Join Jim, as he delves into the 2023 Volkswagen ID3 Facelift. Has it truly taken a step forward? Explore our comprehensive analysis packed with expert insights, updates, and our honest verdict on VW's latest addition to the electric line-up. Don't miss out on this captivating review!
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MotorTranscript
00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 Hello folks, welcome to Men and Motors
00:03 and welcome to my review of the new ID.3.
00:07 New, you may say, well it has had a mild facelift.
00:10 This is the ID.3 Pro 58 kilowatt hour version,
00:14 comes with 266 miles of range
00:16 and a 0 to 62 time of 7.4 seconds.
00:20 Now these start from about 37,000 pounds,
00:23 but the one I've got here today
00:24 is about 43 and a half thousand pounds.
00:27 Now that facelift is only a mild one,
00:30 they haven't gone full Joan Rivers with this thing,
00:32 but the little tweaks they have made make sense.
00:35 It feels a bit more coherent of a design overall.
00:39 It doesn't feel like it's trying to be so futuristic,
00:42 it feels a bit more like it's trying to play in the present.
00:45 And I for one think they've done a good job.
00:48 Now in the front, we'll start off with the steering wheel.
00:51 It feels very nice underhand.
00:53 It's really nicely wrapped leather, nice and comfortable,
00:55 not too fat, not too thin.
00:58 Unfortunately, they've taken away the little buttons
01:01 and dials and replaced them with haptics,
01:03 which really feels like a downgrade to me.
01:05 It always does.
01:06 Not just in VW cars, whenever a knob or a dial
01:09 is replaced by a haptic thing, it just feels a bit naff.
01:13 It feels like they're trying to be a bit too futuristic
01:16 and not put in the actual function first,
01:18 which I wish car companies would start to do again,
01:22 because no matter how good it looks or doesn't look,
01:26 if it doesn't function that well or not as well,
01:30 it's a downgrade.
01:31 Really bright information display there,
01:34 driver information display, not particularly big,
01:36 but it's got all the information
01:38 you could ever possibly really need.
01:39 Now onto the infotainment system,
01:41 it has been a little bit of a hot potato
01:43 in owners of the first generation ID.3.
01:46 It has had a bit of an upgrade
01:48 and it's all the better for it.
01:49 Now I have to say, full disclosure,
01:52 haven't had too long in this car,
01:54 but in the time I have had the car,
01:56 I haven't experienced any problems.
01:58 Now, when I drove the previous generation ID.3,
02:02 I had problems from the off.
02:04 It's not enough to say that everything's cured with this
02:09 and everything's now wonderful,
02:10 but certainly my experience with the car
02:12 in the short time that I've had it has been a good one.
02:15 It connects to the wireless Apple CarPlay
02:17 very, very quickly and in practice, it works very well.
02:21 Plenty of real estate in that little screen.
02:23 The voice commands work as well in this car
02:25 as in anything currently on the market, in my opinion.
02:29 And aside from the fact that it's got haptics
02:31 instead of physical buttons or dials,
02:34 it seems to work well in practice.
02:37 As for the rest of the layout, it's fine.
02:38 It all works reasonably well.
02:39 Again, we've got haptics rather than buttons or switches,
02:43 which again is a tiny bit annoying, but it is what it is.
02:46 You've got a couple of cup holders here,
02:48 a couple of trays to put mobile phones into,
02:51 and you've got two USB-C connectors down here
02:54 in this little storage cubby.
02:56 Now, because that center console's quite low,
02:58 it does give you a bit of a feeling of spaciousness in here.
03:02 And these central armrests are a bit of a triumph too.
03:05 For one thing, both you and your passenger
03:07 can set the armrest to your preferred height.
03:10 It just stops those economy class flight
03:13 or cinema elbow wars on that sort of central armrest,
03:17 because you've each got your own,
03:18 you can both set your own height,
03:20 and you can both remain friends at the end of the journey.
03:23 The cabin works reasonably well in practice.
03:26 I just wish they hadn't tried to be quite so clever
03:28 with some of these haptics and things.
03:30 Kept it a bit more traditional
03:31 and maybe been a little bit more creative
03:34 when it came to the design rather than the controls.
03:37 The rear cabin's really good.
03:38 There's only the merest suggestion
03:40 of a hump in the middle of the floor there.
03:42 It really is almost completely flat.
03:44 You've got loads of knee room,
03:46 plenty of place to put your feet,
03:48 and reasonable headroom,
03:49 despite the fact we've got this huge panoramic sunroof.
03:53 Now that is a bit of a must in my eyes
03:55 because I think it could otherwise
03:56 feel a little bit dark in here,
03:59 but that really owns it up
04:00 and gives you a bright and airy feel.
04:02 You can sit three adults in the back here,
04:05 but I would suggest only for shorter journeys
04:07 because the middle seat is only really half a seat,
04:11 as you might expect in a car of this size.
04:13 Materials and general design, perfectly fine and okay.
04:16 Would have been nice to have some rear seat pockets.
04:18 That seems like a little bit of a miss.
04:20 You've got two USB-Cs down there.
04:24 Perfectly good, perfectly functional,
04:25 perhaps a tiny bit unexceptional,
04:28 but a nice enough place to sit.
04:31 We've got 385 litres of boot space,
04:33 which is quite competitive.
04:35 A little bag hook there
04:36 and a 12-volt charging socket over there.
04:38 Under the floor, there is a bit more storage,
04:40 certainly space to keep your charging cables,
04:42 or you can drop that floor if you wish
04:44 and have a bit more depth to your boot.
