New ID.3 owner!

[Vg12th]

Hello everyone,

I've been frequenting this website for a while now as I was making decisions on which EV to go for. I am happy to say that I am now the owner of a second hand VW ID.3 Pro Performance 1st Max! I live in Switzerland and it has been quite difficult finding good valued second hand cars here.

It has a lot of options included that I would have been above my budget if bought new. I came from an old Honda so just driving the ID.3 is like a dream! The instant acceleration, the smoothness, and it's so quiet. Still learning the new car and what it came with and I was hoping to get some things clarified.

First off, can anyone share the situations they use ACC or Travel Assist? I have never had any form of cruise control in my last car so it's a large leap for me. At the moment I have only used Travel Assist in highways that were not busy. How well does it do during rush hour? What about in the city? Can it handle stop and go traffic?

I am still surprised how heavy this car is and how earlier and firmer I need to step on the brake. My wife keeps telling me my braking under D mode is not very smooth. The B mode kind of helps towards this regard.

Does anyone know what the user profiles do? I know the car has electric seats at the front, but there aren't any extra buttons on the side of the chair for saving configurations like I saw in other models.

So there seems to be two levels of ON mode for the car? First is when you get on, and then second level when you press on the brake pedal to activate everything. What is this first level for? A/C and idling in the car?

Anyone have experience charging in Europe? Which networks have you been using? I saw the ENBW+ has pretty good pricing.

Do you use Tesla Superchargers? They are the cheapest from what I saw, but the charging dock location on the ID.3 forces me to use two bays if I want to charge there. Any tips or solutions?

How is your experience with Auto-Hold?

Any recommendations for a mobile charger/granny charger?

Oh, and what do you do for the lack of space for a spare tire?

Finally, dashcams? I saw there was some Fit dashcam designed for the ID.3, is that of good quality?

Lots of questions, hope you can shed some light! Thanks in advance

[sidehaas]

Welcome! I can't answer all of that but I'll help with some of it.
My car doesn't have Travel Assist but ACC is brilliant in urban traffic, stop/start etc. I use it in almost all urban and motorway driving. Not so much on country roads.
Personally though I prefer to turn off the "speed limit preview" and "road layout preview" ACC functions.

You will get used to the brake feel.
Braking slowly and early helps with efficiency by the way.

User profiles are basically useless unfortunately. Anyone except the primary user gets reduced functionality, so it's best that you all use the same login. I'm afraid early ID3s did not have memory seats, they got added later so yours are probably electric but not memory if it's a 1st Max (unless Swiss cars were different to UK in this respect). This forum is mostly UK drivers.

Sitting down turns on the infotainment and climate functions but without engaging the traction battery. It's a bit like turning the key in the ignition half way in an older ICE car.

I have driven in France and Belgium but not elsewhere on the continent. Ionity are excellent in France. I was also quite impressed by an Allego site I found at a Carrefour.

I do not like Superchargers with short cables. They are a pain in the ass because you can find it impossible to get a space even when there are several chargers free (but with Teslas either side). I would recommend only using them in quiet periods. V4 sites (the new design) have longer cables so an ID3 just about fits in the 'correct' space if you go in front first.

I don't worry about the spare tyre (mine has a sealing kit in the boot) or dashcam. I've seen people on the Facebook groups discussing dashcam options though so hopefully someone here will have some advice.

[Vg12th]

Thanks a lot for welcome and the reply!

Welcome! I can't answer all of that but I'll help with some of it.
My car doesn't have Travel Assist but ACC is brilliant in urban traffic, stop/start etc. I use it in almost all urban and motorway driving. Not so much on country roads.
Personally though I prefer to turn off the "speed limit preview" and "road layout preview" ACC functions.

I am not familiar what the two preview options do, what don't you like about them?

User profiles are basically useless unfortunately. Anyone except the primary user gets reduced functionality, so it's best that you all use the same login.

I expected this from Guest, but even secondary users do not have full functionality? My wife is not going to like that lol.

I have driven in France and Belgium but not elsewhere on the continent. Ionity are excellent in France. I was also quite impressed by an Allego site I found at a Carrefour.

