Restyled Volkswagen ID.3

 

Money is good. And when we lack it, it is sometimes complicated to deliver what we would like to present: Volkswagen paid the price when launching its ID.3 in 2019, yet the spearhead of its new electric era. Four years later, the restyling arrives and corrects the major criticism attributed to the car by all owners & journalists: the perceived quality. We drove it 750 km to see the differences.

Let's get out the calculators: if the average development of a new car lasts more or less five years and the ID.3 was presented in September 2019, it is because the first work on the car must have started in 2014. Problem : in 2015 the dieselgate broke out, and it was going to cost Volkswagen a lot of money – at the end of 2021, Le Figaro estimated that VAG had to take €30,000,000,000 out of its pocket, an amount which has most certainly increased since then. So many zeros, it makes holes in the cash flow, and it means cutting budgets: the R&D of the ID.3 has probably suffered.

Too bad, for the one that Volkswagen has chosen to be the figurehead of its new electric era. The first feedback is scathing: the ergonomics are blah, the screens full of bugs and above all, above all, the perceived quality is frankly disappointing. Damn. As for the screens, the remote updates have made it possible to correct the situation a little, but it is not until 2023 that the traditional mid-career restyling arrives, bringing with it a whole host of improvements.