04:46 As it is, there's a bit of a load lip,
04:48 which, as you know if you've watched any of my other reviews,
04:51 I actually like.
04:52 Stops your shopping falling out
04:53 when you open the boot on a slight incline.
04:55 So yeah, all good.
04:57 Nothing particularly clever or amazing going on.
04:59 Obviously, these rear lights do cut into the space a tad,
05:03 but it's still a reasonable enough opening
05:05 to get things in and out.
05:06 You've also got 40/20/40 split there,
05:09 so you can do some through-loading if need be.
05:12 Now, this is a fun little thing to bum around in.
05:15 Obviously, it's rear-wheel drive.
05:17 It's quite short wheelbase,
05:18 and the wheels are pushed right into those corners.
05:21 Now, it doesn't quite have the poise
05:23 or sort of chuckability in the corners
05:26 that something like the MG4 has,
05:28 but it's far more enjoyable on the twisty stuff
05:31 than a lot of its rivals,
05:33 particularly probably anything
05:35 that's coming out of Stellantis Group at the moment
05:37 with a green badge on it.
05:39 The suspension feels quite soft to me,
05:41 and it soaks up the bumps really well.
05:43 And for most people, it's gonna be their sweet spot.
05:46 It's gonna be that nice, sort of comfortable,
05:49 relaxing drive where you don't feel seasick
05:51 when going around corners.
05:53 However, your enthusiast drivers, I feel,
05:56 would prefer something a little bit firmer
05:59 just to make it a bit more planted in those bends.
06:02 But it doesn't take away, really,
06:03 from the driving experience,
06:05 which, as I said before, is fun.
06:07 Now, EVs generally are very heavy cars,
06:10 and in some of them, you really feel that weight
06:12 when you're driving them.
06:13 You don't in this.
06:14 It feels as light as a feather.
06:15 It feels very nimble, very sprightly.
06:18 You know, it's not gonna sort of pin you
06:20 to the back of your seat
06:21 like a Tesla Model 3 performance will,
06:24 but feels quick, feels agile, and it feels nimble.
06:27 And it doesn't feel so light
06:28 that you're completely disconnected from the wheels
06:31 and everything else that's going on.
06:34 I'm really quite enjoying the drive.
06:35 I don't know if my initial disappointment
06:38 of the first-generation ID.3
06:40 meant that I sort of was unfairly harsh
06:43 with the way it drove,
06:45 but I remember coming away from my first experience
06:48 with that first ID.3 completely numb.
06:51 I was expecting something exciting and interesting,
06:55 and I was just numb.
06:56 It was just a car that went.
06:59 There was no enjoyment with it.
07:02 There was nothing interesting about it.
07:04 This is a car that's always gonna get compared to the MG4,
07:07 sometimes fairly, sometimes unfairly in my eyes.
07:11 And the main reason for that comparison
07:13 is the difference in price.
07:14 You know, there is a fairly hefty difference in price.
07:17 You're looking at the closest point,
07:19 I think, about five grand.
07:21 However, there is a marked difference in build quality.
07:25 And I think with the ID.3 and the MG4,
07:29 they're both cars where you probably want
07:31 to have a little dive into the online forums
07:34 and speak to some owners
07:35 and talk about what they've been like to live with.
07:38 Rest assured, there is a difference in quality
07:40 between the two brands.
07:42 And obviously, one of the brands
07:43 has a bit more pedigree than the other,
07:46 certainly the modern version of the other.
07:49 So remember, folks, not everything's black and white.
07:51 Do your own research.
07:53 I really didn't like the original ID.3.
07:56 And although the differences between that version
07:58 and this are very subtle,
08:00 it is an improvement.
08:02 And it is a car that I'm now gonna think back fondly about
08:06 rather than thinking, "Ooh."
08:08 So read into that what you will.
08:11 What are your thoughts about the ID.3, folks?
08:13 If you go for an entry-level one,
08:15 you're looking at a few grand more
08:17 than something like an MG4.
08:19 And at the top end, you know,
08:21 you could get yourself probably into a Tesla Model 3.
08:25 Does this car do enough for you?
08:26 Does it stand out enough?
08:28 Is it good enough in any way to compete with some of those?
08:31 This is a much better car, I think,
08:35 than the first-generation model.
08:37 I'll let you into a secret.
08:38 I really didn't like the first-gen ID.3.
08:42 I felt like it was a disappointment.
08:43 It felt like it'd been rushed out to market
08:46 because VW were perhaps a tad late
08:48 to get onto the EV bandwagon.
08:51 And I think VW, as an enthusiast brand,
08:54 were expected to come out
08:55 with something a little bit special.
08:57 And instead, they gave us a car.
09:01 Very little wrong with it, but it's just a car.
09:04 I think this has taken a little bit of a step up,
09:06 and it certainly feels like probably the car
09:09 they should have released in the first place,
09:12 in the first instance.
09:13 That first-gen ID.3 probably should have been this.
09:17 But, you know, hindsight is a wonderful thing, is it not?
09:20 This is a nice car to drive that ticks a lot of boxes
09:23 and doesn't really do anything particularly badly.
09:26 It's just a very competitive marketplace at the moment.
09:29 So I wouldn't say go out and rush out and buy one of these,
09:32 but I would definitely say go and test drive one
09:34 because, you know, you may be pleasantly surprised,
09:37 as I have been today, with this one.
09:40 Hope you enjoyed this video, folks.
09:41 Please give it a thumbs up.
09:42 Please subscribe to Men & Motors.
09:43 And go and check this video out next.
09:45 You're gonna like it.
09:46 (upbeat music)
09:49 (music fades)
09:51 [BLANK_AUDIO]