Are ID-3s bad cars?
Discussion
My wife currently drives a BMW 2 series Gran Tourer and it does the job. However it was bought as the practical family car, but we always use mine for that task now.
So I've started looking at an EV. We have solar at home that produces a huge excess in the summer and in the winter we can make use of cheap overnight rates.
The ID-3 came up as an option as I'm shocked at how cheap they are. £15k will get you a decent spec and around 3-4 years old. So are they bad cars or are they just victims of huge losses from new and loads of cars at the end of their leases?
Is there anything else to consider in this sort of price range? Driving dynamics are not high on the list for the good lady. Creature comforts are though!
So I've started looking at an EV. We have solar at home that produces a huge excess in the summer and in the winter we can make use of cheap overnight rates.
The ID-3 came up as an option as I'm shocked at how cheap they are. £15k will get you a decent spec and around 3-4 years old. So are they bad cars or are they just victims of huge losses from new and loads of cars at the end of their leases?
Is there anything else to consider in this sort of price range? Driving dynamics are not high on the list for the good lady. Creature comforts are though!
I bought a 3 year old ID3 Family from VW main dealer. Got it with free 2 years manufacturer warranty, free servicing/roadside assistance and MOT cover. Paid for an extra year warranty and I'll run it for 3 years and give it back. PCP'd at 16k for £180 a month, £3k down. It's a great spec with pan roof, rear camera, matrix LED headlights which are fantastic and all the usual stuff to include heated seats, heated steering wheel, car play, adaptive cruise etc.
I charge at home at 7p/KWH so costs me around £4.50 for 200 miles. Im saving around £200 a month on fuel. Peanuts to run and im not expoecting many bills (if any) in the next 3 years. Tyres last around 20-40k if driven sensibly if it is still not on the factory Bridgestones and brakes barely get touched. It's simple to drive with two distinct driving modes.
Is it a good car?
Positives...Great spec, quick enough when it needs to be, super cheap to run, feels huge inside, comfy seats, takes you from A - B in near silence and comfort.
Negatives - not involving in the slightest, feels heavy in corners, heater controls don't light up at night, front visibility is poor around huge A pillars. Brake feel isn't good and they can feel under powered.
Reliability - don't get one without warranty as fixes are lengthy and expensive. Mine threw up an error with cruise control, needed 3 days at a main dealer for a software update. All covered. That's the only issue ive had. Others have more issues, Facebook group is helpful but probably provide a skewed answer in response to reliability.
I think the depreciation curve will slow up now. I was looking for 6 months and the main dealer ones appear to have levelled off for a bit. When I was looking the cheapest lowest spec was around £12k but they don't come up for that that often now. The cheapest Family is still around £16k from a MD.
I charge at home at 7p/KWH so costs me around £4.50 for 200 miles. Im saving around £200 a month on fuel. Peanuts to run and im not expoecting many bills (if any) in the next 3 years. Tyres last around 20-40k if driven sensibly if it is still not on the factory Bridgestones and brakes barely get touched. It's simple to drive with two distinct driving modes.
Is it a good car?
Positives...Great spec, quick enough when it needs to be, super cheap to run, feels huge inside, comfy seats, takes you from A - B in near silence and comfort.
Negatives - not involving in the slightest, feels heavy in corners, heater controls don't light up at night, front visibility is poor around huge A pillars. Brake feel isn't good and they can feel under powered.
Reliability - don't get one without warranty as fixes are lengthy and expensive. Mine threw up an error with cruise control, needed 3 days at a main dealer for a software update. All covered. That's the only issue ive had. Others have more issues, Facebook group is helpful but probably provide a skewed answer in response to reliability.
I think the depreciation curve will slow up now. I was looking for 6 months and the main dealer ones appear to have levelled off for a bit. When I was looking the cheapest lowest spec was around £12k but they don't come up for that that often now. The cheapest Family is still around £16k from a MD.
Edited by chunkyjh on Monday 14th October 05:37
I’ll be surprised if you get 20-40k out the tyres, fronts maybe but it eats the rears. My wifes ID3 is on less than 20k (15k i think) and 2.5years old and had a new set of rears after 18months and just had the fronts replaced last month. 90% of the cars use is around town.
