Volkswagen ID.7 Tourer review

Our opinion on the Volkswagen ID.7 Tourer

While some may argue that the Volkswagen ID.7 Tourer isn’t an inexpensive choice, it's hard to knock it considering how well it performs in most areas. In terms of practicality, it trumps other electric estate rivals (and some traditionally powered load-luggers, too), while it also has the measure of the best in the class for refinement and comfort. For those looking for an EV that covers all bases, the ID.7 Tourer could be just what they’ve been waiting for.

About the Volkswagen ID.7 Tourer

The regular Volkswagen ID.7 hatchback is already a fine family car, but its Tourer estate sibling provides greater practicality, and its sleek shape is far more aerodynamically efficient than an SUV. The latter greatly benefits the overall driving range, without resorting to a humongous battery capacity.

There’s a choice of rear-wheel drive or four-wheel drive with the ID.7 Tourer. The rear-wheel-drive models use a single motor producing 282bhp, while the four-wheel-drive GTX has a dual-motor set-up producing 335bhp. A 77kWh battery is fitted to Pro models, while the longer-range Pro S and GTX Plus use the bigger 86kWh battery.  

Every single-motor Pro and Pro S ID.7 Tourer comes in well-equipped Match Plus trim, featuring matrix-LED headlights, 19-inch wheels, three-zone climate control, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a 15-inch infotainment system and an augmented-reality head-up display. Four-wheel-drive GTX Plus models feature unique 20-inch alloy wheels, an upgraded Harman Kardon sound system, ventilated front seats, adaptive suspension and sportier exterior styling.

There is a price to be paid for the extensive equipment list, although they are slightly lower than when it initially launched, and the big news is that the once optional energy-efficient heat pump has been made standard. Prices start at just under £52,000 for the 77kWh Pro version, while the long-range 86kWh Pro S comes in just below £55,500. The four-wheel-drive GTX Plus, meanwhile, is around £60,000.

Given that the ID.7 Tourer is designed to cover long distances, you’ll be pleased to find it can happily cope with town driving. Even taking into account its not inconsiderable length of nearly five metres, the ID.7 Tourer is quite easy to pilot at low speeds, with smooth brakes, light steering and a responsive accelerator making it easy to go along with the flow of traffic, without subjecting passengers to a jerky ride. 

Hit a fast A-road or B-road, and the ID.7 Tourer is less happy. Even in Sport mode, the ID.7 Tourer never feels entertaining to drive. It leans in the bends and lacks the sharpness of sportier rivals, with numb steering and a chassis reined in by an ever-present stability control system that cuts in early to stop any histrionics. Even the brakes feel a bit soft and have a long pedal travel, which robs you of a little confidence when trying to slow down this heavy car from higher speeds.

The ID.7 Tourer feels most at home on the motorway, with a level of serenity that some far pricier luxury cars struggle to manage, thanks to there being little in the way of road and wind noise. Choose the optional Exterior Plus Pack, and you’ll gain adaptive suspension, which does a great job of isolating you from the worst bumps and scruffy road surfaces at speed, allowing you to waft along without any underlying fidgeting. This is quite an achievement, given the huge optional 20-inch wheels our test car came with.

Performance, 0-60mph acceleration and top speed 

All rear wheel drive models come with 282bhp on tap, which translates into a 0-62mph time of 6.6 seconds in the lower battery capacity 77kWh Pro model, and 6.7 seconds in the slightly heavier 86kWh Pro S version. The more powerful 335bhp GTX, along with the traction benefits of four-wheel drive, drops this acceleration time down to 5.5 seconds. 

Expert view, on driving experience

‘While it would be silly to describe the ID.7 Tourer as a slow car, its 2,100kg plus kerbweight blunts the feeling of acceleration off the line somewhat, and its weight can really be felt under heavy braking’ - Max Adams, Online reviews editor, who drove a Pro S Match on the UK launch in Gaydon.  

Electric range, battery life and charge time

Despite the Pro version having the smaller 77kWh battery, its claimed 373 miles of range beats the 342-mile BMW i5 Touring, while the Pro S and GTX use a bigger 86kWh battery, giving a whopping 424 miles in the former and 359 miles for the latter. 

We tried an 86kWh Pro S battery in mild temperatures on a mixture of fast A-roads and B-roads with some motorway driving, returning a figure of 3.3mi/kWh. This works out to around 284 miles of range, which is a little disappointing, but the car tested didn’t have a heat pump fitted, which is a more energy-efficient way of heating the interior in cooler weather. This has since been rectified because a heat pump has now been made standard. That’s just as well, given that there are many cheaper EVs that come with one as standard.

