I think I figured out the Lane Change thing. It turns out it only works on motorways and the M50 isn’t considered a motorway (at least not in the 100kph sections). Was on the M4 today and it worked a treat.
[Later edit:] Well it worked well sometimes but seems kind of tempermental. I can't figure out the conditions in which it will work. Sometimes the automatic lane change arrow is illuminated and I give the signal and nothing happens except the lane change arrow turns off.
Also: can one of you who have Travel Assist (well: Side Assist specifically) tell me if the yellow light on the passenger side mirror lights up for you and in what circumstances? I just drove from Mullingar to Dublin and while the driver's side warning light performed reliably, warning when it was unsafe to move into the overtaking lane, the passenger's side light didn't light once even when I was overtaking cars to my left. I know the light itself works because it illuminates when I switch Side Assist on and off. I'd really rather not bring the car in for a service, but I'm concerned that maybe the left Side Assist sensors aren't functioning.
It’s a pity VW Ireland don’t offer the same value proposition with the GTX in the rest of the ID range like the ID4, ID7 and Buzz. I’m guessing VRT distorts the pricing at that end of the market.
I'm not in any doubt that the car has Travel Assist. It does.
I've been playing with the audio settings and have got it to sound a lot better to my ears. First thing is to boost the subwoofer in the equalizer. Also, setting the sound mode to Surround gives more of an effect of not simply listening to the speakers in front. It's definitely significantly better than stock. YMMV.
My feeling about the car is that it's a steal at the price it's being sold for by VW Ireland. If it were being sold for €10,000 more, as it is in some EU countries, I'd probably still think it was worth it (though more than I'd be prepared to pay). At the UK price of £46,300 (€55,400), I'd think it was a bit of a ripoff.
Very similar here. I done Dub-Gal-Dub this week and as good as the AP is on the current cars, I find myself just driving rather than using these systems, even the auto lane changes. It’s just slicker doing it yourself IMO.
Dissapointing to hear the upgraded audio isn't that good.
on the travel assist, did you option the iq drive? If so I'd be going back to the dealer. I think you can tell since it will have more cameras and a different button on the steering wheel, left side.
Got my GTX Performance Plus today. Really a big improvement on the 2022 Pro model I traded in. A few observations: • The infotainment and vehicle configuration software is much much better than software 3.2 that I was using on the old car. Very responsive albeit more complicated. I imagine six months down the line I'll still be finding little adjustments I didn't know I could make.
• The HUD is useful. I had heard that it was now enabled to give the augmented reality prompts when using Google Maps or Apple Maps. Turns out that that's OS-dependent. If using Apple CarPlay, only Apple Maps will give the AR prompts. If on Android Auto, only Google Maps (I assume). Which is a small downer as I still find Apple Maps to be noticeably inferior to Google Maps. Waze also doesn't do them at least not on an iPhone.
• I find that the extra screen real estate isn't necessarily used wisely in CarPlay: it just makes all the interface elements bigger. Still 2 rows of icons when if things were zoomed out a bit, there'd be room for 3. I hear that's coming in iOS 18.4, but I also hope it adjusts the size of the interface for apps also.
• The stereo is an improvement over the 4-speaker one in the old car, but it's not like it's streets ahead. The subwoofer adds something but it isn't going to be delivering block rocking beats (not that I expected that). It definitely plays louder without distortion than the old one did.
• Travel Assist is great. I haven't yet figured out how the lane changes work with the indicator and when I tried to do one, there was no AR animation in the HUD. I think I need to read the manual. But I could see it really making a difference on long drives (we go Dublin to West Cork and Dublin to Clare quite a bit). • The acceleration is noticeably stronger than on the old car, but I don't believe there'd be a noticeable difference between the 240kW motor on this car and the 210kW on the non-Peformance GTX. It's very quick (quicker than any other car I've owned) but the 2022 Pro was also quite quick by my lights. Top speed is irrelevant: I'm never driving even more than 10kph over the motorway speed limit.
• Complaints about road noise (from Battery Life on YouTube notably) seem to me were either overblown or due to the config of BL's car (snow tyres perhaps). This car is quieter than my Pro Model in every way: the motor is quieter, the interior is quieter (insulated glass) and the tyres (Turanzas) are super quiet.
• Self-parking was super easy. I haven't yet set it up with the remote control though. I have tried remote locking/unlocking from my phone though. Works well.
• The ergoactiv seats are very comfortable. Took me a while to find the lumbar adjustment, but that alone makes them much more comfortable than the ones in my previous car.
• Sports mode has an artificial external noise (like on a Taycan but more subdued). No idea how loud it is outside the car. I turned it off in Individual mode.
• IDA (the new AI assistant) seems like it might actually be useful.
