Washed out
We don’t like to speak ill of the departed, but few tears are being shed as the |D. 5 leaves our test fleet. By Ben Whitworth
When it’s time to hand back a long-term test car I generally make a big deal about it, taking the car for one last punt. In the Caterham 160 and Mazda RX8, for instance, this turned into an all-day adventure. But in the case of the ID. 5 a four-mile round trip to the nearest car wash felt like plenty.
It’s not a car that engages the keen driver in any way – there’s little dynamic sparkle, and even less character – so taking it out for a last long drive never struck me as a good use of time.
That dispassionate relationship sums up my six months of ID. 5 ownership. This is not a car that sprinkles its magic to transform routine trips into enjoyable jaunts. It doesn’t urge you to take the long way home. It doesn’t invite a nickname or evoke a sense of pride when talking cars with friends. It moved me and my family around in anonymous-looking comfort and safety. It was transport, no more and no less.
The laggy and unreliable user interface took a lot of heat. Three times the central screen turned black and died, only coming back to life an hour or so later. Not a disaster when you’re on familiar roads, but not exactly endearing when navigating Canterbury’s one-way system on a wet December night. Its regular reluctance to hook up to our iPhones, like its reluctance to swap from one device to another, irked. Enough has been written about the truly idiotic unlit audio and temperature controls, so I won’t go into how frustrating these are to use.
The consistently inconsistent responses from the haptic buttons on the steering wheel, the three-step deactivation of intrusive safety systems at the start of every trip, the age it took the throttle pedal to respond after I released the brake pedal, the poor rear visibility – enough glitches, annoyances and irritations to detract from the high levels of rolling refinement, the spacious and comfortable cabin, the decent range and solid performance.
The ID. 5’s fundamentals are sound enough – it’s just disappointingly mediocre in too many areas to be wearing a VW badge and a £58,330 price tag.
You can pay a lot less for considerably more style, dynamism and quality.
Count the cost
Cost new £58,330 Part exchange £32,080 Cost per mile 13.0p Cost per mile including depreciation £4.26 Volkswagen ID. 5 Pro Performance Tech Month 7
The story so far
Falls well short of what we expect from a VW at this price ★ Smooth, refined and accommodating
- Hard to see past the myriad flaws and irritants
Logbook
Price £55,580 (£58,330 as tested) Performance 77kWh battery, e-motor, 201bhp, 8.4sec 0-62mph, 99mph,
E ciency 3.9 miles per kWh (ocial), 3.1 (tested), 0g/km CO2 Range 323 miles (ocial), 240 miles (tested) Energy cost
13.0p per mile Miles this
month 801 Total miles 6425