ID.7 under cover.
As if they gave Midjourney a picture of an ID.4 and asked her to draw a sedan: no surprises (photo: Volkswagen)
Estimated price:
NIS 300,000
We liked:
technology, spaciousness, comfort, official range
We didn't like:
The people's car is not
"Where's your badge?"
"Here," I pulled out of my pocket.
"You have to carry it on your shirt, not everyone has the head to walk around here," I was scolded as I walked to the closed studio.
Inside, the serial production version of Volkswagen's first electric sedan, the ID.7, awaited.
The serial production version will be fully revealed in about two weeks, but in the meantime we got a rare opportunity to get a first taste of the prototype, still under camouflage and with partial capabilities.
Manufacturers used to run away from the spy photographers who specialized in early reporting on new models that the manufacturers were about to unveil.
Today the manufacturers are ready to reveal some of the models even before the official presentation, share some of the information, and get first impressions.
Volkswagen already has an electric compact family car (ID.3, coming to us next year), an electric crossover (ID.4, already marketed by us), which also has a stylish coupe version (ID.5, coming at the end of the year).
The Chinese are also getting the ID.6 (oversized crossover with 6 seats) and the ID.BUZZ, the spectacular retro version of the microbus from the sixties (with us in 2024, after a slight postponement), is now being launched internationally.
ID.AERO, the concept model with which Volkswagen hinted last year about the sedan on the way (photo: Volkswagen)
The ID.7 is already the sixth electric of the German brand, not including those of Audi and Skoda, but significant because of the importance of sedan models in the two largest car markets in the world, China and the USA. The first thought is an answer to the Tesla Model 3, which alone sold a year which passed more than all the Volkswagen trams.
But the Germans aimed a little higher this time. The 7 is a large sedan, 4.96 meters long, 2.97 meters wheelbase and 1.54 meters high. This means that it is bigger even than the current Audi A6 (4.93 meters), It dwarfs the Mazda 6, the largest of the executive cars (4.87 m), and even more the Tesla Model 3 (4.69 m). Nevertheless, Volkswagen has already revealed that the new car will cost 60,000 euros in Germany, a thousand euros less than the price there of the Model 3 in the performance version .
Under the colored camouflage you can see the familiar lines of the ID series, in the sedan version.
Having trouble imagining the car without camouflage?
Take a look at the photo of the ID.AERO, the concept car from last year that gave a pretty rough hint about the design of the new sedan.
There is no special design effort here.
As if you fed one of the artificial intelligence programs images of the existing ID series models and asked it to create a sedan.
No surprises.
More in Walla!
The intriguing process of recycling metal packaging
In cooperation with the Tamir Recycling Corporation
A data screen that is integrated into the dashboard replaces the tiny and less clear display of the existing ID models (photo: Walla! system, Udi Etzion)
The mechanical basis is also the same platform that is already used by the other Volkswagen models, with improvements in the drive system, energy management and in the field of batteries.
And so the ID.7 boasts a combined range of 700 km. Not the 700 km that Chinese manufacturers sometimes boast of, according to a mild local standard, but according to the strict European WLTP standard.
The same range in which the luxurious Mercedes EQS boasts, with a much larger battery and a price almost four times higher than the new Volkswagen.
The driver's environment already contains the first lessons from the existing trams of the Germans.
The too small data screen that replaced the dashboard was canceled in favor of a small but clearer screen that shows basic data such as speed, augmented by an overhead display on the windshield, which also shows navigation instructions, and an advanced augmented reality display, with depth.
It looks great on a day that isn't too sunny, in Israel it won't always be legible.
In the battle for the size of the multimedia screen, Volkswagen raises the bar to a 15-inch one, not something we haven't seen in Tesla and the Chinese.
But despite the addition of lighting to the operation buttons for the climate control, Volkswagen went in the direction of Tesla here as well, so that even the direction of the air vents is done by moving the fingers on the screen.
At least it is possible to set predetermined modes according to the preference of the driver and passengers.
There is also a new personal assistant, Aida, named after the ID, for voice operation of the systems, and in any case you can change the name to that of your wife or husband.
Aida knows how to operate the climate control, open and close windows, and even tell a joke: What four-legged animal can fly?
The answer: two birds.
The Germans have always excelled more in engineering than humor.
And more importantly: Aida will also understand Hebrew, unlike most cars sold in Israel today with voice operation, and Hebrew will be one of the permanent languages in its multimedia system.
You could reach all the following Volkswagen models.
The nod to saloon cars can also be seen in the rest of the equipment: an option for front massage seats, including for the pelvic area, not just for the back and a Hermann Kardon stereo.
The same goes for the abundance of space, in the back as much as in the front, which makes saloon cars a bit redundant.
The trunk is also huge.
Comfortable, with surprising maneuverability for a 5 meter long car (Photo: Volkswagen)
During the short drive it was possible to be impressed by a high level of comfort and successful isolation of road hazards, one of the advantages of a long wheelbase.
On the other hand, it does not come at the expense of maneuverability.
With 285.5 hp and 54 kg, the ID.7 was relatively nimble on the curving road, accurate and not too inclined in turns.
The performance of the adaptive cruise control system was a little rough, but this is a prototype that was not equipped with the final software version.
And because software is today another potential source of hacker attacks, like our mobile phone, this is the first Volkswagen car that complies with the new European cyber standard, both in protecting the vehicle and in protecting the software updates it will receive.
A capability that is the responsibility of the joint company for the Germans and the group of Shin Bet veterans, Seimotiv Technologies, led by the former head of the organization Yuval Diskin and the former head of the technology division in the Shin Bet, Zafir Katz.
That's the price of technology: the classic Beetle had no cyber problems.
The trunk will pleasantly surprise (photo: Volkswagen)
While in the rest of the car market, sedan models are disappearing in favor of jeeps, precisely in streetcars they are being revived.
And this is not only because of the status of the Tesla Model 3, but because of the aerodynamics.
Their lower structure allows them to achieve with the same battery a longer range.
That's why ID.7 can also have a significant status in Europe and here.
In Israel, the price is expected to start at a little over NIS 300,000 when it arrives in 2024.
A Volkswagen official said at the launch that there is still no final approval from the engineers for marketing in Israel, and that the engineers of the active safety systems are still checking whether they are smart enough to deal with the road markings in Israel.
On the other hand, if the matter has already been resolved in ID.4, and ID.3 has also already received permission to immigrate, it seems that this is a solvable matter.
Either way, this is a lot of money for an executive car, but little for an electric saloon car, a category whose prices start at over half a million shekels.
Price of Model 3 Performance with extras, longer range than Model S, comfortable car, spacious, high quality and easier to operate.
But 0-100 in 3 seconds she won't do.
This is a wake-up call for Elon Musk: Volkswagen is closing the technological gap, and has already revealed the cheap electric car that will be launched in two years, the ID.2.
Once the problem of the supply of chips and raw materials is resolved, Tesla, whose sales rely on two models that have not been new for a long time, the 3 and the Y, will have a serious challenge to face the influx of electric cars from Germany.
The writer was a guest of Volkswagen in Spain
vehicle
Vehicle tests
Tags
Volkswagen