To the OP, good car, quiet and nippy. Brakes are a little uninspiring if not in max regen mode. Agree with visiblity around front A pilar, whoever designed that should be shot. Nice enough place to sit though, typical VW interior.
To the OP, good car, quiet and nippy. Brakes are a little uninspiring if not in max regen mode. Agree with visiblity around front A pilar, whoever designed that should be shot. Nice enough place to sit though, typical VW interior.
AWRacing said:
I’ll be surprised if you get 20-40k out the tyres, fronts maybe but it eats the rears. My wifes ID3 is on less than 20k (15k i think) and 2.5years old and had a new set of rears after 18months and just had the fronts replaced last month. 90% of the cars use is around town..
Are they the factory Bridgestone? They only come with 5.9mm of tread from new. I’ve heard people getting 8k out of them. If you change them up for Conti’s or Michelins then they do a lot better.One more annoying thing is the wipers are made for European market. The left wiper wipes first and last, leaving a streak across the driver.
And there are no rear speakers in anything but Max spec.
Edited by chunkyjh on Monday 14th October 06:46
Edited by chunkyjh on Monday 14th October 06:47
chunkyjh said:
Are they the factory Bridgestone? They only come with 5.9mm of tread from new. I’ve heard people getting 8k out of them. If you change them up for Conti’s or Michelins then they do a lot better.
One more annoying thing is the wipers are made for European market. The left wiper wipes first and last, leaving a streak across the driver.
And there are no rear speakers in anything but Max spec.
Mine came on Goodyears and the rears are now at 3mm after 28k miles from new. One more annoying thing is the wipers are made for European market. The left wiper wipes first and last, leaving a streak across the driver.
And there are no rear speakers in anything but Max spec.
Edited by chunkyjh on Monday 14th October 06:46
Edited by chunkyjh on Monday 14th October 06:47
I think they’re good cars for daily transport and family life duties. More space inside than the E350d it replaced (apart from the boot, but that’s still pretty good), plenty nippy enough for everyday driving, rides ok on 18s (a lot better than the e-class), it just works.
Agree on the blind spot from the a-pillars though, you definitely need to move your head around at junctions a fair bit!
chunkyjh said:
AWRacing said:
I’ll be surprised if you get 20-40k out the tyres, fronts maybe but it eats the rears. My wifes ID3 is on less than 20k (15k i think) and 2.5years old and had a new set of rears after 18months and just had the fronts replaced last month. 90% of the cars use is around town..
Are they the factory Bridgestone? They only come with 5.9mm of tread from new. I’ve heard people getting 8k out of them. If you change them up for Conti’s or Michelins then they do a lot better.One more annoying thing is the wipers are made for European market. The left wiper wipes first and last, leaving a streak across the driver.
And there are no rear speakers in anything but Max spec.
Edited by chunkyjh on Monday 14th October 06:46
Edited by chunkyjh on Monday 14th October 06:47
Forgot about the speaker situation, yes no speakers in the back.
chunkyjh said:
I bought a 3 year old ID3 Family from VW main dealer. Got it with free 2 years manufacturer warranty, free servicing/roadside assistance and MOT cover. Paid for an extra year warranty and I'll run it for 3 years and give it back. PCP'd at 16k for £180 a month, £3k down. It's a great spec with pan roof, rear camera, matrix LED headlights which are fantastic and all the usual stuff to include heated seats, heated steering wheel, car play, adaptive cruise etc.
I charge at home at 7p/KWH so costs me around £4.50 for 200 miles. Im saving around £200 a month on fuel. Peanuts to run and im not expoecting many bills (if any) in the next 3 years. Tyres last around 20-40k if driven sensibly if it is still not on the factory Bridgestones and brakes barely get touched. It's simple to drive with two distinct driving modes.
Is it a good car?
Positives...Great spec, quick enough when it needs to be, super cheap to run, feels huge inside, comfy seats, takes you from A - B in near silence and comfort.
Negatives - not involving in the slightest, feels heavy in corners, heater controls don't light up at night, front visibility is poor around huge A pillars. Brake feel isn't good and they can feel under powered.
Reliability - don't get one without warranty as fixes are lengthy and expensive. Mine threw up an error with cruise control, needed 3 days at a main dealer for a software update. All covered. That's the only issue ive had. Others have more issues, Facebook group is helpful but probably provide a skewed answer in response to reliability.