There are a lot Ionity chargers along our highways however they are quite expensive.

I do not like Superchargers with short cables. They are a pain in the ass because you can find it impossible to get a space even when there are several chargers free (but with Teslas either side). I would recommend only using them in quiet periods. V4 sites (the new design) have longer cables so an ID3 just about fits in the 'correct' space if you go in front first.

That seems annoying. Yeah, maybe I will only use them during quiet times. It's a shame since the superchargers are the most competitive prices.

I don't worry about the spare tyre (mine has a sealing kit in the boot) or dashcam. I've seen people on the Facebook groups discussing dashcam options though so hopefully someone here will have some advice.

I'll look for a tyre sealing kit. That reminds me, I still have to register the pressure of the tyres on the car.

Thanks again!

[Scratch]

Welcome! I can't answer all of that but I'll help with some of it.
My car doesn't have Travel Assist but ACC is brilliant in urban traffic, stop/start etc. I use it in almost all urban and motorway driving. Not so much on country roads.
Personally though I prefer to turn off the "speed limit preview" and "road layout preview" ACC functions.

You will get used to the brake feel.
Braking slowly and early helps with efficiency by the way.

User profiles are basically useless unfortunately. Anyone except the primary user gets reduced functionality, so it's best that you all use the same login. I'm afraid early ID3s did not have memory seats, they got added later so yours are probably electric but not memory if it's a 1st Max (unless Swiss cars were different to UK in this respect). This forum is mostly UK drivers.

Sitting down turns on the infotainment and climate functions but without engaging the traction battery. It's a bit like turning the key in the ignition half way in an older ICE car.

I have driven in France and Belgium but not elsewhere on the continent. Ionity are excellent in France. I was also quite impressed by an Allego site I found at a Carrefour.

I do not like Superchargers with short cables. They are a pain in the ass because you can find it impossible to get a space even when there are several chargers free (but with Teslas either side). I would recommend only using them in quiet periods. V4 sites (the new design) have longer cables so an ID3 just about fits in the 'correct' space if you go in front first.

I don't worry about the spare tyre (mine has a sealing kit in the boot) or dashcam. I've seen people on the Facebook groups discussing dashcam options though so hopefully someone here will have some advice.

Just butting in here:

"so an ID3 just about fits in the 'correct' space if you go in front first.”

Is that better than reversing in? I have only used the Suerchargers by taking up 2 spaces, but I would have thought it would be a shorter distance if you reversed in?

[sidehaas]

Welcome! I can't answer all of that but I'll help with some of it.
My car doesn't have Travel Assist but ACC is brilliant in urban traffic, stop/start etc. I use it in almost all urban and motorway driving. Not so much on country roads.
Personally though I prefer to turn off the "speed limit preview" and "road layout preview" ACC functions.

You will get used to the brake feel.
Braking slowly and early helps with efficiency by the way.

User profiles are basically useless unfortunately. Anyone except the primary user gets reduced functionality, so it's best that you all use the same login. I'm afraid early ID3s did not have memory seats, they got added later so yours are probably electric but not memory if it's a 1st Max (unless Swiss cars were different to UK in this respect). This forum is mostly UK drivers.

Sitting down turns on the infotainment and climate functions but without engaging the traction battery. It's a bit like turning the key in the ignition half way in an older ICE car.

I have driven in France and Belgium but not elsewhere on the continent. Ionity are excellent in France. I was also quite impressed by an Allego site I found at a Carrefour.

I do not like Superchargers with short cables. They are a pain in the ass because you can find it impossible to get a space even when there are several chargers free (but with Teslas either side). I would recommend only using them in quiet periods. V4 sites (the new design) have longer cables so an ID3 just about fits in the 'correct' space if you go in front first.

I don't worry about the spare tyre (mine has a sealing kit in the boot) or dashcam. I've seen people on the Facebook groups discussing dashcam options though so hopefully someone here will have some advice.

Just butting in here:

"so an ID3 just about fits in the 'correct' space if you go in front first.”

