We picked up my wife's new ID.3 yesterday. I've driven maybe 75 miles (and given it a good wash!), so hardly an exhaustive test, but a few initial observations:
Positive things over the Model 3:
Finally, a few pics - it's pretty, esp in the turquoise.
Positive things over the Model 3:
- Build quality is notably better. Panel gaps are perfect and even. Door and tailgate fit is very precise and they close with a very nice clunk that inspires confidence. Seals on doors and windows look well designed and engineered.
- Paint quality is great. Less orange peel effect than the Tesla and coverage into non-accessible areas like door jambs etc looks faultless.
- Cabin noise and refinement is very good. Wind and road noise is better than the Model 3, esp at motorway speeds.
- Turning circle is very tight - I find the Model 3 a bit of a pain at times with its large circle.
- Display above the steering wheel is nice to have. I wish the Model 3 had a second display like this.
- Active Cruise Control is great. It works very well and has none of the phantom braking we get on our Teslas.
- The interior lighting is lovely with great ambient lighting across the dash and the doors. It feels a nice place to be, despite the hard plastic on the door cards (which are nowhere as bad as the reviewers would have you believe).
- Buying experience was excellent. Calls were answered and we even got unsolicited call giving us an update on the ordering/delivery process. The car was well prepped when we collected and despite Covid we got more of a briefing/handover than we got with the Tesla last Sept at the Heathrow collection centre. We even got a call this morning from the sales guy asking us if all was going well and thanking us for our business.
- The software! Yes, it's still a beta release, but as well as missing features, it's also just really clunky. It's slow, unresponsive at times, and buggy. Usability is poor with related functions separated and in hard-to-find places. Then there are annoying things such as not being able to display the battery % unless you have the vehicle stats screen showing on the main display, which means you lose the sat nav, music display etc. None of it is really gelling with me at the moment - it feels a bit of a mess. I'll probably get used to it, but I pity anyone who's not tuned into computer interfaces (which applies to my wife actually so I'll need to do a cheat-sheet for her). I get the impression that it is an evolution of earlier VW software rather than a clean-sheet design. It feels very "under-developed" from a UI perspective and does not address well what an EV user would want out of it.
On top of all this, there are huge bits of functionality missing in the beta release - Carplay/Android Auto, scheduled charging, navigation that can plan a charging stop if needed to reach the destination, and more. The software weaknesses extend to the mobile app which is similarly slow and buggy (and severely lacking in features).
This all sounds pretty bad, but it's not so bad as to make the car unusable (or even unlikable) - but VW have a hill to climb to get anywhere near to Tesla. There's a big release just going out now (ME2) which adds many of the missing features (and hopefully improves the responsiveness and fixes the bugs) - but early cars like ours will need it installing via the dealer since OTA isn't supported in the beta. I'm hopeful that things will improve with that, and then incrementally thereafter. But I assume the basic UI design will not be changed so my expectations are appropriately calibrated. Time will tell!
- The regen isn't as strong or as fluid to use as the Model 3. Single pedal driving is not possible since it won't go down to a stop - it cuts out at about 5mph necessitating use of the brake pedal. More annoyingly, it's always in "creep" mode.
- The sound system is a definite step down from the Tesla. It's perfectly acceptable, but the Model 3's system is the best stock sound system I've ever experienced.
- Performance is OK - faster than my wife's old Golf so a perfectly good replacement - but it's not a Tesla!
- The car drives well, but so does the Tesla. They are different, but both nice cars to drive and be in.
- Interior materials are better than I thought they'd be. I was ready for a cheap-feel to the interior given that all the reviews complained bitterly about the hard plastics on the door cards - but actually it's just fine. Maybe not quite as plush as the Model 3, but given that it's £15k cheaper I'm more than happy with it.
- Consumption. I did a drive back home this evening of about 25 miles. Consumption was 270 Wh/mi which given that it was cold, damp and dark I'm pretty happy with.
- Charging seems fine. Home charging just worked off the bat at 32A with my EVBox 7kW charger, and a quick stop at a Shell Recharge 50kW charger was uneventful (it just worked). I've not had time to look at charge rates etc, but more detailed reviews show that it's broadly similar to the SR+ in the real world even if the headline max charge rate is limited to 100kW.
Finally, a few pics - it's pretty, esp in the turquoise.