I think the depreciation curve will slow up now. I was looking for 6 months and the main dealer ones appear to have levelled off for a bit. When I was looking the cheapest lowest spec was around £12k but they don't come up for that that often now. The cheapest Family is still around £16k from a MD.
Thanks for the detailed reply. The 2 series has awful A pillars, enough for me to class them as dangerous. I charge at home at 7p/KWH so costs me around £4.50 for 200 miles. Im saving around £200 a month on fuel. Peanuts to run and im not expoecting many bills (if any) in the next 3 years. Tyres last around 20-40k if driven sensibly if it is still not on the factory Bridgestones and brakes barely get touched. It's simple to drive with two distinct driving modes.
Is it a good car?
Positives...Great spec, quick enough when it needs to be, super cheap to run, feels huge inside, comfy seats, takes you from A - B in near silence and comfort.
Negatives - not involving in the slightest, feels heavy in corners, heater controls don't light up at night, front visibility is poor around huge A pillars. Brake feel isn't good and they can feel under powered.
Reliability - don't get one without warranty as fixes are lengthy and expensive. Mine threw up an error with cruise control, needed 3 days at a main dealer for a software update. All covered. That's the only issue ive had. Others have more issues, Facebook group is helpful but probably provide a skewed answer in response to reliability.
I think the depreciation curve will slow up now. I was looking for 6 months and the main dealer ones appear to have levelled off for a bit. When I was looking the cheapest lowest spec was around £12k but they don't come up for that that often now. The cheapest Family is still around £16k from a MD.
Edited by chunkyjh on Monday 14th October 05:37
Looking at a few reviews, I think the infotainment and the lack of switches is almost a deal breaker for me.
ThisInJapanese said:
AWRacing said:
Forgot about the speaker situation, yes no speakers in the back.
They really did skimp on some features didn't they? The fact there is only 2 window switches in the front seems a crazy way to save money. The Nissan Leaf, despite being an obsolete design now and having a couple of drawbacks for some people, is probably a better built, more reliable and far cheaper car than the ID3 (cheaper because badge). I've just bought a 23-reg with 5k miles on the clock from a main dealer for £13k. It's replacing an older Leaf, so I'm well used to the 2 major drawbacks (i.e. Chademo rather than CCS for fast charging away from home, and no active battery cooling), neither if which have impacted me in the slightest over 7 years. It's got really good equipment spec, such as heated seats and Android/Apple car play stuff.
They are comfortable cars with excellent seats and huge interior space for their size. My Mrs absolutely adores ours, hence getting a newer one instead of a different and more modern model - and of course the staggering value for money they represent at the moment second hand. In fact, I've seen a few brand new unregistered ones up for £17.5k.
Worth thinking about.
They are comfortable cars with excellent seats and huge interior space for their size. My Mrs absolutely adores ours, hence getting a newer one instead of a different and more modern model - and of course the staggering value for money they represent at the moment second hand. In fact, I've seen a few brand new unregistered ones up for £17.5k.
Worth thinking about.
plfrench said:
ThisInJapanese said:
AWRacing said:
Forgot about the speaker situation, yes no speakers in the back.
They really did skimp on some features didn't they? The fact there is only 2 window switches in the front seems a crazy way to save money. Not at all. I test drove a couple and nearly bought one before my wife overruled me and we got an i3 because she preferred the badge and as VW sales are usually hopeless.
I think they get a bad reputation because people expected more from a company as big as VW and a car as important to them as the ID3 was. Weird corners being cut like the heater controls and the interior materials. Overall still a really nice car to be in though. They're cheap for the same reasons all EVs are cheap second hand, they mostly only make sense bought brand new on company leases.
If you just want a cheap A to B city car and range is no concern i still think an i3 is the best choice. If you do want a bit more range the ID3 is probably the one i'd go for.
I think they get a bad reputation because people expected more from a company as big as VW and a car as important to them as the ID3 was. Weird corners being cut like the heater controls and the interior materials. Overall still a really nice car to be in though. They're cheap for the same reasons all EVs are cheap second hand, they mostly only make sense bought brand new on company leases.
If you just want a cheap A to B city car and range is no concern i still think an i3 is the best choice. If you do want a bit more range the ID3 is probably the one i'd go for.
SunsetZed said:
plfrench said:
ThisInJapanese said:
AWRacing said:
Forgot about the speaker situation, yes no speakers in the back.