Is that better than reversing in? I have only used the Suerchargers by taking up 2 spaces, but I would have thought it would be a shorter distance if you reversed in?

The V4 site I have used has the chargers side-on between the spaces. I don't think it would reach easily across the space, forwards is better. If some sites have the chargers at the end of the space then you'd want to reverse in yes.

[sidehaas]

Thanks a lot for welcome and the reply!

Welcome! I can't answer all of that but I'll help with some of it.
My car doesn't have Travel Assist but ACC is brilliant in urban traffic, stop/start etc. I use it in almost all urban and motorway driving. Not so much on country roads.
Personally though I prefer to turn off the "speed limit preview" and "road layout preview" ACC functions.

I am not familiar what the two preview options do, what don't you like about them?

User profiles are basically useless unfortunately. Anyone except the primary user gets reduced functionality, so it's best that you all use the same login.

I expected this from Guest, but even secondary users do not have full functionality? My wife is not going to like that lol.

I have driven in France and Belgium but not elsewhere on the continent. Ionity are excellent in France. I was also quite impressed by an Allego site I found at a Carrefour.

There are a lot Ionity chargers along our highways however they are quite expensive.

I do not like Superchargers with short cables. They are a pain in the ass because you can find it impossible to get a space even when there are several chargers free (but with Teslas either side). I would recommend only using them in quiet periods. V4 sites (the new design) have longer cables so an ID3 just about fits in the 'correct' space if you go in front first.

That seems annoying. Yeah, maybe I will only use them during quiet times. It's a shame since the superchargers are the most competitive prices.

I don't worry about the spare tyre (mine has a sealing kit in the boot) or dashcam. I've seen people on the Facebook groups discussing dashcam options though so hopefully someone here will have some advice.

I'll look for a tyre sealing kit. That reminds me, I still have to register the pressure of the tyres on the car.

Thanks again!

Speed limit preview automatically brakes or accelerates to the new speed limit when one is detected by the car.
Road layout preview automatically brakes into and accelerates out of some tighter bends and automatically brakes for some junctions and roundabouts.
Both are only active when ACC is on. You can turn them off permanently in the Assist menu if you don't like them. Then the system works like a normal ACC system, keeping a safe distance to the car in front while trying to follow whatever speed you set.

[Scratch]

Welcome! I can't answer all of that but I'll help with some of it.
My car doesn't have Travel Assist but ACC is brilliant in urban traffic, stop/start etc. I use it in almost all urban and motorway driving. Not so much on country roads.
Personally though I prefer to turn off the "speed limit preview" and "road layout preview" ACC functions.

You will get used to the brake feel.
Braking slowly and early helps with efficiency by the way.

User profiles are basically useless unfortunately. Anyone except the primary user gets reduced functionality, so it's best that you all use the same login. I'm afraid early ID3s did not have memory seats, they got added later so yours are probably electric but not memory if it's a 1st Max (unless Swiss cars were different to UK in this respect). This forum is mostly UK drivers.

Sitting down turns on the infotainment and climate functions but without engaging the traction battery. It's a bit like turning the key in the ignition half way in an older ICE car.

I have driven in France and Belgium but not elsewhere on the continent. Ionity are excellent in France. I was also quite impressed by an Allego site I found at a Carrefour.

I do not like Superchargers with short cables. They are a pain in the ass because you can find it impossible to get a space even when there are several chargers free (but with Teslas either side). I would recommend only using them in quiet periods. V4 sites (the new design) have longer cables so an ID3 just about fits in the 'correct' space if you go in front first.

I don't worry about the spare tyre (mine has a sealing kit in the boot) or dashcam. I've seen people on the Facebook groups discussing dashcam options though so hopefully someone here will have some advice.

Just butting in here:

"so an ID3 just about fits in the 'correct' space if you go in front first.”

Is that better than reversing in? I have only used the Suerchargers by taking up 2 spaces, but I would have thought it would be a shorter distance if you reversed in?

The V4 site I have used has the chargers side-on between the spaces. I don't think it would reach easily across the space, forwards is better. If some sites have the chargers at the end of the space then you'd want to reverse in yes.

Gotcha.