Nonetheless, drivers don't like it. Depends how it's implemented. I've driven cars with good LKAS (like my ID.3) and poor LKAS (early VWs).
How do you like your ID3. Would you recommend it? I currently have a VW Golf MK6 Highline.
Hmm... Probably wouldn't buy one again, but not because it is bad as such, just that there are better cars out there now for the money.
Mechanically it's a solid car; 50,000 miles on it since I bought it (now at 83,000 miles) and no major issues. Charge port door did fail but this happens on the fuel-powered Golf too, and it can be DIYed for about £40, I paid a mechanic £180 to do it for me. Car still charges fine with this fault but you end up having to pop the door open with a trim tool as it doesn't pop open automatically anymore.
Driving wise it is typically excellent as expected from VW; it's a fairly heavy car at 1800kg but you don't really feel that too much. It takes corners nicely, suspension is comfortable, and with the 204 hp motor, it's decently fast for a family hatchback (0-60 in 7.5 seconds). I wouldn't call it a hot hatch car, like a Golf GTI, but it keeps up with most things on the road.
Software wise the car is not great, but newer software updates have improved a lot. The UI is laggy, probably explained in part by running lots of virtualisation layers (the base OS is some automotive RTOS, which then runs -three- Linux kernels inside individual VMs, each VM running some Java application, one of which uses a hypervisor to access the Snapdragon GPU... it's a bit insane and very typically German over-design). I mostly use it with CarPlay; for which it works fine but takes about 10-15 seconds to connect when compared to my Polestar which literally connects as soon as you plug in the USB cable. My car gets free data connectivity until 2033, which means preheating and charging control remotely shouldn't need a subscription.
The climate controls are awful on the first gen car. They aren't lit up at night, and they're based on a touch sensor with no haptic feedback. This makes it almost impossible to adjust the climate controls at night without looking. This is improved in gen 2 (2023 onwards) as they light up, but the same slider design is used, which is still a bit crap. It took me a year before I found out that two fingers on the climate setting turns on the heated seat; this is not marked on the controls anywhere. The laggy UI means entering menus to change the climate setting is not a great experience.
The steering wheel controls are haptic too, but they work well because of the feedback mechanism (you feel a 'click' from an internal actuator, which is quite convincing); I think on balance probably better than physical buttons because they're easier to clean, but I don't mind too much either way.
There are also some annoying things missing that would have been good to include. The car has a battery heater, which is used during charging and in very cold conditions, but pre-2023 models have no automatic battery preheating for rapid charging. This means if you're driving in the winter you can get to a rapid charger and only get 40-50kW because the battery is cold. Hot battery can do 130kW, this is the difference between a 45 minute stop and a 20 minute stop, and when other manufacturers have been doing this, it's pretty inexcusable IMO. There is a workaround for this, where you can add a CAN bus injector to the drivetrain bus to send the preheating command. But it should be a software option.
There's no capability to tow or fit a roof rack, which was one of the things I gained with my Polestar 2. You can fit a bike carrier on a towbar, but the car itself has zero tow rating.
Design wise it's a fairly polarising car; the outside looks are a bit ugly if I'm being honest. The rear looks better than the front, with the rear lights being fully LED and set against a black body panel. The packaging however is, again typically VW, excellent. This is one of the things the mainstream automakers sometimes get really right. The ID.3 is barely bigger than my previous Golf Mk7, yet has about a foot more legroom in the rear and a larger cargo compartment. The turning circle is tighter than expected (10.2m, the comparable Mk8 Golf is 11m), which makes for easier parallel parking and manuevering. The car's wheels are further forward than an ICE equivalent, due to the rear-wheel drive and tight packaging. The front seats put the legs of driver and passenger up almost to the wheel arches, because there is no engine and transmission to accommodate. The car doesn't have a frunk like some EVs, but the large boot makes up for this.
Range is as expected and the car is quite efficient. Can get 3.5 miles per kWh even driving fast, 4 miles per kWh is obtainable if you're careful. In practical terms, this means a real world range from the 58kWh model of 180 miles in summer, 150 miles in winter. My car is equipped with a heatpump which really helps in winter, adding around 10-15 miles of range. However be aware the heatpump on ID.3 is based on CO2 refrigerant, and effectively very few garages are set up to accommodate this. CO2 refrigerant is very high pressure - 60 bars typical. However, no need to regas so far, and there is the argument that such a high pressure system could be more reliable because the components will need to have thicker internal walls, etc. One fun side effect is the car has a CO2 cabin sensor in case of a leak, to warn the occupants to ventilate.
So er... in summary? Not a bad attempt, but 6/10 probably would not buy again. The software alone put me off another VW group vehicle. But I'm going to keep the ID.3 for many years, and I expect it will do well past the battery warranty. My car is 15,000 miles from the end of the battery warranty, and already out of general warranty, so we will see how reliable it ends up being. But so far reports online suggest they are very reliable cars with only odd "niggles" as faults go.
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