They really did skimp on some features didn't they? The fact there is only 2 window switches in the front seems a crazy way to save money. Personally I would avoid them at all cost. Especially early ones. The software is truly shockingly bad with numerous glitches, false messages, error states etc etc. Yes each software release has got better and more robust however the dealers are generally poor at performing updates and it’s not going to get better as the cars get older. The warranty costs for the ID range must be bleeding VW dry at the moment. The earliest cars will become obsolete very quickly once they fall out of the dealer network. How it ever got signed off is a mystery.
Ignoring the software issues as a car goes they are not bad. Quiet smooth, quite quick, handling is good, ours was even OK in the snow which was a surprise given its rear wheel drive. We ran one for 2 years until the software finally got the better of us and we got rid of it. Overall though probably the worst car I have ever bought. Never ever having another VW.
Ignoring the software issues as a car goes they are not bad. Quiet smooth, quite quick, handling is good, ours was even OK in the snow which was a surprise given its rear wheel drive. We ran one for 2 years until the software finally got the better of us and we got rid of it. Overall though probably the worst car I have ever bought. Never ever having another VW.
We have a 2023 id3 58kw running the 3.2 software (check out the version on the car, it’s not tesla simple to update). Software works but clunky, I use apple carplay and that sorts 90% of issues i had with it day to day. Built in software is not intuitive imo, a let down. It will do at least 250km in cold winter weather on 100km/h roads, up to 350km in summer.
As a car it is decent but not hugely involving, had a renault zoe before which was more fun to chuck around, but highway refinement the id3 is much more solid and more efficient. We have done 35000km in almost 18 months, commuting mainly, an easy car to live with for that - in fact very good I would say. Fast charge is slow in winter but if charging at home as I see you are then no worries. Street charging (i live in NL) is fine, but cheaper here than uk.
I would have another, dependable but not that exciting - for commuting and day to day and easy forget about it driving it works well for us. I don’t have issue with blind spot others have mentioned on the A pillar. It has proven well built, if you depend on the car for entertainment and maps then maybe have a proper test first..
We have other cars for fun, so the id3 is functional driving which it does well I would say.
Good luck!
As a car it is decent but not hugely involving, had a renault zoe before which was more fun to chuck around, but highway refinement the id3 is much more solid and more efficient. We have done 35000km in almost 18 months, commuting mainly, an easy car to live with for that - in fact very good I would say. Fast charge is slow in winter but if charging at home as I see you are then no worries. Street charging (i live in NL) is fine, but cheaper here than uk.
I would have another, dependable but not that exciting - for commuting and day to day and easy forget about it driving it works well for us. I don’t have issue with blind spot others have mentioned on the A pillar. It has proven well built, if you depend on the car for entertainment and maps then maybe have a proper test first..
We have other cars for fun, so the id3 is functional driving which it does well I would say.
Good luck!
Skodillac said:
The Nissan Leaf, despite being an obsolete design now and having a couple of drawbacks for some people, is probably a better built, more reliable and far cheaper car than the ID3 (cheaper because badge). I've just bought a 23-reg with 5k miles on the clock from a main dealer for £13k. It's replacing an older Leaf, so I'm well used to the 2 major drawbacks (i.e. Chademo rather than CCS for fast charging away from home, and no active battery cooling), neither if which have impacted me in the slightest over 7 years. It's got really good equipment spec, such as heated seats and Android/Apple car play stuff.
They are comfortable cars with excellent seats and huge interior space for their size. My Mrs absolutely adores ours, hence getting a newer one instead of a different and more modern model - and of course the staggering value for money they represent at the moment second hand. In fact, I've seen a few brand new unregistered ones up for £17.5k.
Worth thinking about.
Out of interest, can an adaptor be used to enable a Leaf to be charged from a Type 2 connector? We have an Ohme Home Pro charger with tethered Type 2. my wife is looking to swap here EV next year and those prices look very tempting.They are comfortable cars with excellent seats and huge interior space for their size. My Mrs absolutely adores ours, hence getting a newer one instead of a different and more modern model - and of course the staggering value for money they represent at the moment second hand. In fact, I've seen a few brand new unregistered ones up for £17.5k.
Worth thinking about.
Alternatively can they be charged on a granny?
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