shiney bike (source : my last car cost £1500 and did 7 years/70k on <£1000 of garage costs)

What 5lab said for that sort of milage you could buy a cheap S/H petrol Jap mobile every year and still be up on the deal, hell you would probably sell them on if you didn't like them for £100 loss tops.
If it breaks sell it for spares with little loss & buy something else. You won't care if it gets scratched or the kids grind chocolate into the seats either.

Paying £300(? I have no idea how much a lease is on them) a month to do 1,200 miles is crazy.

I’m all for leasing cars, but at that mileage it just doesn’t seem worth it.

1,200 miles a year? Buy a cheap petrol banger.

Many are on earlier software but new revisions are rolling out now – you may have some quirks until the dealer can have your car back for a day to update it.

no over-the-air updates?

Not until you get the update that lets the car get the over the air updates 🙃

1,200 miles a year? Buy a cheap petrol banger.

This or something similar is what I actually started to type in my post above, but the OP for whatever personal reason wants to go EV, whether or not it makes financial sense. There are many reasons why people might want to switch now and not necessarily for financial or so called green washing.

I thought they looked under speced compared to the Korean cars, and ended up with a Soul. Test drove a Niro for two days and it was great, but felt like we were peering over the bonnet. We have been driving Doblo/Vivaro/Pandas for the last 15 years and they all have less bonnet. The Soul is perfect.

Smaller boot space until the seats go down, then it's massive. We don't have kids so once we get over the fact it's new a bike or two can go in the back no bother. Got a nice boot liner for it too.

My skateboard fits in the hidden boot area next to the charge cable, perfection 👍 You can get pretty nice frunk/froot conversions for them too.

I spent a long time looking at them all an ID3, Niro, Soul or Kona would all be great.

Some very valid points in the above and too many to really respond to.

Like i said earlier we have a 330e PHEV that we try to use as an EV as much as possible and i like driving all electric however once my wife returns to work as normal it will then be away a lot and i will need a car to use, perhaps my millage will creep up to the 3000 mile mark perhaps not.

I have had a string of sub £1000 banger runners in the past and all have ended up costing money at MOT time etc so its not something i'm keen to go back to in all honesty, the current A1 TDi that I have was purchased when doing higher millage however i now live much much closer to home. The A1 just cost £600 for an injector and the fuel injection specialist thinks the others will follow so that has to go.

Agree you get more for your money in relation to the Kona etc however i like the look of the ID3, perhaps not the right reason for buying something but it is a driving factor in many decisions.

To the point of bike being worth more than car, i tick that box also now the Audi is worth very little and the bike is almost brand new.

I will certainly look into a used leaf, no reason not too with some warranty its can i live with how it looks.

Cheers

if you want a leccy car for the school run and there's only 1 kid, how about the twizzy? cheaper, greener, less battery mining and looks (imo) better than an id3, plus just enough wierd to be cool. from £5k second hand or £11k new

@5lab a great suggestion however i use the car to put bikes in now and again so not the perfect solution

I have had a string of sub £1000 banger runners in the past and all have ended up costing money at MOT time

I bet they cost a lot less than £300 (lease, per month) x 12...

Buy an electric car if you want one. But be honest about that, because the maths don't stack up very well in your favour.

@superficial indeed you would be correct they would indeed have cost less than that every time especially when sold as spares or repairs so some money back when they bite it. Thing is though sometimes its nice to have something new and fresh be it ICE or electric......sure i could get a cheaper ICE car for less but its all about having what I want/like the look of.