Volkswagen ID.5 Review & Prices

If you want a practical electric family SUV that’s smooth and easy to drive, but are turned off by the styling of the blobby Volkswagen ID4, then the sleeker ID5 might be worth a look.

It shares all of its important mechanical bits with the ID4, but swaps that car’s traditional boxy SUV styling for a sloping coupe roofline that brings a bit of extra styling panache. Think of it as being a bit like one of those Smeg refrigerators: it’s ultimately still an appliance, it’s just a bit more interesting to look at from the outside. A similar approach is taken by alternatives such as the Audi Q4 e-tron Sportback and the Skoda Enyaq Coupe.

On the inside, it’s business as usual including some really comfortable seats up-front that offer plenty of adjustability to let you get settled in behind the wheel. There are very few buttons, and a slightly disappointing amount of hard, scratchy plastics. Still, there’s loads of storage cubbies, and the cabin’s minimalist design is easy on the eyes.

Despite that swept-back roofline, there’s still enough space for adult passengers to get comfy in the back seats, and a flat floor means three kids will fit in just fine too. Super-tall passengers will likely find the ID5 a bit less accommodating for headroom than the squarer ID4, though. But the ID5’s 549-litre boot is actually marginally larger than the ID4’s.

And as for battery range? Well, all ID5s get a 77kWh battery, which is good for a range of up to 313 miles. We’d recommend the slightly more powerful 201hp motor over the entry-level 172hp version, however, as the added punch it offers is welcome – particularly when you’re overtaking. There’s a 295hp GTX model too, which is even faster, but it’s pricey and range drops to 296 miles.

Plug the ID5 into a 7kW home wallbox charger, and you’ll top its battery up from 0-100% in just over 12 hours. Find a 130kW public charger, and you’ll be able to take it from 10-80% capacity in half an hour.

Around town, the ID5 accelerates smoothly and swiftly, and its accurate steering lets you thread it down tight streets with ease. It’s not the smoothest or most comfortable car over bumps, though, and its sporty roofline means the view out of the tiny rear window is poor. Parking cameras and sensors are here to help make up for this, though.

On the motorway it settles down to take the strain out of long-distance driving, although the wind does blow quite noisily around the wing mirrors. You won’t find the ID5 to be a barrel of laughs on a twisty road, either, though it does corner with more than enough grip to keep you feeling safe and secure. Overtaking slower cars requires a lot of space though – the 204hp model isn’t quick when accelerating from open-road speeds.

But still, the ID5 is likeable enough. It might not be fun, but it’s sensible, easy to drive and decently practical – even with that sloping roofline. It’s also easier on the eyes than the ID4, which is no bad thing.

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The VW ID5 is marketed as a premium EV and its base price reflects these higher aspirations. It matches the Ford Mustang Mach-E in its base trim but is pricier than the very capable Kia EV6. The Audi Q4 e-tron actually undercuts the ID5 but that’s because it can be had with a smaller 55.5kWh battery pack. Fit it with the same 77kWh battery pack as you get in the ID5, and the prices are nearly identical.

Skoda’s new Enyaq Coupe is available only in top vRS trim, so is a closer match to mechanically similar ID5 GTX, with both vehicles costing within a thousand pounds of each other.

The best value in the ID5 range, though, is to be had with the mid-range 201hp Pro Performance option in base Style trim. It offers a great blend of electric range and performance while offering decent value relative to alternatives.

Those sporty looks don’t necessarily translate into a sporty drive, but the VW ID5 is a consummate cruiser and very easy to drive around town

In town

The responsive electric drivetrain and light controls give the ID5 an agile feel when darting between lanes and navigating city streets. The raised driving position also aids visibility ahead, although the angled rear roof section means a small rear window and a compromised view out the back. You do get surround parking sensors and a rearview camera as standard to help with parking manoeuvres.

The suspension is quite firm, though, transmitting bumps into the cabin and giving the ride a jittery feel over rougher road surfaces.

On the motorway

At motorway speeds the ride settles down and the ID5 cruises along with impressive levels of refinement. There is a bit of wind noise from the wing mirrors, probably more noticeable here thanks to the silent electric drivetrain.

Adaptive cruise control and lane assist combine to make the ID5 a great long-distance companion, aided by the comfortable seats and airy cabin. The lower powered models do require some coaxing for overtaking manoeuvres at higher speeds, something you won’t have to worry about in the rapid twin-motor GTX version.

