A whiteonelephant Tesla’s tail?

By FIONA SHAFER, Managing Director MD HUB

It’s always interesting how times and perceptions move on; no more so than when it comes to electric cars. I reviewed the ID.5’s younger sibling, the ID.4 in January 2022 and declared that it ‘was the least range anxiety-inducing’ electric car that I had driven up to that point. I enjoyed it very much and gave it a happy and healthy eight of out 10.

12 months on, the matter of ‘range anxiety’ did not even enter my head when the ID.5 arrived, such is our growing understanding, confidence and knowledge of electric cars. As a result, there is now a natural reduction in fear and worry that we won’t run out of power any time soon.

The still woefully slow but emerging infrastructure of local charging stations and shared anecdotal knowledge amongst the growing number of electric vehicle owners all adds to the curiosity of potential ownership – also fl amed by our current off-the-scale fuel costs and both climate and cost-of-living crises.

Th is latest chapter in the VW ID family story, the ID.5 is the fi rst electric SUV coupe with in-built sustainability (more on what that means later), a focus on equipment, quality and, as ever, the expected VW practicality and safety.

The ID.5 is VW’s fi rst vehicle with a bi–directional charging function. With this technology, the ID.5 can feed electricity it does not currently need back into the owner’s home network and in the future, will be able to feed back into the overall infrastructure.

According to VW, it also has, wait for this… sustainability, quality, and ‘charisma’. The Oxford English dictionary defi nes charisma as ‘a compelling attractiveness or charm that can inspire devotion in another or a divinely conferred power or talent’.

Whilst I can understand the overall devotion to the iconic

Tech Stuff

MODEL TESTED: VW ID.5

POWER: 171/294 bhp

SPEED: 0-62 – 6.1/10.1 seconds

TOP SPEED: 112 mph

RANGE: 281 – 327 miles (actual 250)

PRICE FROM: £49,970

Positives

• Fantastic turning circle.

• Good looking upholstery made from recycled materials.

• Keyless entry – just sit on the seat and drive away.

• LED Light across the dashboard that shows how much charging there is to go.

• Up to 313 miles of range available but in reality, expect around 288 miles.

Negatives

• It’s a heavy car that is not terribly comfortable – I found it a fidget inducing car no matter how many seat adjustments I made.

• Rear passenger windows have to be both unlocked and operated from the front by the driver.

• Rear window visibility is limited by the coupe curve and the unnecessary spoiler.

• Storage space in doors is very deep and easy to never see sight of small but very important items like phones, keys and pens ever again.

• Rocker switch – to operate the driving modes, is positioned behind the steering wheel (as in ID.4 too), which still feels unintuitive and distracting.

• Very slim arm rests which you pull down (as in ID.4) – fine if you are a figure from a Lowry portrait but very uncomfortable, if you do not hail from that neck of the woods.

• The infotainment system was not back lit at night, so not easy to navigate at all.

• Rear camera is very low down so they get dirty very quickly –unlike the brilliant James Bond ID.3 camera which keeps clean by actually popping out of the VW badge when needed and back in again – why not on all VWs?

The ID.5 is expensive for what it is and I would be tempted to stick with the nippy and fun ID.4 if I were you.

6.5/10 part of the VW brand, the ID.5 is absolutely not charismatic. It remains really quite conservative and uncompelling to drive but it may well be for the electro geeks that the bi–directional charging will enhance its fan base and prove that beauty really does lie within.

I wish I was not so disappointed by this car but I am. As a big VW fan, maybe this is a departure too far away from their iconic design roots and ‘edge’. If you had taken the ID.5 badge off and asked me to identify it, I would not have said VW as my fi rst choice – and this pains me.

The ID.4 was a departure but not that far. I got in it and thought OK – this is pretty acceptable given new manufacturing techniques, especially the design considerations required for electric car batteries and storage. But I fear that the ID.5 will sadly be VW’s ‘white elephant’ that they might come to discreetly retire.