It’s oft said that a football team’s harshest critics are their biggest fans, and it probably runs true here too.
I give the ID.3 a bit of a hard time in the same way that someone who had paid for his/her season ticket in the stands every year for 35 years might give the new star signing, who the manager and board of owners want to build the team around, some grief for not putting in 100% effort despite the huge sums of money paid.
Did I test the ID.3’s brakes properly? No, I had no cause to do an emergency stop but that’s not my issue with them. They feel dead and unmodulated similar to the mk1 Golf GTI brakes did on RHD cars, hence I used the comparison. A mk1 GTI would actually stop in an emergency situation if you could cadence brake well enough and I have zero doubt an ID.3 would too using its ABS system BUT driving a 200bhp car I want brakes that feel firm and reassuring, that work with me so I can cover ground briskly and smoothly. The ID.3’s brakes made me feel uneasy at times. Visions of the horrible screaming alarm and sudden application of the brakes as the radar decides I’m not braking as quickly as the traffic ahead went through my mind despite me being one of those boring people that leave large gaps between myself and the car in front as I like a margin of error and don’t like a front end peppered with stone chips. In short, the brakes made me nervous. I’m sure they work fine or VW would get skinned otherwise, but they just don’t feel reassuring.
I love regen braking BTW, the lack of dust is heavenly as I really dislike cleaning dirty wheels in winter, squatting in a freezing cold puddle of water scrubbing the backs of wheel spokes and brake callipers with a mitt sure isn’t my idea of a fun hobby.
The MINI electric has brakes that feel like a normal ICE car so it can be done. It is also smaller, lighter and yet still runs discs on the rear. Oh, and it’s an ICE car converted as we all know so it can be done as it actually handles at least as well and goes at least as fast as its petrol stablemates. Your experience MH of the e-Golf just goes to prove VW lag way behind here.
The weight penalty doesn’t need to be an issue. A modern GTI weighs god knows how much more than a 25 year old GTI but handles way better at speed. Almost zero understeer, hardly any body roll etc etc. Part of the reason is advances in tyre technology granted, but most of it is chassis development aided by advances in electronic modulation of diffs and ESC/ASR (pinch braking of wheels to quell understeer/oversteer, allowing the car to carry astonishing speed through corners with no danger of hitting a tree).
The current drag queen drift mode special Golf R owes much of its talent to electronic chassis modulation rather than pure mechanical hardware. The reason the Clubsport S and Sub 8 Leon did such wonders on the ‘Ring is as much to do with electronics as it was to do with trick geometry and Michelin semi-slicks.
So there is absolutely no reason why a 4WD ID.3 GTX can’t be set up to drive at least as keenly and sharply as a Golf R using its even more modern chassis electronics. The weight penalty is perhaps the same as having four fat mates in your Golf R but I’m pretty sure the Golf R could still deliver the goods with Dave, Kev, Baz and Mikey on board albeit their kebabs might make a mess of the seats.
The hardness of the interior panels of an ID.3 don’t bother me. The absolute lack of design flair does. I’d expect it in a Transporter van but not in the hot new signing to secure the team promotion next year.
Even the mobile phone sized speedo binnacle is dull as buggery. C’mon, how easy would it have been to put in some low key background graphics and a slightly attractive (but still easy to read) font?
No, all we have are slabs of mid grey (this is coming from the shade grey’s #1 fan too) with badly placed gloss black slabs, oh, und ze funky mood lighting ja!
And the chin? What were they thinking? Most of the exterior looks fine but the doe eyed front end has absolutely no chin! Granted SEAT have gone a bit OTT with the Born nose and chin but the ID.3 just has… nothing.
I’d even forgive it the plastic wheel trims if the front end had at least a bit of menace about it.
But to the Enyaq, I’ll have to bow to your expertise on the spec as I’ve paid zero interest in electric SUV’s and intend to carry on doing so. The clue is in that I didn’t even know what it was called. I know they do at least two EV’s that begin with a K though don’t they?
I was going on the quick chat I had with the guys delivering the uglified Caddy to work.
They told me the Enyaq they were in was mid-thirties odd grand and it had alloy wheels (yes, no ID.3 steelies!) that reminded me of Scirocco turbine wheels, and a much plusher interior with buttons that looked like they were lifted from an Audi.
It might well miss some spec but it certainly looked more of a £35k-ish vehicle than a mid-spec turd skinned ID.3.
Having said all that, we have to take all discounts out of contention here in today’s market. List price is where it’s at. Cheap off peak charging tariffs are probably no more thanks to whatever incompetence has dumped us in an energy crisis so all comparisons need to be at full standard charges.
Would I buy an ID.3 right now? Yes actually. Just so long as it was dressed in a Cupra Born frock.
If I had a company car allowance that would be where I’d put my ‘free car’ money. Well, except they’re delaying launching it over here. In theory I would anyway.
If the charging infrastructure was better in my neck of the woods then it would be a MINI Electric in a heartbeat. It’s right up there with the Lupo GTI in the “best fun I have had in a road car but didn’t actually get to own one” stakes.
But I don’t get a free car from work so I chose to rent a Golf, therefore I have to endure DSG foibles, £1.60 a litre fuel etc etc.
At least it has rear speakers I suppose.
And lovely brakes. Damn those brakes are good, but damn those bells are a sodding pain to clean…
Now, who fancies a nice black R for £48k?
