List of design faults - can anyone help?

[PeterIOM]

We bought an ID.3 about six months ago and I find it the most irritating car I have ever driven. My main beef with it is the number of clever electronic "features" (bugs?) which have been programmed into it, which don't work very well and/or have unexpected side effects, but it seems to be difficult or impossible to override them. I've done my best to work around most of them, but here is a list of the ones I am still having difficulty with. If anyone can help with these, I'd be very grateful, or if they are non-remediable, please will any VW employees reading this take note and try to fix them for the next iteration of this car.

Self locking boot (trunk). I found out this bug when I threw a bag with my keys in it into the boot, went back into the house to get something, and when I came back the car had locked my keys in the boot, along with all the other things I had just loaded, and I couldn't access them until my wife came home with the spare key. I later found out that the car is programmed to lock the boot after a 2 minute delay - with or without the keys in it. This must be the stupidest "feature" in Christendom.

Stops when reversing. The first time it did this, it stopped so suddenly I thought I had hit something. It seems to be programmed to stop when reversing if the driver's seatbelt is unbuckled AND it doesn't feel any pressure in the driver's seat, and it therefore assumes that there is no driver in the car. However, this is incorrect. Sometimes, if you are reversing into a narrow parking space or down a narrow driveway or between narrow gateposts, you have to unbuckle your seatbelt, lift your bottom out of the seat and look behind you out of the driver's window (especially if you are short, like me). The best workaround I have found is to keep a dog seatbelt in the car - this is a dog lead with a collar clip on one end and a seatbelt buckle on the other end. If I unbuckle my seatbelt and plug in the dog seatbelt, this keeps the car happy while I am reversing.

Air conditioning keeps turning itself back on, even after I have manually turned it off.

Difficult to tell when it's charging. The Nissan Leaf is much better at this: there is a clear and intuitive charge indicator which you can see from several yards away.

No paper manual. There is an online manual, but Sod's Law says that if you are in difficulties and have to consult the manual, that's exactly the time when you find you don't have an internet connection. A PDF manual would be the next best thing, there is one available online, but not from VW, it's from some public spirited person who put it together and made it available at his own expense.

Clever electronic door handles which sense your touch and the proximity of the key and unlock the doors. Except when it is raining. If the handle is coated with water, this seems to jam the clever electronic wizardry, so you have to get into the car the old fashioned way by rummaging around in your bag for the key and getting thoroughly wet.

My next car will probably be a Nissan Leaf.

[Boattrainman]

No doubt annoying niggles there, but hardly a reason to ditch the car in my view.

Each to his own I suppose, most of the issues you noted are dealt with here if you scroll through the pages.

I've been in a Leaf regularly and I wouldn't swop the ID3 for what has to be one of the most boring cars I've ever driven, and style wise its not in the same league.......... but your choice.

Rob

[Kwr68]

No doubt annoying niggles there, but hardly a reason to ditch the car in my view.

Each to his own I suppose, most of the issues you noted are dealt with here if you scroll through the pages.

I've been in a Leaf regularly and I wouldn't swop the ID3 for what has to be one of the most boring cars I've ever driven, and style wise its not in the same league.......... but your choice.

Rob

I have to agree with you , also if someone makes the perfect car please let me know

[Boattrainman]

1990 Mercdes 190E Auto.

Only one motor, so nothing ever broke, put 150k on it and never let me down once. Over engineered for a 'baby merc', built like a tank, zero rust, was comfortable, economical, cheap to service and looked great.

Only sold as had it 8 years.

I'm sure everyone has their favourite!

Rob

[Dermottdog]

1990 Mercdes 190E Auto.

Only one motor, so nothing ever broke, put 150k on it and never let me down once. Over engineered for a 'baby merc', built like a tank, zero rust, was comfortable, economical, cheap to service and looked great.

Only sold as had it 8 years.

I'm sure everyone has their favourite!

Rob

Yep, you’re right there. 1999 Mitsubishi Shogun 3.0 V6 SWB. We got it in 2014 and drove it until 2019. I didn’t even change the oil for my sins. The only things that didn’t work was the electric arial and the A/C would lose pressure and stop blowing cold air. Automatic, 4WD, electric dampers, diff locks etc. A pioneering 4WD system (called super select), you change from 2WD to 4WD when travelling up to 35 mph. Built to last.

[MotMot]

No car is perfect - and I'll stand by that...

2011 1.6tdi golf from new to 90k miles. Changed two tyres - nothing else (paid for servicing every 12k miles though..). Very good car but that was 90k miles with the VW sanctioned cheat device in full flow... Something about the seat and driving position also gave me back ache (quite bad) that only passed when I moved the car on.

BMW320d (E46 estate). Superb car. Grey leather interior, fantastic to drive. Ate a full set of four tyres every 15-20k.

I'm 20k into my present ID3 (15 k on the iD3 before that) and its great. apart from the month at the garage with the 12v issue - both ID's have been superb. Only when I've had to drive an ICE car for any distance to I realise what a noisy unpleasant and uncomfortable experience that is. I think the haptics on the wheel are great - and have no problems whatsoever with any of the touchscreen operations. Really don't know what the fuss is about.

[Scratch]

No car is perfect - and I'll stand by that...

2011 1.6tdi golf from new to 90k miles. Changed two tyres - nothing else (paid for servicing every 12k miles though..). Very good car but that was 90k miles with the VW sanctioned cheat device in full flow... Something about the seat and driving position also gave me back ache (quite bad) that only passed when I moved the car on.

BMW320d (E46 estate). Superb car. Grey leather interior, fantastic to drive. Ate a full set of four tyres every 15-20k.

I'm 20k into my present ID3 (15 k on the iD3 before that) and its great. apart from the month at the garage with the 12v issue - both ID's have been superb. Only when I've had to drive an ICE car for any distance to I realise what a noisy unpleasant and uncomfortable experience that is. I think the haptics on the wheel are great - and have no problems whatsoever with any of the touchscreen operations. Really don't know what the fuss is about.

You have been very fortunate with your ID3 experiences. So was I - until a few days ago. My 2.5 year old ID3 had been faultless, but now, if it wasn’t in warranty, I dread to think how much it would cost me at the VW dealer to investigate. Their techs, who I have to say are fantastic, have never seen my problem previously and are reliant on the factory, first accepting there is a problem, and then coming up with a fix. With 6 months left on the warranty, I am now becoming nervous about keeping it much longer. The issue I have would be impossible for an independent garage to deal with.
Technology - great when it works - expensive when it doesn’t.

[Splitty]

What happened Scratch? What is the fault?

[Scratch]

What happened Scratch? What is the fault?

It has decided to stop allowing delayed charging. i.e. utilising a TOU tariff such as Octopus Intelligent, or using the timers in my Zappi charger.
Also, I was requested by the VW tech, on the recommendation of VW UK, to delete myself from the VW app and start again with setting the primary user, as if I had just received the car. The infotainment screen would not allow me to do this, and showed just a complete, white, blank screen when I tried.
The car is drivable, and will charge but I have to use the guest account in the car. How would an independent garage deal with that, I wonder.
It's even got to the point now where I have been looking at other cars - even ICE.
N.B. Having visited a few car dealers recently, I am amazed how disinterested they are in selling me anything. I wonder if they really don’t want an EV as a trade in.