Hello from Norfolk

[JPeasmold]

Hello everyone, I'm from deepest Norfolk. Hopefully in February I will be driving a new 77kWhr Tour.

Had a 40 minute test drive of a 58kwh model on Friday and thought it was a fabulous car. I was shocked at just how roomy it was inside. The windscreen wiper issue wasn't as annoying as I thought it might be. The biggest niggle I have is that it doesn't offer 1 pedal driving - I loved this on the i3 I hired for a few days last month and it took about 2 minutes to get used to. I drove from central Glasgow to Ayr and back several times without touching the brake pedal at all. Why VW have chosen to make the ID3 behave like an old automatic in this regard is mystifying, although the auto hold at least means you don't have to sit with your foot on the brake at the lights. Perhaps a future software update will offer the option of 1 pedal driving.

The dealer in Norwich was absolutely shocking. I was feeling slightly guilty at booking a test drive with no possibility at all of me buying a vehicle from them, but that evaporated. Very disorganised. Very rude staff. The first guy I approached literally pretended I wasn't there and just continued bashing away at his keyboard. Someone eventually deigned to speak to me and I told them I was here for a booked test drive, sat me down at a desk with a cup of tea. 10 mins later the owner of the desk appears, frowns and asks me what I'm doing. Huffed off to get the keys, stopping to moan at the first chap who'd ignored me "This can't keep happening, so and so has put stuff in my diary and I don't know about it". Goes up to the mezzanine to get the keys, can see her gesticulating at someone up there.
Takes me out to the car, unlocks it, throws the key at me and says I've got 30-40 minutes.
Upon my return her only follow up was "how did you get on?".
I asked to see (not drive) and ID4 for comparison of size, space etc. So she grudgingly gets the key, takes me out to it, unlocks it and walks off!

I just left after having a look at the ID4 (conclusion, much bigger externally, but internally not much different to the ID3, just has a bigger boot). Didn't eel guilty anymore, as there is zero chance I'd have handed £40k over to that lot for anything!

[MotMot]

B mode is pretty much one pedal driving… sounds like you drove in D most of the time!

[steviebabes]

Yes I agree, B mode is very good, it does creep very slowly but you hardly ever need to use the brakes except at a red light.

[Andreas]

Tour. Good choice. Funnily enough we got ours from Norfolk as well, as they had the best price and exactly the vehicle we wanted. Agree that their client-facing behaviour could be improved a bit when you are on site. As I only went to pick up the car I had already bought, they were pleasant with me though.

Agree on B - it's pretty much one-pedal. I use it constantly now.

All the best

Andreas

[JPeasmold]

I used a mix of B and D.
In neither mode does it slow down as quickly as the i3, and the creep thing is just silly. Why would you want an EV to behave like an ICE car with a fluid drive? Weird. Even more noticeable in reverse when I had to drag the hydraulic brakes to stop it running away with me.
It also isn't consistent. I had my foot fully off the pedal as we approached a roundabout, and suddenly the braking increased. I guess this is the computer reqlising there's a junction comon up and slowing more aggressively. Clever, but I'd rather just be in control of it, and have it brake to a stop.

It's not a deal-breaker, it could just be a lot better.

Do the hydraulic brakes always come in only when the green bar is full? I thought I heard them rubbing at points when I wasn't yet on full regen, but could have been mistaken.

[MotMot]

For me it felt a bit weird at first - but like a car with different brake response you get used to it fast.

In town and on roads where I’m accelerating and braking a lot I sit in B and only touch the brake to engage the ‘handbrake’ at junctions. On faster roads it’s D or more often switch the ACC on.

It’s hard to tell when the hydraulic brakes are working. But that’s the point! Good software!!

[Splitty]

Hello everyone, I'm from deepest Norfolk. Hopefully in February I will be driving a new 77kWhr Tour.

Hi Peasmold, welcome to the forum.

I am in Norfolk, just south of Dereham. I know what you mean about Robinsons in Norwich, took my golf there for a service once and decided never to use them again. I bought my ID from Cookes of Fakenham, really friendly and go out of there way to make the customer happy both on the sales and the service side.

You'll enjoy your car.

One thought, if you were driving in B mode and it didn't feel like a one pedal experience, it could have been because the dealer had charged the battery to 100%, this would mean that there would be little braking effect from the motor/battery combo until the car used up a decent amount of battery.

[G43FAN]

I used a mix of B and D.
In neither mode does it slow down as quickly as the i3, and the creep thing is just silly. Why would you want an EV to behave like an ICE car with a fluid drive? Weird. Even more noticeable in reverse when I had to drag the hydraulic brakes to stop it running away with me.
It also isn't consistent. I had my foot fully off the pedal as we approached a roundabout, and suddenly the braking increased. I guess this is the computer reqlising there's a junction comon up and slowing more aggressively. Clever, but I'd rather just be in control of it, and have it brake to a stop.

