2024 Volkswagen ID.3 review

What's significant about the 2024 VW ID.3?

Well, it’s finally coming to Australia, for starters. The ID.3 initiated Volkswagen’s self-proclaimed third era – hence its name – back in 2020.

Hailed as the German brand’s most crucial car since the Beetle or Golf, initial response to the ID.3 was a little subdued and the end product could not quite live up to its blockbuster billing.

The Golf has always dished out a fine mix of pragmatism, class and character but the ID.3 arrived with a leaner portion of each.

It was a long way from a bad car – it just lacked both the ergonomic prowess and honed dynamics that usually bubble right at the surface of many VW products. All of which means the car’s mid-life facelift has been brought forward, ensuring the first ID.3s on these shores will be updated versions.

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So what’s new for this facelift?

It’s ultimately a surface-deep change, with tweaks inside and out to better align the car’s appearance with what we more traditionally expect from VW, all at the behest of the firm’s latest CEO.

The bonnet is now flush and wholly body coloured, to give the ID.3 visual proportions that better resemble an ICE hatchback, while inside there’s been an overhaul of major touchpoints to increase the plushness of their materials – and thus perceived quality as a whole.

Inside, that controversial 10-inch touchscreen – and the sheer number of physical buttons it subsumed – remains but has been updated with a bunch of shortcuts to make its operation less convoluted.

The powertrain is untouched, with a rear-mounted motor offering 150kW and 310Nm. It’s allied to either 58kWh or 77kWh batteries for respective 428km and 559km range figures on the WLTP combined cycle. Charging capacity tops out at 170kW with an 80 per cent top-up possible in 30 minutes.

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When is the 2024 ID.3 due in Australia?

‘Before the end of 2024’ is all we’ve been told so far, when the ID.3 is slated to arrive with an entry point below $60,000.

Electric Volkswagens will be ‘here in a big way’, we’re promised, and while the ID.3 range isn’t especially diverse right now, an ID.3 GTX hot hatch ought to be at the top of the price list by the time the car enters dealerships here.

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What's it like to drive?

As its power figures might suggest, this ‘base’ ID.3 isn’t a whip-crack accelerator, but its performance is smooth and linear.

It’s brisk enough at all speeds, majoring on usability rather than a headline 0-100km/h time (VW claims 7.9 seconds) with a chassis to match.

Look hard enough on a wet road and you’ll be able to identify – and perhaps exploit – its rear-wheel-drive layout, but this is no wild entertainer. Tidy, predictable responses are the order of the day. The ride is broadly very good, even on stocky 20-inch wheels, with adaptive suspension on the options list offering 15 stages of damping. You’ll likely just leave it right in the middle setting…

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Disappointment comes in its relatively light-handed brake regen.

You can’t cycle through numerous levels like in many of the ID.3’s rivals, nor can you indulge in one-pedal driving. For those new to EVs who wish to be eased in, this might appeal; here’s a car that drives closer to a regular automatic ICE can than its myriad contemporaries.

But that also means it does without some of the wonderful new perks the electric age has brought with it. There’s an argument that the ID.3 has been played too safely, even by VW standards.

Improvements to the interior are pretty tangible, though, and it’s a comfy and quiet place to be. This level of refinement is usually the preserve of pricier, more luxurious cars. That said, our test car was nudging the UK equivalent of $100,000 with a few choice extras, and the cabin still didn’t drop our jaw.

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Is it worth waiting for the 2024 VW ID.3?

Bluntly, probably not. Which isn’t to say the ID.3 misses the mark, merely that if you’re keen to get into an EV, you’ve already got some very appealing options.

An MG 4 fulfils the same role at a much cheaper price, while the Cupra Born mirrors the ID.3’s strengths and doesn’t come with a year or more’s wait.

The clean-cut design and minimalist interior layout give this car more the feel of an Apple product than a mere hatchback. That might hit exactly the right notes for you.

But we have a hunch that the upcoming ID.2 might offer more of Volkswagen’s usual schtick than its bigger brother.

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