I'm really going to enjoy driving this car. It's just much more refined and clever than the last one. Annoying little weird things in the old one (like it would constantly reset the desired charge to 100% every time I parked at home) are gone.
exactly what I was thinking - it’s a bit like buying a 2.0L diesel like a 320d years ago and not knowing that a specific model or year got a much better/efficient/more reliable engine.
In the same vein, I wonder will people in the future secondhand market know their ‘engine codes’
monroe live. teardown of AP550 motor. Not a particular vw fan. He is really impressed with this piece of german engineering. Rivian is his no1 and ap550 second.
Thanks for sharing, all very interesting stuff one wouldn’t know about
Maybe so. I still don’t think I’d pay the money for it though.
My 2021 ID.3 Tech will do the lane changes. It's quite handy.
The newest iteration of Travel Assist has Lane Change Assist and does overtaking manoeuvres when you indicate. It only works on motorways but seems like it resolves some of the problem you had.
Teardown of the motor for anyone interested. The seem very impressed.
https://youtu.be/qTilowhsX_w?si=EIh5VeCKSDCiD4qF
That's fair enough. If I still lived in Dublin I probably wouldn't bother with it. The light advantage over the Born wouldnt be nearly as important to me either.
I considered Travel Assist on my GTX and I have the equivalent on our other car but I decided it wasnt important enough to warrant the money. Even on the recent long journey I did (Cork-Dublin-Cork) it can be useful at times but not really that important.
I like to make progress and I find if I'm letting the car do everything I just end up stuck behind slower moving traffic so then I have to disengage the automation and re-engage it again and then keep repeating that. It becomes a chore as there is always another truck just up the road.
So, I just engage ACC and then do the lane following/swaps myself. Each to their own. I just didnt think the ~€2k was good value for money… for me.
If you're doing decent mileage I guess it'd be important.
If you're pottering around doing a max of 30km per day (outside of rare trips), it's probably not worth it.
That's my reasoning anyway.
Pity you can't add the 360 degree for like €200 or something.
@MarkN how come VW haven’t stumped up an ID3 GTX for Irish review? id have thought they can smell the decent sales numbers from a mile away and it might well be their best value/range/spec EV in the Irish market to date? :)
It was a must add for me and supposed to be a fair bit better than the tesla version I use daily.
Doubt i will use the parking side of things bar trying them out.
Just to note for anyone who has used Park Assist before, on MEB cars it now controls the accelerator and brakes, you don't need to indicate which side you want to park on and it will detect spaces at a higher speed. I think in my Golf it was limited to something like 15-20kph.
The best thing about Park Assist is the extra parking sensors on the wheel arches. They're not difficult cars to park and visibility is good enough so it's not needed on a car that size, I often park in multistoreys next to pillars and don't use it. I think the only time I've bothered to use it is where the rows of spaces are close together and you need a 5-6 point turn just to get into a space (the roof of Drury St car park in Dublin city centre for example). It steers faster than a person can do it's useful in that situation.
I’ve not used Park Assist in mine either but I can see the value of being able to move the car in and out of the space when someone parks too close to the driver side door - not enough to pay €1600 though and I don’t have the use for travel assist.
It is expensive but lane keep and travel assist are very different in use.
I’ve used both and agree - the 360 is a nice to have, but doesn’t really make parking any easier. if you can use your wing mirrors when parking, you don’t need 360.
while we’re at it, imho The vw blind spot monitoring is their best new safety feature for years, esp the way it uses it for collision detection when reversing (out of a driveway or parking spot eg), or the car/bike detection when opening a door.
Thanks lads.
Wouldn't be paying €1600 for that. Never use that lane keeping, parking stuff anyway. Would be nice to have the 360, but a normal camera is plenty.
Both of those are in the optional "ASSISTANCE PACKAGE IQ.DRIVE' package. Its €1620 extra.
The standard GTX PP has a rear camera and standard park assist. I havent tried the park assist… because I can drive! 🤣
I presume its just what VW have had for years which is that it will identify a space and work the steering wheel for you to get into the space but the driver controls the "gears" and accelerator. I'll give it a try to see but I assume its just that.
Park Assist Pro adds the remote control element.
It’s in the IQ.Drive package along with Travel Assist, Park Assist Plus and Lane Change Side Assist along with a few other features. I thought it was worth getting.
Is there a 360 degree camera with the GTX PP, or is it in some add-on pack?
I didn’t. Not worth it, particularly for our climate.
Was explained to me in this thread that what you mention along with travel assist, auto park (whilst in the car) and arial view when parking is an added option, iq drive. It's not an option on the website configurator so I got the code from the brochure. It's a bit pricey but for me worth it for travel assist in particular.
Does Park Assist Plus with Distance Control allow you to move the car backwards and forwards without being in it for tight spots?
That's fair good.
Can't remember getting that in our standard ID3 in summertime day-to-day driving with no A/C on. Getting that @ 120km/h with A/C is a massive step up.