It's not a deal-breaker, it could just be a lot better.

Do the hydraulic brakes always come in only when the green bar is full? I thought I heard them rubbing at points when I wasn't yet on full regen, but could have been mistaken.

The hydraulic brakes come in when needed, i.e. when you need to slow down at a greater rate than the regenerative braking will allow. Nothing to do with the green bar.
B mode provides 0.13g of braking, add the brake pedal and that increases to 0.3g (roughly) in either mode. Anything greater than that dictated, by the pressure on the pedal or auto systems, uses the front calipers.

This US Media article gives some insight into VW's reasoning. https://media.vw.com/en-us/releases/1455

[Daveion]

I dont recall that link before or maybe I was too low on the learning curve to take it in but it was really informative. I wonder if there is capacity in the hardware and firmware/SW to increase the G braking force with regenerative braking for those who would prefer B to be a little heavier one-pedal drive. Maybe in a SW update further along?
Is there a section in our forum for such useful links to be listed?

[Deleted User 192]

Having never driven an i3 I see no reason why VW would make it want to behave like one, it compares brilliantly to the Mercedes C-class automatic that I had previously.

Just because an EV can be different to an ICE doesn’t mean it has to be.

[G43FAN]

I dont recall that link before or maybe I was too low on the learning curve to take it in but it was really informative. I wonder if there is capacity in the hardware and firmware/SW to increase the G braking force with regenerative braking for those who would prefer B to be a little heavier one-pedal drive. Maybe in a SW update further along?
Is there a section in our forum for such useful links to be listed?

It's a new one to me actually, I had read some details somewhere previously but my initial google didn't get me to what I was looking for, but I remembered the 0.25g figure so added that to the search and that article came up.

[JPeasmold]

Having never driven an i3 I see no reason why VW would make it want to behave like one

Well, they've nicked almost everything else from the i3 - the drive selector, the instrument binnacle, the infotainment display position...

[Deleted User 192]

Having never driven an i3 I see no reason why VW would make it want to behave like one

Well, they've nicked almost everything else from the i3 - the drive selector, the instrument binnacle, the infotainment display position...

My previous 2010 C-class Merc also had a central info screen and displays behind the steering wheel with speed and stuff on it - bloody BMW copying those concepts for the i3

[G43FAN]

Having never driven an i3 I see no reason why VW would make it want to behave like one

Well, they've nicked almost everything else from the i3 - the drive selector, the instrument binnacle, the infotainment display position...

My previous 2010 C-class Merc also had a central info screen and displays behind the steering wheel with speed and stuff on it - bloody BMW copying those concepts for the i3

Column shifters have been on American cars for decades and the Honda Pilot mid 2000s had one and so did the Trabant, maybe the designers were East German?

[Andreas]

Well it is built in the old Trabant works. Maybe going through left-over stock?

All the best

Andreas

[MotMot]

Citroen CX had some interesting switching ideas...

[G43FAN]

Citroen CX had some interesting switching ideas...

Aging myself (if I haven't already) but I remember going to London to the Earl's Court Motor Show and seeing one of those.. wow!! (Probably 1976, the last show at Earl's Court.) I'm sure we also went to Heathrow to see Concorde.

[sghom]

Don't mention cx to me....... God, I miss mine

[micklebrow]

I'm happy as larry now with B mode. I would say my breaking has gone from 100% all the time (previous ice car) to only breaking 20%. I don't have a problem with creeping when you stop, just a hard press on the break puts it into auto hold.

[slef2003]

Hello everyone, I'm from deepest Norfolk. Hopefully in February I will be driving a new 77kWhr Tour.



I just left after having a look at the ID4 (conclusion, much bigger externally, but internally not much different to the ID3, just has a bigger boot). Didn't eel guilty anymore, as there is zero chance I'd have handed £40k over to that lot for anything!

Oddly enough I had a similar experience at the Norwich Branch of that VW dealership ! I then went to my local(ish) Branch in Lowestoft and had completely the opposite reaction. friendly greeting from receptionist and teh Motability Specialist was really helpful. We arranged an extended test drive (3 hours) and within a couple of days I then ordered a tour from them. We agreed that I would not bug him with pointless requests for updates and a little while ago I got an email from him telling me that they now had a tour as a demo car and that I was welcome to pop over and have a looksee at it and take it for a quick spin if needed. On the whole I am very pleased with the different attitude in Lowestoft to that of the large Norwich Branch.