Volkswagen ID.7 review

• Overview
• What is it?
• Why does it look so… bland?
• What are the specs?
• Look at the size of that screen inside!
• How much will I have to pay for one?
• Our choice from the range
• What's the verdict?
• Tesla Model 3
• Hyundai Ioniq 6
• BMW i4
• Driving
• What is it like to drive?
• It’s electric, so it must be quick right?
• What about the steering and brakes?
• Is it efficient?
• Interior
• What is it like on the inside?
• How big is the boot?
• Buying
• What should I be paying?

Overview

What is it?

It’s Volkswagen’s all-electric saloon, which finally arrives several years after the first ID product – the ID.3 hatchback – was unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2019. Certainly says something about the current state of car buying that the ID.4 and ID.5 SUVs were more of a priority for VW, doesn’t it?

Anyway, the ID.7 is still an important car, not least because it’s here to go up against things like the BMW i4, the Hyundai Ioniq 6 and a little-known EV called the Tesla Model 3. Should be a simple task…

Why does it look so… bland?

Yes, the looks are a bit of a let-down, aren’t they? VW has focused on making the saloon as swoopy and aerodynamic as possible, and it managed to get the ID.7’s drag coefficient down to an impressive 0.23Cd. Unfortunately, that comes at the expense of any real styling.

There’s a lightbar across the front and some more LEDs at the rear, but the actual surfacing is pretty plain. Some might like that though, and if you don’t then you’re probably already leaning towards an Ioniq 6. Plus, all ID.7s will get a contrast black roof and aluminium-style strips across the frames to liven things up a little bit, and the wheel designs are snazzy too. In Germany where specs have been confirmed, 19-inch wheels are standard and 20-inchers are an optional extra.

It’s worth noting that this is a big car. It’s just under five metres long and almost 1.9m wide without taking into account the side mirrors.

What are the specs?

Like with all of VW’s other ID products, the 7 is built on the group’s MEB platform. The headline figure is 435 miles of range on a single charge. Impressive, but that’s only achieved in the Pro S trim with the larger 86kWh (useable) battery, and that won’t arrive until 2024.

At launch in Europe we’ll get the ID.7 Pro, which still manages a very decent WLTP range of 386 miles thanks to a 77kWh battery and VW’s new APP550 electric motor. That single motor drives the rear wheels with 282bhp and 402lb ft of torque no matter which battery size you select.

Look at the size of that screen inside!

It’s a beast, isn’t it? This is actually the next generation of VW’s previously dreadful infotainment system, and the good news is at first glance they seem to have actually listened to the criticism. The 15-inch central display now features a permanent climate control panel that runs along the bottom of the screen (although we’d still prefer proper physical buttons) and crucially the touch-sensitive slider things underneath are now illuminated so that you can actually see them at night. Hurrah!

Elsewhere there’s another small screen in front of the driver and an augmented reality head-up display that’s standard fit. There are also fancy new seats, the option of a panoramic roof and plenty of tech. Click through to the Interior tab of this review to read our thoughts. Spoiler alert: we wouldn’t get too excited about the infotainment just yet…

How much will I have to pay for one?

The ID.7 begins life with a special ‘Pro Launch Edition’, which costs £55,570. We’re not sure how much the jump will be to the bigger batteried Pro S, and we also don’t know how much the ID.7 Tourer will be when that arrives next year. Oh, and there’s set to be a hot ID.7 GTX too, although we don’t have any details about that just yet either. Sorry folks.

Our choice from the range

VOLKSWAGEN

210kW Launch Edition Pro 77kWh 5dr Auto

£55,515

In some ways the ID.7 has absolutely nailed the brief. The range and efficiency are impressive, even in the smaller batteried Pro trim that’ll hit European roads first. Heck, 386 miles is more than most of us will ever need in one hit.

It’s practical and remarkably quiet and comfortable too, but while power is sent to the rear wheels there isn’t really any hint of sportiness. The drive almost mirrors the way this thing looks – fine, but not really anything to write home about. And why did VW have to fix its laggy infotainment system, only to go and bury the most important functions deep in the menus. Frustrating.

And with the starting price pushing £60k, you might well decide your pennies are better off spent on any of the ID.7’s more affordable rivals.

Tesla Model 3

£48,435 – £61,435

Hyundai Ioniq 6

BMW i4

£53,425 – £65,740

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Driving

Driving

What is it like to drive?

So far we’ve only driven the ID.7 Pro on French roads, but first impressions are that it’s generally a very relaxed, refined and quiet saloon. Volkswagen makes more than a few mentions of comfort in the bumf and has even gone to the trouble of designing a new five-link rear axle for better noise insulation. It seems to have worked, with excessive road and wind noise impressively absent in the cabin.

Our test car had VW’s optional DCC active suspension fitted, which gives you the usual Eco, Comfort and Sport modes, but also the option to go even softer than Comfort mode, even firmer than Sport mode or pretty much anywhere in between. We’d advise sticking firmly towards the comfy end of the sliding scale though. Sure, you’ll have to put up with some fairly hefty body roll through corners, but anything approaching Sport mode seemed to upset the ride in our test car with a strange rocking feeling from back to front. Can’t be easy to keep 2.1 tonnes in check…

It’s electric, so it must be quick right?

