2 Weeks with my ID3 Life
Posted: Wed Apr 07, 2021 2:04 pm
I have a 58 kw/h ID3 life, and even though I love it, there are a lot of things which I feel warrant a complaint to VW about, and I wanted to not only show you the things I like about the car but also see if you think I'm being unreasonable (some of these are issues that others have listed on here too).
Some of the bad are not criticisms of the car per se, but more to do with the service from VW and general lack of information.
THE GOOD
- Range seems okay. It's been on and off with weather here in the last two weeks, some good days, some bad days. I managed on the best day, driving at an average of around 45mph with some max speeds of 70 mph in 20 degree sunshine with the a/c on 3.9 miles per KW/h which I thought was pretty good. In the cold I've noticed that heating really does hit the range, the difference of a couple of degrees was costing 1 mile per kw/h as I was playing with it sat at a red light and seeing how the consumption changed.
- We Connect on the whole, basic as it is, seems to work pretty well most of the time
- The drivability of the car is excellent. One review said it's not that exciting to the keen driver. I've driven a lot of track cars and performance cars, and I have to say I find this brilliant and he's talking out of his backside. Centre of gravity is very low, steering is responsive, sport mode tightens it up a treat. Does understeer a little, which is to be expected. I drive my Dad's 2017 Golf GTI a lot and can honestly say I prefer this.
- Extremely comfortable on long journeys.
- Great space inside.
- Sat Nav is a great improvement on what I had in my 2017 Tiguan.
- The ID Light is a gimmicky but very pretty feature. I wish the light to turn left or right came on earlier though, only happens right at the junction.
THE NOT SO GOOD
Nothing on this car is terrible I don't think, but there are some downsides.
- Timed charge doesn't work, or is too slow a charge rate for some reason.
- No cupholders or speakers in the rear. I know I have the Life, but I have heated seats, heated steering wheel, but they can't put speakers in the back? I also get a massive central console but no cup holders for the rear? Very odd.
- Very laggy screen when turning on sometimes, I just get "This isn't available" and then ten seconds later it all comes on.
- Android Auto only works via the cable and if I disable bluetooth first.
- The manual you may as well throw in the bin, as it doesn't contain half the information you need (omissions listed below)
- The severe lack of information from the dealer on most things (Issues listed below).
- Why on earth are the windscreen wiper controls upside down compared to every VW in history?
Omissions from the manual:
- Day 2 I plugged it in at a pod point, got the message "Emergency charging only" and this was only the second time I charged it anywhere so I was concerned. Mentioned in the manual? No. Had to google it.
- Is it mentioned anywhere in the manual what reduced A/C current is? No, had to google.
- Does it tell you how to connect to car play or android auto in the manual? No.
- Does it explain timed charges anywhere in the manual and what charge immediately is? Not to my knowledge, but maybe I didn't look hard enough.
I can find all this stuff out for myself, but older people are going to have a nightmare with this.
Lack of information from dealer:
They should really explain to you about battery conditioning affecting charging speed. They should explain about charging between 20-80% to prolong battery life. He literally sent me out the showroom with 95% charge and a kick up the backside. He only seemed concerned that I'd managed to connect my mobile phone via bluetooth before leaving.
No one explained about the We Charge Go being free for one year, I had to go through the app on my own and discover it. Do you think this should have been mentioned as it's actually pretty useful.
The eSim that's in the car. Is that free forever? No one has ever explained that.
It was honestly like he was selling a petrol car and couldn't wait to get rid of me. And to add insult to this, they've had my car for two weeks nearly, and still haven't sent me the money for it as they were purchasing it from me, so I'm currently £14,000 out of pocket.
Some of the bad are not criticisms of the car per se, but more to do with the service from VW and general lack of information.
THE GOOD
- Range seems okay. It's been on and off with weather here in the last two weeks, some good days, some bad days. I managed on the best day, driving at an average of around 45mph with some max speeds of 70 mph in 20 degree sunshine with the a/c on 3.9 miles per KW/h which I thought was pretty good. In the cold I've noticed that heating really does hit the range, the difference of a couple of degrees was costing 1 mile per kw/h as I was playing with it sat at a red light and seeing how the consumption changed.
- We Connect on the whole, basic as it is, seems to work pretty well most of the time
- The drivability of the car is excellent. One review said it's not that exciting to the keen driver. I've driven a lot of track cars and performance cars, and I have to say I find this brilliant and he's talking out of his backside. Centre of gravity is very low, steering is responsive, sport mode tightens it up a treat. Does understeer a little, which is to be expected. I drive my Dad's 2017 Golf GTI a lot and can honestly say I prefer this.
- Extremely comfortable on long journeys.
- Great space inside.
- Sat Nav is a great improvement on what I had in my 2017 Tiguan.
- The ID Light is a gimmicky but very pretty feature. I wish the light to turn left or right came on earlier though, only happens right at the junction.
THE NOT SO GOOD
Nothing on this car is terrible I don't think, but there are some downsides.
- Timed charge doesn't work, or is too slow a charge rate for some reason.
- No cupholders or speakers in the rear. I know I have the Life, but I have heated seats, heated steering wheel, but they can't put speakers in the back? I also get a massive central console but no cup holders for the rear? Very odd.
- Very laggy screen when turning on sometimes, I just get "This isn't available" and then ten seconds later it all comes on.
- Android Auto only works via the cable and if I disable bluetooth first.
- The manual you may as well throw in the bin, as it doesn't contain half the information you need (omissions listed below)
- The severe lack of information from the dealer on most things (Issues listed below).
- Why on earth are the windscreen wiper controls upside down compared to every VW in history?
Omissions from the manual:
- Day 2 I plugged it in at a pod point, got the message "Emergency charging only" and this was only the second time I charged it anywhere so I was concerned. Mentioned in the manual? No. Had to google it.
- Is it mentioned anywhere in the manual what reduced A/C current is? No, had to google.
- Does it tell you how to connect to car play or android auto in the manual? No.
- Does it explain timed charges anywhere in the manual and what charge immediately is? Not to my knowledge, but maybe I didn't look hard enough.
I can find all this stuff out for myself, but older people are going to have a nightmare with this.
Lack of information from dealer:
They should really explain to you about battery conditioning affecting charging speed. They should explain about charging between 20-80% to prolong battery life. He literally sent me out the showroom with 95% charge and a kick up the backside. He only seemed concerned that I'd managed to connect my mobile phone via bluetooth before leaving.
No one explained about the We Charge Go being free for one year, I had to go through the app on my own and discover it. Do you think this should have been mentioned as it's actually pretty useful.
The eSim that's in the car. Is that free forever? No one has ever explained that.
It was honestly like he was selling a petrol car and couldn't wait to get rid of me. And to add insult to this, they've had my car for two weeks nearly, and still haven't sent me the money for it as they were purchasing it from me, so I'm currently £14,000 out of pocket.