► VW ID.7 Tourer driven for first time
► It’s the all-electric estate version of ID.7
► Full review, specs and verdict you can trust
Up until now, the list of electric estate cars has been short. The Porsche Taycan Sport Turismo at the top end, MG5 at the cheap end and a few average Stellantis products somewhere in the middle.
But that’s starting to change, with BMW and Audi introducing electric wagons this year, and now Volkswagen is doing the same with the ID.7 Tourer. A sign of a slight tilt away from the onslaught of electric SUVs, perhaps?
The ID.7 hatchback left us impressed, but can the Tourer do the same?
At a glance
Pros: Wonderful ride and comfort, very spacious, the fact it’s not an SUV
Cons: Not exactly cheap, touchscreen can still irritate
What’s new?
While it might seem like Volkswagen has put all its eggs in the SUV basket at times, the Wolfsburg firm acknowledges that plenty of buyers (particularly in its home German market) still want estates.
There’s the recently facelifted Golf Estate and Volkswagen has also just launched the Passat in wagon form only. Given its rapid expansion with EVs, the natural next step is an estate car.
The ID.7 was launched earlier in the year as VW’s new electric flagship and aimed to rectify many of the complaints that tarnished the initial introduction of VW’s ID line-up. New touchscreen (even bigger, of course) and a big improvement in quality were the headline alterations.
The Tourer aims to continue down this path, but at the same time introduces various new features to the ID.7. The launch of a sportier GTX model is particularly noteworthy, as is a new 86kWh ‘Pro S’ battery that unlocks an exceptional 424-mile range. London to York and back without charging? Not a problem, in theory.
Other small software updates include an augmented-reality head-up display and new in-car games to help occupy time while charging.
What are the specs?
The Tourer line-up mirrors the hatchback, with a choice of the pre-existing Pro model, plus the new long-range Pro S and GTX.
Kicking things off with the Pro, which uses the Volkswagen Group’s MEB staple 77kWh battery, followed by the Pro S’s 86kWh battery, also put in the GTX as the default.
Both the Pro and Pro S are rear-driven by a 282bhp motor producing 402lb ft of torque, with the GTX featuring a second smaller electric motor at the front that increases the power up to 335bhp and 413lb ft.
Getting to 62mph takes 6.6 seconds in the standard two cars, and is cut to 5.5 seconds with the GTX. All versions have a top speed capped to 112mph.
Range and charging
Volkswagen put a big focus on efficiency with the ID.7 Tourer and that shows with some of the range figures given.
Even the smaller 77kWh battery is capable of up to a claimed 373 miles, but if you opt for the larger battery that increases to 424 miles. It’s among one of the longest ranges of any electric car you can buy today – the only ones that can go further are the Mercedes EQS at getting on double the ID.7’s price.
Charging speeds are impressive too, with a maximum DC charge rate of 200kW, enabling a 10 to 80 per cent rapid charge in just 26 minutes in ideal conditions. Plug into a slower 11kW charger and it’ll take around nine hours.
How does it drive?
The ID.7 is a car that majors on comfort and refinement, and that doesn’t change with the Tourer. It’s exceptionally quiet on the move, with the extra glazing on our test car making it even more hushed. Driven back-to-back with the regular hatch, there’s ever so slightly more wind noise with the estate model, but it’s hardly noticeable.
Optional Dynamic Chassis Control (DCC) is well worth ticking, as it adds further compliance to the way the ID.7 behaves. In its softest setting, the car just glides across the surface, suppressing all by the harshest bumps.
While majoring on refinement and comfort, it’s still good behind the wheel. The steering is accurate, allowing you to place what is quite a sizable car through narrow corners with confidence. The rear-wheel-drive standard version can go surprisingly tail-happy if you push it, though traction control quickly pulls it back into check.
But it’s not a drift hero, rather a car that wonderfully can cover distance in the utmost comfort, ideal considering its exceptional electric range.
What’s the interior like?
Volkswagen clearly spent a lot of time on the ID.7’s interior, addressing weaknesses with the early ID.3 which included cheap-feeling materials and an infuriating touchscreen.
The VERY white interior of our test car probably isn’t ideal if you’ve got a young family, though felt modern and airy – aided further by the clever glass roof that has a button to change it from opaque to transparent. Clever stuff, though far from unique to Volkswagen.
A giant 15-inch touchscreen comes as standard on the ID.7, dominating the interior. Though it’s another classic example of a screen being used for almost everything, it’s a giant improvement compared to earlier ID Volkswagens. Big icons and lots of shortcut buttons make it easier to navigate than you might expect, but there’s still some slight grievances – you can’t change the direction of the air vents manually, you have to do it through the screen. Dear Volkswagen, you don’t have to copy Tesla.
It’s now time to come to the real reason you’d buy an ID.7 Tourer and that’s the boot. It offers up to 605 litres of space with the rear seats upright, and though the boot isn’t quite as large as that of the Passat, it’s not far off. But rear-seat space is very impressive, with room for three adults across the rear bench and more than enough head and legroom. It’s an ideal alternative to an electric SUV, and probably roomier too.
Before you buy (trims and rivals)
The Volkswagen ID.7 Tourer sits in a slightly unusual middle ground before bargain electric estate cars like the MG5 costing £20,000 less and premium wagons such as the BMW i5 Touring costing £20,000 more. As it’s only around £700 more than the hatchback, it seems a no-brainer.
Volkswagen draws plenty of comparisons to the Passat. The dimensions are very similar in all but height, and the firm is confident about it appealing to existing hybrid Passat owners that are ready to go electric.
Priced from £52,240, it’s almost the same as a similarly powerful Passat hybrid, and when you consider the additional equipment of the ID.7, that price difference becomes even less negligible. We can see people wanting to step up to £56,140 for the big battery, but at £62,670 for the GTX, that’s not worth the money.
The level of standard equipment needs to be commended, too, with all models coming with massaging front seats, an augmented-reality head-up display and a 360-degree camera. BMW certainly isn’t as generous with its i5 Touring.
Verdict
Volkswagen’s first ID models got a somewhat lukewarm reception and it seemed to temporarily knock confidence in the brand and subsequently its products. But the ID.7 shows Volkswagen at its best, and the Tourer is only an extension of that.
Spacious, well-built and with a superb electric range and efficiency considering its weight, it’s the best electric car Volkswagen has made to date. Though the pricing puts it in a slightly odd middle ground next to other electric estate cars, in many ways that could work to the ID.7’s advantage as a cut-price alternative to what Audi and BMW have to offer.