It’s refreshing that the ID.7 doesn’t actually chase bonkers power and acceleration figures. That 282bhp figure is plenty for a car such as this, and a 0-62mph time of 6.5 seconds plus plenty of grip means it feels brisk but not overly rapid.

What about the steering and brakes?

Brake feel is actually surprisingly good in the ID.7, and there’s the option of a Brake mode for maximum regen when you come off the throttle. No wheel-mounted paddles or any stepped regen levels though, which could have made it a little more engaging to drive. The steering is weighty and gets even more so in Sport mode, but the ID.7 seems more suited to motorways than twisty mountain passes.

On motorways you’ll also be able to use VW’s impressive Travel Assist system. It’s essentially an active cruise control that also keeps the car in the centre of the lane, and we’ve always thought of it as a decent system. However, VW says it has now ‘enhanced’ Travel Assist so that it can perform ‘assisted lane changes’. If you’re travelling on a motorway above 90kph and the system decides that a lane change is safe, all you need to do in theory is indicate and the car will manoeuvre for you.

Unfortunately, every time we tried it the ID.7 would start the change and send you towards the other lane, before giving up halfway through and thus keeping you on a path towards the central reservation. We then had to grab the wheel again and take back control. Not ideal, and much slower and riskier than just changing lanes yourself.

Is it efficient?

We’ve been reasonably impressed with the efficiency of VW’s other ID models so far, and in a mixed drive in the ID.7 with most of the climate functions active, we saw an average of 3.6 mi/kWh. That indicates real-world range of 262 miles. Not bad, and you could easily eke out more with a little bit of effort.

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Overview

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Interior

Interior

What is it like on the inside?

Of course, the interior of the ID.7 is completely dominated by that 15-inch central screen, and that’s where we’ll kick off given the issues that VW has had with infotainment ever since the Mk8 Golf graced us with its presence.

This refreshed setup seems to load far quicker than before and is much more reactive to your inputs, but VW has spoiled its good work in that regard by designing the most complicated menu systems this side of a Tesla. Why does everything need to be buried five screens deep? And why isn’t there a shortcut to do useful stuff like demisting the windscreen?

You’d have thought that might be found in the climate shortcut panel at the bottom of the screen, but if you think that’s bad just wait until you realise that you need to go into the menus to adjust the direction of the ‘automatically controlled air vents with electronic actuators’. Did anyone ask for electronic air vents?

Anyway, the temperature and volume controls under the screen are now illuminated which is a win for common sense, and there’s an impressive optional panoramic roof that can switch from opaque to clear at the touch of a (touch sensitive) button. Brilliant Harman Kardon sound system too, although that is also an option.

In fact, the rest of the ID.7’s interior is much more of a success than the infotainment. Okay the standard augmented reality head-up display is a little bit busy and confusing, but we’re sure you’d get used to that over time. You get a huge amount of space, and although you sit high on top of the battery there’s good headroom in the front and just about enough for six-footers in the rear. Loads of legroom in those rear seats too.

And speaking of seats, up front you can have VW’s new ergoActive premium chairs which get many heating/cooling functions and an array of different massages that genuinely do work. And even when they’re not warming or chilling your posterior, the seats are still impressively comfortable.

How big is the boot?

Obviously not as big as it will be in the Touring, but this fastback saloon shape ID.7 still has a large hatch opening and an impressive 532-litre boot. There’s space under the floor for your cables, and if you fold the rear seats you’ll end up with 1,586 litres of luggage space.

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Driving

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Buying

Buying

What should I be paying?

We’ll keep this short and sweet: the ID.7 Pro Launch Edition costs £55,570. That’s the only one on sale for the time being, but a bigger batteried and rangier Pro S is coming in 2024, as well as Touring and GTX versions. Eventually you’ll be spoiled for choice.

For context, the BMW i4 currently starts at £50k and the Ioniq 6 £47k. Remarkably you can pick up a refreshed Model 3 in rear-wheel drive form for just under £40k. Well, you can this week – it’ll change the next time Elon sneezes.

Of course, the ID.7 is a decent chunk bigger than the Model 3, and you do get a fair amount of kit as standard. LED lights, 19-inch wheels, a heated steering wheel, that augmented reality HUD, Travel Assist and Park Assist all come with the base spec.

You get the ability to rapid charge at 175kW too, which VW says is enough to whack 127 miles of range into the battery in just 10 minutes. That is if you can find a charger that plays ball.

Optional extras worthy of a shout out include LED matrix headlights, 3D LED tail lights, the ergoActive premium seats and the Harman Kardon sound system. We’re yet to drive an ID.7 without the Dynamic Chassis Control, but if it leans towards the softer side with its setup then you could possibly save some money by eschewing the tech.

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Interior

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Specs & Prices

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