New VW ID7 review: It's not what you think!

Mat’s got his hands on the new Volkswagen ID7!

In the future, this all-electric saloon is set to replace the VW Passat. The question is, is it a worthy replacement?

Well, let’s take a closer look. Starting with the design, it looks relatively smart on the outside. There’s a sloped tailgate around the back with some cool taillights and a full-length light bar. Along the side, you’ll notice the contrasting roof and flush door handles, while around the front there’s another full-length light bar running between a set of matrix LED headlights. So it’s smart, but not exactly the most exciting!

It’s a similar theme on the inside. There’s a large infotainment screen on the dash, although annoyingly the majority of the climate control functions are managed with it. There’s a small digital driver display that holds just enough information for the driver, and the cabin is generally made of soft touch and nice quality materials. Don’t lean too far down, though, or you’ll find some cheap-feeling plastics!

The entry-level ID7 comes with a 77kWh battery pack which is good for a range of up to 384 miles. It also comes with a single electric motor which can deliver 286hp. In the future, there’ll be an 86kWh battery available which will be good for a range of up to 435 miles, and a dual-motor edition will also be released.

As for the price, the entry-level ID7 starts from around £51,500, and the car we have here for this video comes in at over £58,000! So is it worth it? Or would a Tesla Model 3 be a smarter choice? You’ll need to stick with Mat and see for yourself!

Chapters
00:00 Intro
00:59 Design
02:12 Price
02:33 Interior
05:32 Back Seats
09:00 Boot
11:06 Batteries & Range
12:04 5 Annoying Things
15:06 5 Good Things
17:42 Town Driving
20:12 Motorway Driving
22:23 Country Road Driving
23:52 0-60mph
26:01 Verdict

[zno]

Keep the reviews coming Mat. Was getting quite tired of the drag races.

[achap]

Looks like I’m not the only one who prefers the car reviews over the drag races

[colinwatson]

Where do manufacturers think we all work??? £58k for a Passat !!!!

[desertmodern]

Love that Volkswagen has made simply opening a window a two step process. Brilliant.

[DowncastParadox]

I drove one of these yesterday (only for 15 min. though) and the two things that jumped out at me were the automatically adjusting headlights and how well the adaptive cruise control worked. I'm not used to current top-of-the-line cars, so maybe this is just standard now, but having the car automatically adjust to speed limits and slowing down for roundabouts w/o me touching the pedals was rather nice. Same for the headlights: set to "auto", they just do their thing: switching high-beams on and off and dimming parts of the light cone to avoid blinding oncoming traffic. Convenient.

That said, the particular car I was in scratched the 70k Euro mark and that's just a crazy amount of money for ANY car that's supposed to be driven by average families. Statistically, that's more than two _YEARS_ worth of annual income for most people. For a car that's best described as comfy family sedan with reasonable range and unremarkable design. I don't care whether it's meant to be a Passat successor or if VW rather sees it as a BMW 5 series competitor - it's too bloody expensive period.

[HondaAccordCl]

Finally there's a new review, after he did all of those drag races, which I don't have anything against. But it's finally time for another review. Can't wait

[coreyk]

Sustainability cars sure have unsustainable prices. 😅

[nodefour]

The reason the safety systems turn back on (after you've turned them off) when you start the car again is because they're tied to the Euro NCAP safety rating. If they could be switched off and saved then the safety rating number would reduce, and presumably the insurance companies would know about it and premiums would be higher still. Its as simple as that.

[foxgood]

The interior is 10 times nicer than Tesla's Model 3.

[ronhudson]

Matt’s favourite line: “As you go down, things get a little bit scratchy”. 😳

[mattknowles]

and VWexpect the replacement for the passat to start at £50k+ worlds gone mad

[ktakura]

Asking ChatGPT about Volkswagens fines whilst sitting in a Volkswagen is the most Matt thing ever! 😂

[DPCcars]

Seeing everyone's shock over the £58k Passat and the call for more reviews really puts things into perspective. 😲 It's wild how car prices have soared, making what used to be family staples into luxury buys. 🚗💸

[sigmundberg]

The turning circle is 10.9 meters, though. Not 12.3 at Mat says, that is for the AWD version of the car, which hadn’t come out yet when this video was published.

[thestonegateroadrunner]

What's with all this constant fussing about the materials being scratchy the further down you go? What should the area below knee height be lined with? Maybe with leather? And then complain about the price, right? Understood.

[TheGravyMonster]

£50k+ for a dull VW family saloon? Absolute madness.

[ElecPi]

Finally, a review after all the drag races! Keep up the amazing work Mat and Carwow team!

[periklispanagiotidis]

That’s it, continue posting car reviews Matt

[axelwallenberg]

Had a Cupra as a rental car upp in Luleå during the winter. The auto lane assist was a straight upp danger as it would make up its own lanes randomly and try to drive you off into the forest without warning... And it restarting every time was a huge annoyance.

[HuhWhat]

Good review Matt. Very balanced journalism and informative. Not just surface level, but some background too.