The 77kWh battery has a maximum charging speed of 175kWs, while the 86kWh ramps that up to 200kWs, so a 10 to 80 per cent charging window means top-up times using a suitably rapid charger take 28 minutes and 26 minutes, respectively. Utilising a more cost-effective 7kW home wallbox charger, it’ll take just over 12 hours to fully recharge the 77kWh battery, while the 86kWh takes just under 14 hours.

Company car drivers will benefit from lower Benefit-in-Kind (BiK) tax rates compared with traditional petrol, diesel or even hybrid-powered cars such as the Volkswagen Passat, because of the lack of tailpipe emissions. The ID.7 is still an expensive car, so that will have a bearing on your monthly fee. 

EVs no longer benefit from free vehicle excise duty (VED) road tax, and because no version of the ID.7 Tourer drops below the £40,000 threshold for the luxury car tax, you’ll have to pay a supplementary fee above the standard annual rate of VED from the second time the vehicle is taxed, up until it is six years old. It still evades the London Congestion Charge, at least until December 2025.

In terms of insurance, both the Pro and Pro S versions of the ID.7 Tourer are in group 38, while the GTX Plus is in group 41, making it the most expensive model in the range to provide cover for. All versions of the ID.7 Tourer are in a lower group rating than the BMW i5 Tourer, though, which starts in group 43.

According to our experts, the ID.7 Tourer is expected to retain between 52 to 53 per cent of its original value over three years or 36,000 miles. The BMW i5 Touring doesn’t do as well, at 49 to 52 per cent, and is costlier to buy in the first place.

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The ID.7 Tourer features a streamlined and aerodynamic design in order to maximise the electric range. Indeed, this Volkswagen has a slippery drag coefficient of 0.25, although the BMW i5 Touring is even more impressive here, with a rating of 0.23. 

Inside, the ID.7 Tourer isn’t a particularly colourful place to be, and you’ll have to utilise the standard 30-colour interior ambient lighting system to make things brighter. You’ll also need to get used to some quirks of the main controls, in particular the positioning of all the wiper controls on the left to make room for the gear selector on the right. You will get accustomed to them over time, but it’s something to be aware of if you come to the ID.7 Tourer from an older Volkswagen model or another brand.

It’s a shame that you can no longer adjust the direction of the air flow from the central vent without having to dive into the main infotainment system. This is far more distracting than just having manual controls, which most people have been used to in cars for decades.

The ID.7 Tourer uses plusher materials throughout the interior than we have seen in previous ID cars, and generally has a more premium feel. It isn’t quite up to the level of the i5 Touring, but it's certainly a step ahead of other electric estates, such as the Peugeot E-308 SW or Vauxhall Astra Electric Estate. 

Sat-nav, stereo and infotainment

All versions of the ID.7 Tourer use the same large 15-inch central touchscreen, which features a bright display with impressive response times to inputs. There are still some controls that are hidden a little too deeply within sub-menus, but you can save a number of frequently used functions to the main screen to make things easier to find. 

Also, having such a large screen means that the climate controls are on permanent display at the bottom. This means that you don’t have to come out of the screen you’re on (whether it’s the sat-nav or the DAB radio) in order to adjust the temperature.

Complementing the standard wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone connectivity is a wireless phone charging pad, which is under a sliding roller cover ahead of the cup-holders. A nine-speaker audio system is standard, but it can be upgraded to a 12-speaker, 700-watt Harman Kardon sound system if you choose the expensive £2,000 Interior Pack.

Expert view, on design

‘It’s good to hear that physical buttons for the steering wheel controls are returning on future VW models, but the ID.7 Tourer still has to make do with annoying touch sensitive ones for now’ - Max Adams, Online reviews editor, who drove a Pro S Match on the UK launch in Gaydon. 

An estate needs to be practical, so it’s pleasing to see that the ID.7 Tourer affords a 5ft 10in driver and equally tall passenger plenty of room to get settled in. Visibility is also pretty good, with reasonably slim pillars and a decent-sized back window helping to avoid any large blind spots while reversing into a parking space.

Similarly tall passengers in the back will have no issues with the amount of headroom, legroom and shoulder room on offer. There’s a flat floor, meaning the middle-seat occupant doesn’t have to play footsie with those sitting beside them, and parents will like that the rear doors open wide, making it easy to fit a child seat. A pair of ISOFIX child seat mounting points are conveniently hidden behind some removable plastic covers on the outer positions of the rear seats 

Dimensions and size

Given that this estate is based on the large ID.7 hatchback, it’s no surprise that the ID.7 Tourer is a big car. It’s closer to the BMW i5 Tourer in terms of size compared with other electric estate cars such as the Peugeot E-308 SW and Vauxhall Astra Sports Tourer. The ID.7 Tourer is 4,961mm long, 1,551mm tall, and 1,862mm wide (2,141mm including mirrors), so you’ll need a decent-sized garage to park it inside.

