Volkswagen ID.5 review

Driving position

Like its ID.4 SUV sibling, the Volkswagen ID.5 has a high seating position that gives the driver a commanding view of the road ahead – and that's a sense that passers-by will also get from the ID.5's tall, upright grille area.

Access to the cabin is easy thanks to wide door openings, and because of the raised height of the floor (to accommodate the batteries between the wheel axles), it's easy to slide in or out of the seats.

The two front seats have individual armrests on the inner side – the fact that they can be set at different heights to the driver or passenger's exact preference is a nice touch.

Tech and features

A couple of different trim levels have been available over the years, and all models come with an excellent array of standard equipment.

As a guide, the Match model we tested comes as standard with keyless entry, heated front seats and a reversing camera with all-round parking sensors.

You also get two in-car screens – a 12.9-inch touchscreen infotainment display with a built-in sat-nav, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and a smaller 5.3-inch display in front of the driver for speed and efficiency information.

We found the system easy to use, but maybe not as comprehensive as the digital instrument cluster you get in Volkswagen's combustion-powered models, which have larger displays that can fit more information on the one screen.

It worked well with the head-up display, which shows similar information. Between this and the digital instrument cluster, you can have just about all the information you need on display at all times.

It's a shame that this augmented reality (AR) head-up display, which projects navigational directions onto your windscreen video-game-style, is part of the expensive Infotainment Package Plus (£2,570 at the time of writing).

You also get a 480W, nine-speaker Harman/Kardon sound system that sounds great, but that's the extent of this package.

At least the ID. light bar, which runs across the dash beneath the windscreen, is a standard option. It lights up for different occasions, such as direction reminders for the sat-nav, a charging indicator, and forward collision alerts.

Our test car also had the optional Assistance Package Plus (£2,215), with a 360-degree parking camera, a self-parking system and a kick-operated powered boot lid – it's another package that's easy to recommend, but is pretty pricey.

The third and final optional package fitted to our ID.5 was the Interior Style Pack Plus, which adds power adjustments and massage functionalities to the two front seats for £1,400.

It's not essential, but we think the reverse-activated dipping passenger mirror (which is included in the package) should be standard across all cars. It's also a shame that the driver's mirror doesn't dip in reverse at all.

Electric motors and power

We spent a week behind the wheel of an ID.5 'Pro' – a 286hp rear-wheel drive version that' can complete the 0-62mph sprint in a brisk 6.7 seconds.

At no point does it break your neck under acceleration, but it packs enough of a punch to get you out of sticky situations. All in all, we think it's the perfect option for this type of car, and an easy one to recommend to any driver.

Earlier models came with a 204hp motor in the 'Pro Performance' edition, with a 0-62mph time of 8.4 seconds, and a 174hp motor for the 'Pro', which claimed a 0-62mph time of 10.4 seconds.

The latter is hard to recommend, because it feels as slow as the figures suggest, and has no efficiency benefits over the other rear-wheel drive configurations.

The newer Match trim with the smaller battery uses a similar 170hp motor – it's called 'Pure', and it's also one to reconsider if you're expecting the punchy acceleration typical of electric cars.

On the flip side, the dual-motor, all-wheel drive GTX model packs more of a punch. Earlier cars had 299hp for a 0-62mph time of 6.3 seconds, but updated GTX Edition versions get there in 5.4 seconds thanks to 340hp on tap – that's a pretty significant difference.

Handling and ride comfort

Besides sending power to the rear wheels, which is generally favoured for a more engaging drive, the ID.5 has a pretty balanced weight distribution between the front and rear axles, and it also has a low centre of gravity from the battery pack, which weighs 493kg in the case of the 77kWh unit.

All of this translates to a drive that feels consistent all of the time – it certainly feels its size, and could be stiffer in the corners, but it's a comfortable family car that is generally good to drive.

Despite the big wheels, the ride quality is well-controlled and refined. The 20-inch rims fitted to our model were wrapped in thick rubber – enough to absorb most impacts.

We also noticed the tight 10.2m turning circle – it's nowhere near supermini or hatchback levels, but for such a large SUV (and it does feel pretty big from behind the wheel), it's easy to manoeuvre around town.

Interestingly, the four-wheel drive version has an 11.6m turning circle, making it substantially harder to move in tighter spaces.

Boot space

Because it's based on the ID.4 SUV but with a chopped-off, coupé-like roof, you might think this is the less practical sibling, but that's not true.

It's a large SUV, and the roof doesn't slope too low, which means it actually has more boot capacity than the ID.4 – 549 litres vs. 543 litres.

The difference is negligible, but the fact this sporty-looking coupé-SUV has impressive practicality credentials is a strong point.

We also love the inclusion of a ski hatch – sure, many of us are unlikely to use it for skis, but even for a trip to the tip it can be very useful.

It's a real shame that a car of this size doesn't have a froot (front boot) – it's something Kia and Hyundai have done with their SUVs, and it feels a bit of an oversight that VW hasn't followed suit.

Rear seats

Despite the sloping roofline, rear headroom is only reduced by 12mm compared with the ID.4. For a six-foot adult, headroom and legroom is perfectly acceptable thanks to VW's clever packaging of space.

The two outer seats are comfortable, but the fitting three abreast can be a challenge for shoulder room, especially for the person sitting on the narrower centre seat.

Opt for a model with a panoramic sunroof for a light and airy feel, because lower-spec models can feel slightly darker even though the rear windows are pretty big.

Storage solutions

We love the versatile centre console area, which has a drink storage compartment with two cupholder inserts that can be removed. Further below, there's a sliding cover over even more storage, with a removable divider to divvy up space, and there's a wireless phone charger.

The front door bins are cavernous, while the rear doors make do with slightly smaller but still decent-sized door bins – all of which are lined with soft material.

The rear bench also has a fold-down centre armrest with space for two large drinks and one narrower can.

Safety

The Volkswagen ID.5 was awarded a full five-star Euro NCAP rating in 2021 when it launched, with plenty of safety equipment and driver aids like adaptive cruise control and a self-steering system.

Range and charging times

Although our test car was fitted with the 77kWh battery, we've also spent several weeks with a 52kWh version of the ID.4, making it easy for us to compare the two most popular options.

VW claims 342 miles of range from the 77kWh model, or 4.1 miles/kWh. After around 700 miles of almost exclusively motorway driving, we saw efficiency figures of 3.7-3.9 miles/kWh, with the on-board trip calculator balancing out at around 300 miles of range from a full battery. That's generally a pretty strong show for anyone accustomed to electric car life.

The 52kWh battery should get 226 miles in the ID.5, but when we lived with it in the ID.4, we were getting around 150-170 miles of real-world range.

However, the caveat is that our test ID.5 was fitted with the optional heat pump (£1,150), and the ID.4 wasn't, so it's not an exact like-for-like comparison.

Many rivals, including the Tesla Model Y, come with a heat pump as standard, and with electric car technology progressing as quickly as it is, we'd like to see this become a standard-fit feature in the ID.5 and all other electric cars, for that matter.

Reliability

The Volkswagen ID.5 is based on the MEB platform, which it shares with the ID.4 and ID.3. It shares the same electric motors and battery tech, which have proven to be robust in all of the ID models to date.

Electric motors also feature fewer moving parts than conventional combustion engines, so there's less to go wrong in the first place.

Like Tesla, VW has upgraded its infotainment systems to support over-the-air (OTA) software updates to fix bugs and add features remotely, like with your smartphone.

Insurance groups

The VW ID.5 sits in insurance groups 25-36, which is pretty low given the power on offer and the cost of the car compared with its combustion counterparts. The performance GTX models are in groups 38-41.