Tour 5 77 Kwh Battery

I wouldn't Buy Any Car Again So Heavily Dependent on Screens.

I have the ID3 Tour 5 with 77 Kwh battery. My No.1 hate is the software and the lack of dedicated controls for climate and radio, changing air direction or blower speed means going through menu using a touch screen with my left hand, being right handed means using the screen with my left hand feels completely unnatural and you don't have the same level of accuracy as you would reaching down for a Knob or a switch because you have no feedback and can easily tap on the wrong part of the screen especially on bumpier roads, it is infuriating. I really, really hate it and yes, screens are very dangerous in cars, if we're told not to use our phones in the car then who thought it was a good idea to have touch screens in cars to encourage people to interact with them when you're supposed to be looking at the road ? and to think many new Dacias get 1 star for safety only because because they don't spend or make us spend a lot of money on irritating systems that bing and bong at you all the time but yet a car with touchscreen gets 5 stars ? it's absolutely bonkers !

To access the radio you have to go through the menu and it's really irritating. If you have android auto on for Google Maps or Car play then you can't see what station is on and while you can go through the stations via the haptic steering controls you can't see the list of stations or favourites, very infuriating.

The steering controls are haptic and I really don't like them, they feel really unnatural.

Interior quality is poor, cheap nastic plastic everywhere, the piano black bits are fingerprint magnets, the plastics look like they belong in the caddy van and not in a 41,000 Euro Car ( it would have been higher without Government Grants ) In fact I remember the 90's polo having a better quality interior ! There are rattles and the doors rattles something amazing when you crank up the stereo.

OTA software updates were planned and didn't happen, what's worse is that now we're told that V3 is as high as it will go on these generation id3s and that annoys me greatly because any issues that could be fixed won't be and all we will get now are minor updates.

I'm told newer cars have better software but nothing can replace buttons and knobs. I wouldn't buy a VW ID car again or in fact any VW because all their range is moving towards screens only no buttons. No thanks VW you can keep it !

Incredibly infuriating is the fact VW did not put speakers in the rear doors so I have to have the volume louder so the Kids can hear in the rear. Absolutely incredible in a car costing 41K Euros !

The car has been reliable, I have had issue with one of the Matrix headlights fogging up, they dealer replaced it 4 times and waiting on another solution since November 2023, it's now April 2024, these are very expensive headlights but no other issue, it's due it's first service in October 2024 when it's 3 years old regardless of mileage. That is pretty amazing !

Speaking of headlights, the matrix are fantastic on back roads, they don't dip as such, they adjust the beam pattern to focus the light away from the on-coming driver, this works well most of the time but on windy back roads it takes too long to adjust so better to do it manually but on better roads it works great and it will keep the ditch lit up so you can see far better but it won't blind the other drivers.

This is my 3rd and probably last Electric car ( until the tech gets a lot cheaper and range improves a lot more ) While they are cheap enough to run they are far too expensive to buy and they loose far too much value. My ID3 Tour 5 is the largest battery ID3, cost 41,000 Euro's here in Ireland and I was given a "low 20s Euro's" trade in value by my local VW dealer, It was registered in October 2021 and has around 48,000 Miles and there are 1.6 Diesel Kia Cee's going for more will less mileage lol

Electricity costs 3 times what it did when I got the first EV in 2015 making it cost now just half of a 50 Mpg diesel to run, it cost 3 times less in 2015 up until maybe 2021.

Public charging is more expensive than diesel over the same distance so we now mostly take the Outlander Diesel, Why bother paying so much to have to sit for 30-50 mins twiddling my thumbs or eating bad food that's mostly available around these chargers ? Seriously, this is time you could spend doing far better things.

This brings me to another point, I wouldn't have an EV if we didn't have the Outlander Diesel or another ICE as a backup for long trips where charging is a pain and I can say that after driving EV since 2015 it really is a pain now and while infrastructure has got better and range has improved, it hasn't improved to make it anything as convenient as ICE and don't be fooled by all the screens and tech hanging around at chargers is new and exciting at first but it gets old and when you've had enough of it you will really wish you didn't spend so much on the car.

Charging the car takes anything from 30-50 mins as it only charges at 135 Kw if plugging in below 10% if plugging in from say 20+ % it will only charge at 60 Kw max, this is really disappointing, the battery has a heater but isn't used to increase battery temp for max charging efficiency, it can be fixed with software but VW don't care !

This is my 3rd and last PCP, I will not finance cars again with Finance, it's for mugs, the finance company and the Dealer win, you loose. If you can't buy with cash you don't have the money so why do it ? Sure, the monthly repayments are attractive but you won't want to pay that balloon to own the car so you will get another PCP on another car until you realise what a foolish way you have been spending money instead of putting it into the house or save up and lock it away in a long term investment and don't waste it on new cars or new electric cars especially as you will not save money on a new EV, you will loose a lot of money.

I have to pay 18K Euro's to own the id3, do I put it towards a car that frustrates me so much ? a petrol car, a hybrid ? have to say I drive a Opel Crossland 1.2 Turbo petrol the other day and I was very impressed with this engine for it's size and only 3 cylinder, it sounded good and I got to change gears again, it actually made me smile and I thought I wouldn't enjoy it so much, I like it a lot more than the diesel outlander, this is what happens when you drive electric car for nearly 10 years you forget how b***** boring they actually are in the end and I think I just might get a car with similar engine, while the crossland isn't my thing I really did like that little petrol, it's got all the power you really need and it felt so much lighter than my 2 tonne EV which is probably what made it so much fun on the back roads.

The other thing is that while I thought electric cars were environmentally friendly the more research I do into battery production and mining of the lithium and cobalt I know now the actual facts are far different and to think the E.U want to ban ICE in 2035, they are blinded by 0 Emission but ignore the emissions that go into production and also the environmental damage to local areas and water supplies, rivers and streams etc, the E.U need to wake up. We all need to wake up and stop pretending electric cars are going to save the planet.

Rather than a ban they should invest more in renewable fuels like HVO100 and Efuels, while not cheap now we could do a lot more and Efuel extracts Co2 from the atmosphere and needs Hydrogen, not efficient by any means but it means far less damage to local eco systems where they mine the minerals for electric cars which is done with diesel powered machinery.

Please forgive my long review, rant or whatever, you did well to get this far, that's if it's even published on the site lol. I'm a much more experienced EV owner and I just want to save people a lot of money, keep your old petrol or diesel and maintain it well and this is probably the best for the environment in the long run, an EV won't save money as fuel is only part of the cost of a car and electricity has got a lot more expensive and Public charging is very expensive, spend as little on cars as you can, spend within your means and for God's sake, stay away from PCP.

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