Test drove a 1st Edition at the weekend...

[BillTheButcher]

I've wanted to try an ID.3 for a while so when a 1st Edition came up for sale nearby, I decided to go and have a look.

From everything I'd read and seen, especially about the earlier cars, I was expecting the cabin to feel low-rent and for the infotainment and haptic buttons to irritate me within seconds of getting in. Suffice to say, my expectations weren't that high.

To my surprise, I really liked it as soon as I got in. The interior felt pleasantly minimalist rather than spartan (I particularly liked the uncluttered driver's display). I even liked the haptic cruise control buttons on the steering wheel.

I didn't really try the infotainment beyond changing the temperature so I can't comment on that. I believe (from what I found on reddit) that the fact that there's no percentage charge shown next to the range means that it's running an early version of the software.

The car felt decently quick, sure-footed, agile and responsive with really good visibility.

I drove it because it was nearby and I thought, "Why not?" I certainly didn't expect to be doing the all-too familiar "round peg into a square hole" man maths on the way home...

Oh, and hello. I recognise some usernames on here from SpeakEV.

[Scratch]

Whatever people may say about the ID3, for me, it’s a good car.
Later software ( mine’s on V3.2) the battery percentage is displayed next to the battery graphic.
Haptic buttons are a non-issue.
It’s not perfect, but I would like someone to show me the perfect car. They all have plusses and minuses.
I may even replace my 3 year old car with another one.

[Boattrainman]

I've stopped telling people that my ID3 is a decent EV, its a good car, period. The important aspects of any car including build and ride quality, decent acceleration and braking, comfort, economy and style are all there.....

I couldn't give a rats a** about minor issues with the infotainment screen, others seem obsessed with it.

Rob

[Dermottdog]

I agree with all the responses to the original post. I found that I had a strange and disappointing reaction from friends and particularly from my family!! One friend in particular comes up with the old and now very tired ‘they are always bursting into flames’ comment and EVs are a knee jerk reaction. Family can’t get their head round our decision. My sister, who came back from holiday recently and driving through France and Spain said I couldn’t do the same journey in an EV because the lack of public charging. I mapped out a destination on ABRP showing her charging stops but she wasn’t interested.
What I find interesting and annoying in equal measure is why people think that they can start a conversation about the car I’m driving, telling me of the poor decision that I’ve made. At what point would I start up a conversation putting down their wallpaper choice or garden furniture choice etc. Bizarre!!

[Scratch]

I agree with all the responses to the original post. I found that I had a strange and disappointing reaction from friends and particularly from my family!! One friend in particular comes up with the old and now very tired ‘they are always bursting into flames’ comment and EVs are a knee jerk reaction. Family can’t get their head round our decision. My sister, who came back from holiday recently and driving through France and Spain said I couldn’t do the same journey in an EV because the lack of public charging. I mapped out a destination on ABRP showing her charging stops but she wasn’t interested.
What I find interesting and annoying in equal measure is why people think that they can start a conversation about the car I’m driving, telling me of the poor decision that I’ve made. At what point would I start up a conversation putting down their wallpaper choice or garden furniture choice etc. Bizarre!!

I realise with family it's difficult but try to ignore them. Fortunately, our wider family couldn’t care less what I drive, and I have zero intention of trying to persuade anybody.

[Sherlock]

I replaced my ID.3 1st Edition with another new ID.3 in November last year. As said above no car is perfect and some of the features (e.g. haptic buttons, too many screen presses rather than one physical button/dial, etc) do really annoy me but they are not the end of the world. I like that it is great to drive, spacious enough for me, and the range is adequate for most of my regular driving.

[Boattrainman]

What I find funny is how over-focussed non-EV drivers (and to be fair, some that own an EV) are on completely trivial issues around EV ownership.

When the single biggest issue (which never gets a mention) is that for urban dwellers, ICEs are over, the sooner people get that into their heads the better, governments are simply going to tax urbanites out of their petrol and diesels.

The bigger picture is that if we don't get a handle on climate change (and I accept that family/personal EVs are only one part of the solution) the planetary eco system will force solutions onto us, then issues like not enough public charge points will be irrelevant.

Rob

[BillTheButcher]

In a slight (!) change of plan, I'm going to be swapping the Mii Electric for an ID.3 Tour...

I was planning to ditch the Mii and get back into something petrol-powered (spit boo hiss). I'm going to be doing a lot less commuting but the journeys that I will need to do will be longer, hence the Tour. I know a 58kWh would probably have made more sense but, after the Mii, I just want something that'll do 200 miles on the motorway in cold weather and 250+ miles when the temperatures are higher.

I thought about getting a Kona 64kWh but I've already had one and, as much as we liked it, I want to try something different and, as per my original post above, I really liked the ID.3 that I drove in February.

All being well, I should be picking it up this weekend.

[Fry]

Nice one, I'm sure you'll enjoy it

[BillTheButcher]

Picked up the Tour on Saturday. It feels like a limo after the Mii.

I like it as much as I liked the 1st Edition I drove in February.

One of the first things I did was switch off the HUD. I thought I'd like it but I found it really distracting and unnecessary.

I've only used Android Auto so far which had better integration than I was expecting: I knew the ID. Light wouldn't work with Waze but I was pleasantly surprised to see that all of the Waze navigation directions appeared in the instrument cluster (and HUD).

An extra AUC bonus (in addition to the two years' warranty, breakdown cover and MOT cover) that wasn't mentioned anywhere in the advert or in the showroom is that the next service is free.

[Mo1]

I persevered with the HUD and now love that all the info can be seen at a glance, you soon stop being distracted by it.

[ThomTom]

I also agree with all the responses to the original post. Having the ID3 for half a year I´m more then happy with it.

[BillTheButcher]

I persevered with the HUD and now love that all the info can be seen at a glance, you soon stop being distracted by it.

I was thinking about that this morning. On the first drive on Saturday (about 45 minutes), it just kept distracting me but on the second drive this morning (about an hour), I found myself thinking about switching it back on. I'm nothing if not indecisive.

[sidehaas]

I persevered with the HUD and now love that all the info can be seen at a glance, you soon stop being distracted by it.

I was thinking about that this morning. On the first drive on Saturday (about 45 minutes), it just kept distracting me but on the second drive this morning (about an hour), I found myself thinking about switching it back on. I'm nothing if not indecisive.

I would recommend trying the HUD together with Travel Assist next time you do a motorway trip, that's when I find it most useful. It's also helpful sometimes for navigation.

[BillTheButcher]

I persevered with the HUD and now love that all the info can be seen at a glance, you soon stop being distracted by it.

I was thinking about that this morning. On the first drive on Saturday (about 45 minutes), it just kept distracting me but on the second drive this morning (about an hour), I found myself thinking about switching it back on. I'm nothing if not indecisive.

I would recommend trying the HUD together with Travel Assist next time you do a motorway trip, that's when I find it most useful. It's also helpful sometimes for navigation.

I had Travel Assist enabled (without realising it) on the journey home on Saturday. I'm guessing the broken lines that flashed up occasionally at the edges of the HUD were the Travel Assist telling me to drive properly...

I tried the built-in nav this morning. It's OK: the ID.Light is nice and the traffic info seemed to be up-to-date (it knew about a crash that had only happened a few minutes before I got to it) but I really like having camera alerts so I'll be using Waze. (Unless I'm mistaken, there's no way of adding camera alerts to the car's nav, is there?)