John Challen reports back on our Volkswagen ID.7 long termer.

Volkswagen ID.7 Pro Match 77kWh

PRICE £51,495 BiK 2% RANGE 383 miles ON FLEET RANGE 340 miles EFFICIENCY 4.2mpkWh

Report 5:

More miles on the clock for the big Volkswagen, but a lot of them have been made up of short trips in and around town, which has seen the overall efficiency level take a hit.

As the EV market evolves and matures, there will be more and more smaller, more efficient cars that will replace the likes of an ID.7, but large EVs – as with ICE equivalents before them – will still have a place in the urban environment.

The boot, for example, is – quite literally – a big advantage because even when the rear seats are in position, the 532 litres available are a lot. Perfect when you’re tasked with a spring clean in October (autumn clean?) – as we were – or need to transport precious cargo across the country (also another recent task).

Speaking of which, one of the trips I embarked on at the end of October was to the British Motor Museum, for a Volkswagen driving day. While there, the ID.7 met up with its younger, but more powerful and sporty, brother in the form of the ID.7 GTX.

That model might have the same 86kWh battery as KY73 OBL, but the addition of a motor on the front axle brings an extra 54hp to the party. The introduction of four-wheel-drive technology means a total of 340hp for drivers, but the rub is fewer miles from a charge (359 WLTP) and nearly £10k added to the price (£61,980 is the OTR value).

Granted, there are some nice interior and exterior upgrades in the GTX and the extra power is impressive, but I was more than happy to step back into the Pro Match for the trip home.

Meanwhile, I’m learning to live with the quirky (relatively speaking) controls and that is partly because I’m seeing more and more models move to fewer buttons. I’m sure in time, we’ll all adapt to these new layouts, especially as the EV sector – which I still maintain is in its infancy – continues to evolve. Hopefully for the better.

Report 4:

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When it introduced the ID.3, Volkswagen attracted a fair bit of criticism for the stripped-back cabin – especially when it came to controls. By the time the ID.7 came to market, the German OEM had taken those comments to heart and fixed a lot of the issues. However, one that has been grinding my gears – or maybe that should be electric motors – is the two-in-one electric windows setup.

If you’re not familiar, the driver has control of all four windows, but there are only two buttons – switching between front and rear means pressing the ‘REAR’ haptic pad just in front of the other buttons. However, on more than one occasion, I’ve merely brushed my finger against it, meaning that the rear windows open instead of the fronts. Elsewhere – sliding volume controls, for example – I’ve got used to the ‘new normal’ but, for the sake of two extra buttons, it’s a little bit annoying.

However, otherwise the car remains a faithful companion and an early morning dash up the country left me refreshed and relaxed, despite having to navigate the M25. Although the efficiency has taken a hit – as has the potential mileage from a full charge. I’m guessing it’s a combination of more motorway miles and a drop in the temperature, but these things tend to be a little bit of a lottery in my experience.

Report 3:

As many readers will know I have a love/hate relationship with technology. When it works well, it’s great but when it starts to interfere with the job at hand – in this case, getting from A to B for an important appointment – it frustrates the life out of me.

So, on our recent trip into central London, I was faced with a situation I’ve encountered before – albeit not in a Volkswagen – where the ID.7’s in-car tech definitely did not cover itself in glory. Driving up the A3 where the speed limit is 50mph, there are a series of parallel roads with limits of either 20, 30 or 40mph. Unfortunately, the Volkswagen’s ‘dynamic road sign display’ decided to focus on the roads that the car was not on. Cue a series of bings and bongs letting me know that I was exceeding the speed limit – only I wasn’t because I was going under 50 in the 50 zone. Again, when the technology works – i.e. when it is monitoring the right road – it’s great. However, when it doesn’t it is just confusing and, quite frankly, a pain.

Meanwhile, the GPS was playing up for a while last month – both on the Android Auto-enabled Google Maps and also, to a lesser extent, the car’s inbuilt navigation. Embarrassingly, investigations led me to conclude the cause was human error. My phone had decided to go onto a different network, which meant that the data connection with the car was lacking. I hold my hands up (although not when driving, obvs!) – I’m not the best with technology.

