We’re big fans of the ID.7 here at T3, and now Volkswagen’s flagship electric car has just got even better – because it’s now available as an estate.
Sorry if that doesn’t grab you by the lapels and stir your soul. But it’s good news because, so far at least, electric estate cars are something of a rarity. Despite their ability to blend saloon car scale, aerodynamic efficiency and driving dynamics with the stowage capacity of an SUV, there are precious few to pick from.
Now there’s the Volkswagen ID.7 Tourer, and we’re rather happy about it. VW says the 86 kWh battery is good for a forecasted range of up to 425 miles and it’ll charge at up to 200 kW if you find a sufficiently powerful charger. And being an estate means there’s loads of space behind the rear seats – a generous 605 litres, or 1,714 litres if the rear seats are folded down. All-electric runs to the local recycling centre await.
We love how the ID.7 Tourer is exactly the same size as the ID.7 saloon, so you get an extra 73 litres of seats-up storage space with zero added bulk. Both cars are 4,961 mm long, 1,862 mm wide (excluding mirrors), 1,536 mm tall and have a 2,971 mm wheelbase.
Two variants are coming to Europe at launch. These are called the ID.7 Tourer Pro and the Tourer Pro S. Both have a single, 210 kW (282 horsepower) electric motor driving the rear wheels. The 425-mile range and 200 kW charging ability mentioned above are for the Pro S, while the Pro makes do with a 77 kWh battery and a peak charge rate of 175 kW.
VW says the smaller battery can charge from 10 to 80 percent in as little as 28 minutes, while the bigger battery can perform the same refill (with a 200 kW maximum rate) in the strangely vague time of “significantly less than 30 minutes.” As always, the true charge time will depend on ambient and battery temperatures, the type of charger and its status, the health of the battery and its current state of charge.
Speaking of battery temperature, Volkswagen says how the ID.7 Tourer and its saloon sibling – which we’ve already driven – pre-conditioning their batteries so that they’re at the ideal temperature for a fast top-up when you reach a charging station. This can be helpful on longer journeys, but means you have to use the car’s own navigation system, or enable pre-conditioning manually, so it knows when you’ll be stopping to feed it some more electrons. VW says battery pre-heating “enables the charging time to be reduced by several minutes, particularly in winter.”
Although obviously a very close relative of the ID.7 saloon, Volkswagen says the Tourer “differs significantly”, thanks to its elongated roofline and increased rear passenger headroom. VW suggests how the Tourer takes its design cues from both the classic estate lines of a Passat and the more stylish Arteon shooting brake.
In flagship Pro S trim the ID.7 Tourer gets loads of kit as standard. This includes LED lighting front and rear, diamond-cut 19-inch alloy wheels and roof rails (for the family holiday roof box, naturally). There’s also keyless entry and start, massage seats that work as part of a wellness app, 10-colour ambient lighting, an enhanced augmented reality head-up display, rear-view camera and two-zone automatic climate control.
Also standard-fit is Volkswagen’s new IDA voice assistant, which can tap into the artificial intelligence of ChatGPT to help answer your questions. VW says ChatGPT integration won’t be available at launch, however, and if our demo of the system in January was anything to go by, we’ll happily wait for the bugs we encountered to be ironed out first. We think AI tech in cars has a bright future ahead of it, but for now VW needs to home in on a set of specific use cases that really make ChatGPT shine in an automotive environment.
The ID.7 cabin features a 15-inch freestanding touchscreen display. This runs Volkswagen’s recently-upgraded infotainment system which, although still reliant on touch over tactility, we think delivers on the company’s promise to improve its widely-criticised predecessor. We especially like the ID.7's new head-up display which, at long last, shows the navigation instructions from a phone connected via Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. This means you’ll get your turn-by-turn directions right where you need them, instead of them only appearing on the touchscreen.
VW hasn't announced prices for its electric estate just yet. The regular model starts at just over £50,000 in the UK, so buyers should expect something similar for the more practical Tourer.
