2024 Volkswagen ID.5 GTX review: Better late than never

IF YOU’VE ever made pancakes, you know the first one always turns out like something a giant blew out of his nose. So it’s just as well for Volkswagen that the brand is late to the electric vehicle (EV) party here.

How late? Volkswagen Group Singapore kicked off its EV assault in April, more than four years after VW itself released its first dedicated EV, which is plenty of time for its engineers to have honed their pancake-making technique along the way.

That being so, this is a freshly updated version of the ID.5 GTX, a coupe-sport utility vehicle mash-up that is effectively the flagship electric VW here for now. It’s a curvier version of the ID.4, and post-update they both have a bit more power and range, plus a bigger touchscreen with new software. Aren’t you glad you couldn’t buy last year’s versions?

The GTX variant gets a twin-motor set-up with all-wheel drive and a sparkling 340 horsepower, along with moody black wheels and body trim to go with it, plus a nifty tail spoiler.

Sure enough, the VW bombs down the road with enough vim to brighten your day. The acceleration won’t cause various sphincters to clench, like in some dual-motor EVs, but the performance feels like what you used to get from a good six-cylinder engine.

The VW weighs 2.2 tonnes, so it’s not exactly hot hatch-like in its behaviour, but you can sling it around corners with abandon because it’s tied down to the road well. The price for that is a jiggly ride on firm suspension, plus tyres that can get noisy on the highway.

While it’s a jolly experience behind the wheel, the ID.5 GTX’s real strength is its practicality. It makes good use of its EV platform (the same modular one that Volkswagen uses to build all of its EVs, as well as many from sister brands Audi, Cupra and Skoda) to leave an enormous amount of room in the cabin, especially in the back.

Despite that, the boot is usefully large, at 549 litres (although some of that is under the floor). Naturally, you can fold the rear seats if you have, say, mountain bikes to haul with you, but there’s nowhere to stow the luggage cover, which is a bit of an oversight on VW’s part.

Other minor irritations pervade the ID.5. Someone at VW thought it would be clever to have two window switches to control all four windows (it isn’t). Also, there are way too few physical controls and way too many touch-sensitive surfaces (note to VW: the problem with touch-sensitive surfaces is that you can touch them accidentally).

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It’s also worth mentioning that the cabin’s cheap plastics don’t belong in a car at this price point.

On the plus side, the 12.9-inch touchscreen system that controls practically everything isn’t terrible to use. That’s mainly because it is highly customisable, so if you invest enough time in setting it up you can have everything just so, as if it were a smartphone. Speaking of which, the ID.5 works with both Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, though you still need a cable handy.

But the ID.5 GTX is a competitive EV overall, with enough range to make charging a once-a-week affair. It’s a better car than the Polestar 2 and a better buy than the BMW iX1, though it has fierce competition from within: the less powerful ID.5 Pro isn’t as swift or as sporty looking, but it is probably more comfortable and is still decently quick.

Then again, Audi Q4’s e-tron and the Skoda Enyaq vRS are essentially the same car in different flavours, so would be worth checking out as well. Their underlying engineering is sound, so it all comes down to how you like your pancake.

Volkswagen ID.5 GTX Motor power/torque 340 hp/545 Nm Battery type/net capacity Lithium-ion/77 kWh Charging type/time 7 hours 35 minutes 0 to 100 per cent (11 kW AC), 1 hour 10 minutes 10 to 80 per cent (50 kW DC), 26 minutes 10 to 80 per cent (175 kW DC) Range 533 km 0-100 kmh 5.4 seconds Top speed 180 kmh Efficiency 21.2 kWh/100 km Agent Volkswagen Group Singapore Price S$258,900 with COE Available Now