Boot space

The 605-litre ID.7 Tourer surpasses the i5 Touring for luggage capacity. You are provided with some space to store your Type 2 charging cable in a cubby below the boot carpet, but that’ll be awkward to access if you have loaded the boot up, whereas some EVs manage to provide some space under the bonnet to keep the cables separate from your luggage.

A standard adjustable height floor keeps the boot area level with the bumper, which helps when loading longer items. The pricier i5 Touring comes with a more versatile 40:20:40 split folding rear seat, as does the significantly cheaper Vauxhall Astra Sports Tourer Electric, but neither is capable of delivering the vast 1,948 litres of capacity the ID.7 Tourer can when its 60:40 split rear seats are folded. The seats lay reasonably flat when dropped, with just a slight incline to push items over.

Towing

As a towing vehicle, the ID.7 Tourer isn’t the most obvious choice based on raw figures alone. The regular Pro S version only has a 1,000kg braked towing capacity, while the four-wheel-drive GTX increases this to 1,200kg. If you want more capacity and still need something electrified, the plug-in eHybrid versions of the Volkswagen Tiguan and Volkswagen Passat can both handle a 1,800 kg caravan or trailer.

Expert view, on practicality

‘Some parents prefer to have their child close by if they’re driving alone without anybody else to help look after their little one, so they’ll be pleased to know that the ID.7 Tourer has child seat mounting points on the front passenger seat. Just make sure the passenger airbag is switched off, especially when installing a rearward-facing child seat in this position.’- Max Adams, Online reviews editor, who drove a Pro S Match on the UK launch in Gaydon. 

It’s too soon to say what owning an ID.7 Tourer will be like, because the car hasn’t featured in our most recent Driver Power owner satisfaction survey. The rather disappointing 29th position out of 32 manufacturers for the Volkswagen brand in our 2024 poll puts it some way behind BMW in 14th.

The ID.7 Tourer will be a safe space for your family, because it received the maximum five-star rating from Euro NCAP in 2023, beating the score of the BMW 5 Series (which also covers the electric i5 version) in the adult and child occupant categories. The VW only came up a little short of the BMW in the vulnerable road user and safety assistance disciplines.

All versions of ID.7 Tourer feature autonomous emergency braking (AEB) to help mitigate or prevent low-speed collisions with other vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians. There’s also adaptive cruise control to keep a safe distance from the vehicle in front, as well as lane-keep assistance to help maintain positioning within the lane.

A blind-spot monitoring system is also standard, and provides a warning of vehicles that are alongside you when indicating to change lanes. When parked up, it’ll also provide a warning of approaching vehicles to hopefully prevent you from opening a door into the path of a cyclist. There’s also a rear cross traffic alert system designed to stop drivers from reversing out into the path of an approaching car.

• Best buy: Volkswagen ID.7 Pro 77kWh Match Plus

While it is tempting to go for the longest range Pro S version, we’d recommend saving a few grand and sticking with the entry-level Pro model with the 77kWh battery. The pricier car only adds an extra 50 miles to the already generous 373 miles of range this model is rated for, so you may as well save some money and go for the slightly lighter car that might be a little more efficient, too. It comes in Match Pro trim, which is already very well equipped, and has the all-important heat pump as standard.

Volkswagen has a fairly standard three-year/60,000-mile warranty, which can’t quite match the unlimited mileage policy provided by BMW. The battery pack comes with a separate eight-year/100,000-mile warranty, which guarantees that the battery pack will retain above 70 per cent of its capacity over that period, or it’ll be replaced under warranty.

Those covering high mileages will appreciate the fact that service intervals are every two years, and you can cover an unlimited number of miles during that time, which is ideal for those covering long distances. A service plan can be set up at the time of purchase for a lump sum of £372, or £15.50 per month over 24 months.

Alternatives

The ID.7 Tourer is positioned above smaller electric estates such as the Peugeot E-308 SW and Vauxhall Astra Electric Sports Tourer, and provides a much bigger boot. The ID.7 Tourer also delivers the long-range driving comfort of a BMW i5 Touring, but without the latter’s premium pricing. 

In terms of where the ID.7 Tourer sits in the Volkswagen range, it costs less than the Volkswagen ID. Buzz, but more than the Volkswagen ID.4 and Volkswagen ID.5 electric SUVs. The ID. Buzz would be better for those who have bigger families, especially now that it can be had with seven seats. However, the ID.7 Tourer has a much greater range thanks to its superior aerodynamics and reduced weight.

Volkswagen ID.7 Tourer pictures

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