VW ID.3

I wouldnt hold your breath for having a new ID.3 in your hands by Novemeber, particularly since you are only starting the process with the dealer now. Unless you were buying one from dealer stock, like an ex-demo, which wont likely be anywhere near €30k as they will be high-spec.

If budget is an issue you could wait until the shorter range version comes in. That should be under €30k, but there are no details on its price/spec yet. Likely to be 2022.

Hi,

Still debating whether an EV is for me or not and would appreciate some feeback on the following 'typical/needed' scenario:

Commute from Galway to Limerick and back again, so ~200km round, includes say 50-70km of motorway, possibly stay the night in Limerick, and ideally charge at work when I arrive but impossible to guarantee. I will have a home charger and am okay with a 20min rest stop to charge, say a circle K in Limerick/Shannon. But I can see myself in wet winter just wanting to be home asap.

What I am worried is that my life will become a constant search/ anixety for charge - or worse out at 7pm in the evening to use work charger and hanging there for a few hours cause I have an EV., then I read don't charge to 100% and don't let it drop below 20 at which point 60% of the quoted 350km isnt ideal. I am thinking about a Family 58Kwhr, zero kids and mainly just me.

He doesnt understand regen!

He said he was trying to eek out more miles and do hypermiling and was trying to force more regen, which is not what he should have been doing at all. The idea is to let the car coast if you want to go further. And he was flicking between B and D continuously, when all he had to do was let the car figure out the regen for him or just use the brake pedal and that will invoke it.... continuously flicking between B and D was ridiculous.

By forcing regen he was actually make it worse... but thats Bob!

I thought the regen bit was strange too. I only drove the car for a few hours but figured out how it worked fairly quickly!

It's about 4-ish months at the moment due to a multitude of factors - high demand, supply constraints and shipping delays. Honestly though, if you're waiting a month for a test drive - go to another dealer. I assume it might be because the dealer knows what the delay is like and doesn't want the hassle (especially with trade-ins or not using PCP). I went to three different ones and was offered a test-drive within 24 hours.

Price list wise, best to check the brochure as that'll break down prices a bit more.

I saw your comment on the video.

When he was on the way home it looked like he was driving on motorway but he hardly bypassed Enniscothy on the way to Carlow as it adds a decent distance onto the journey?

He really should have shown that the car was 100% at the start and then the trip computer at the end.

I find that with a lot of Bobs EV videos. It's like he doesn't spend 10-20 minutes becoming familiar with an EV before he gets in and drives and then just complains about silly things.

Its why I prefer Nobby's videos. At least he seems familiar with the general layout and operation of most EVs.

He does make a point of saying that he doesnt review/treat EV's as a special case. He wants to sit in and just drive like he would an ICE car... which is a fair point if we expect mass adoption but at the same time he is a self styled "expert car reviewer" so it does look poorly on him when he doesnt seem to understand some basics.

Nothwithstanding that, he did give it a glowing review!

Recently had the chance to sit in a Life base model and a Family model, and saw Moonstone grey colour and stonewashed blue, nothing major but on the off chance anyone wants to ask about the feel of either model.

Had to make use of the emergency charge cable release when trying to use the 50kw at Galway Plaza. Plugged cable in and could not initiate charge and light went red and nothing would release it. Phoned Ecars with no joy, locked/unlocked car no joy and had to resort to opening the little boot lining to find the release cable. Charger then promptly went off line on the app so seems to have been an issue somewhere.

For those ever needing to do same - On the right hand side of the boot there is a little square of the liner fabric pre-cut with a little plastic tag on it that needs to be pulled to gain access to the release handle which is a yellow coloured cable inside.

I've had a charge cable "locked in" before like that, but a double unlock (not a lock/unlock) on the fob did the trick. Did you try that?

We have a car we'd either like to trade in or sell privately first (circa 8/9k) and then are looking at a 20k loan and a few grand from savings, but since these savings are earmarked for upcoming mat leave hoping to limit it to around 30k. Sounds like I've been a bit naive about lead times etc. We could go finance if it made more sense: were looking at a 6% APR loan, don't like the idea of 'bubble payments' or hire purchase tbh.

We basically want a family car with enough range to do Galway/Belfast on one charge and fit two car seats and usually child paraphernalia without being a massive 4x4. Other option is a second hand e-Kona or e-Niro, or maybe even the estate MG, but the first two also seem out of budget and then there's warranty issues second hand, and the third gets mixed enough reviews.

Also, I see from the spec the rear camera is only in top spec of the id3: is there any way to retrospectively add one? We live down an awkward lane with increasing number of kids out playing and blind spots, it would be really reassuring to have one but they don't seem to be as standard in any cars.

With two children if I were going ev for our sole car I’d look at e-Niro or ID.4. 0% available on Kia now too and they have cars in stock.

How are people finding motorway driving (120kph ), does it eat into range much?

Your dealer service has been bad but I don't think many of the rest of us has had any problems.

My guy was excellent from day one and I'll definitely be talking to him again in three years time.