On the plus side, mechanically the ID.7 is hugely impressive. The aforementioned trip to the capital was comfortable – even with the amount of potholes in our path – which is welcome given a lot of EVs tend to have a fairly firm ride. Other recent trips to the Cotswolds have yielded a similarly satisfying experience and the ID.7 is proving a reliable and competent companion. I’ve mentioned before that I tend to cruise along roads in an EV – they have quite a calming impact on my driving – which helps the overall experience. Something else I’ve discovered to my benefit is that ID.7’s turning circle (10.7m) makes the big car – which is pushing close to 5m-long – very easy to manoeuvre. My daily runs normally involve swinging around at the end of a dead end and I’ve been really impressed how easy it is to achieve in the Volkswagen.

Report 2:

More miles for the ID.7 and more friends being made along the way as Volkswagen’s flagship EV attracts a lot of attention. While its overall appearance is conservative enough for it to blend in, it’s got a presence that means you almost can’t help but notice it. The size is one thing – it’s a pretty long car – but also elements of the styling such as the light bar that stretches across the front of the ID.7.

It has to be said that these are all positives and it people seem more impressed when they get inside the car. I’ve mentioned the seats before – finished in ‘Art Velours’ microfleece with added support – and they are ideal for keeping you comfortable on long journeys. And that’s where a lot of ID.7s are likely to come into their own – motorway cruisers that benefit from nearly 400 miles of driving range.

Elsewhere, the boot has come into action recently when required for some deliveries – the 532 litres being more than ample for the load that featured various items that needed to be distributed. Given its size, the only thing I would’ve liked is one of Skoda’s ‘Simply Clever’ solutions, the boot supports that keep smaller items in place.

The warmer weather is helping keep the available mileage reasonable, but it has dropped a bit due to a more shorter, urban journeys this month. I’ve got a couple of longer runs lined up, so I’m hoping the trip computer and clever electronics will drag it back up to closer to the WLTP and manufacturer stated maximum. Out on the road, meanwhile, the ID.7 is serene and makes good progress effortlessly. There is minimal noise throughout the cabin, plenty of power when required and the regen braking system – operated by the steering wheel mounted gear lever – works like a treat. It’s even more comfortable since I turned off the IDA voice assistant. Too many occasions where it would spring into action and then be a faff to cancel meant it got put on the subs bench for a while. I’ll go back and revisit it down the line, but I’m enjoying not having the interruptions right now!

First report:

It might seem like you can’t move for SUVs in the car market, but the options for those who favour a more ‘traditional’ style of vehicle, with an electric powertrain, are growing. Step forward the Volkswagen ID.7 – crudely referred to by some as an electric Passat or, alternatively, “the most advanced, capacious and luxurious member of the ID. family yet offered by Volkswagen in the UK”. Not my words [Carol], the words of Volkswagen UK!

Like a lot of drivers, I’ve had a love/hate relationship with the controls in Volkswagens but, having driven the ID.7 on the UK launch, I knew that the latest model had undergone a lot of changes, based on some of the feedback the company had received from disgruntled drivers. The main gripe with the first ID.3s (including me) was the lack of physical buttons and common sense with the controls. In the larger ID. model this has been rectified with an interface that is easier to use (more on that over the coming months).

Like many models in this sector, there are plenty of bells and whistles. That means heated seats with massage functionality, heated steering wheel, loads of USB-C ports, a 15-inch infotainment screen, head-up display and much, much more.

The only option on our ID.7 is a heat pump (a £1,050 option); the paint – ‘Grenadilla Black metallic’ – is a no-cost option. There’s also an assistant that, on first impressions, is a little bit over-zealous and tends to butt in when not required, but I’m sure will prove useful at some point over the next six months or so.

On the road, much like the BMW i5 that it replaces, the ID.7 is hugely impressive. Road and tyre noise is limited, performance is good (the zero to 62mph is a more than adequate 6.5 seconds) and it rides and handles well for a car that tips the scales at 2,630kg.

One quirk that took a little bit of getting used to was the gear selector mounted on the steering wheel column – but actually it’s very convenient and probably the type of thing that I’ll miss when stepping into another long-termer.

One final thing to add at this stage is the interior space, which is really impressive. With a recently turned 20-year-old Challen Jnr and two others that are growing up fast, the more rear head and legroom, the better – and, thankfully, the ID.7 offers it in spades.