On a twisty road

There’s not a whole lot of fun to be had down a winding road in the ID5. The firm suspension limits body lean and outright grip is good, but it lacks that playful character that is more apparent in alternatives like the Ford Mustang Mach-E. But it’s certainly not a deal-breaker in the context of a family-friendly electric SUV.

The ID5 offers plenty of passenger space, although headroom is a bit compromised for tall adults in the rear

The front seats are heated as standard and offer lots of adjustability, they even have their own armrests so there’s no awkward elbow-touching with your passenger. Power adjustable seats including lumbar support is standard from the Tech trim up. The steering wheel has the usual rake and reach adjustments, so getting the perfect driving position shouldn’t be an issue.

The interior comes with some handy storage spots, from large boor bins to big gulp-sized cup holders in the centre console. There’s a closable cubby just behind the cup holders and a tiny glovebox that can keep a few smaller items out of sight.

Space in the back seats

The ID5 offers plenty of space in the back for a pair of adults or three teenagers, even for longer trips. The angled rear roofline compromises headroom a bit for taller passengers compared to the ID4, but only by 5mm. The completely flat floor makes it easy to slide into the centre seat, it’s a bit narrower than the outer pews but is still comfortable and has its own headrest.

Clearly marked ISOFIX mounting points are placed in the outer rear seats, and getting a baby seat in is aided by the wide-opening doors and the car’s raised height. There are some large door bins and front seatback pockets for storage, the centre seatback also folds down to become an armrest – it also houses a pair of cup holders.

Boot space

The ID5 has a generous 549 litres of boot space with the rear seats up. That’s actually six litres more than you get in the ID4 and way bigger than the 402 litres you get in a Ford Mustang Mach-E. Although the Ford does have a small 81-litre storage compartment up front.

The ID5 is also slightly more luggage-friendly than the Audi Q4 e-tron, which offers 535 litres. The loading area is nice and flat, with only a small loading lip which can be minimised even further with the standard adjustable boot floor. You get shopping hooks, a luggage net and a net partition to help keep all your items in place while on the move.

A clean and modern design is slightly let down by a few cheap materials and the fiddly climate control buttons

The ID5 is practically identical to the ID4 inside, so you get a thoroughly modern and uncluttered cabin with two digital screens mounted on the dashboard that give you access to the various on-board features. The ID5, however, does not come in the lower-spec Life trim that is available on the ID4. Instead, it starts off with the slightly plusher Style, which has nicer seat coverings and a panoramic glass sunroof as standard. Unfortunately, the hard plastics used on the doors, centre console and lower section of the dashboard are all the more disappointing in the pricier ID5. Especially when you look inside the cabins of the Audi Q4 e-tron and Nissan Ariya.

The 12.0-inch infotainment screen offers sharp graphics, quick response times and all the features you could want at this level. That includes wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, sat nav, DAB radio and over-the-air update capabilities. There’s also a wireless smartphone charger fitted to all trims.

As with all VW products that use this system, the touch-sensitive buttons along the bottom of the screen for the climate control are frustrating to use – especially while on the move. The steering wheel features similar haptic feedback pads which can also be inadvertently activated while driving.

A 6 speaker 140-watt audio system is standard, and an augmented reality head-up display is offered on all but the base trim.

The ID5 is offered in three power outputs, and one 77kWh battery size. The Pro has a single electric motor powering the rear wheels and it produces 172hp. This gives it a rather pedestrian 10.4-second 0-62mph time, well behind most other brand’s entry-level alternatives. It feels perfectly fine around town, but does run out of breath on the motorway, so you may want to stretch to one of the more powerful versions if you spend a lot of time at higher speeds.

The large 77kWh battery pack translates into 327 miles of claimed range, better than the 273 miles the base Ford Mustang Mach-E can manage on its smaller 68kWh battery. It’s about on par with the Kia EV6 but well behind in terms of acceleration.

The 201hp Pro Performance model retains the single rear-mounted electric motor but the additional power gives it a far friskier 0-62mph time of 8.4-seconds. The predicted range remains the same at 327 miles. The difference in pricing between the Pro and Pro Performance is marginal, making the more powerful version the default choice here.

Opting for the higher Tech trim reduces range to 324 miles, with the range-topping Max trim bringing it down further to 322 miles. These minor deviations should not make much difference in real-world driving, where weather conditions and driving style will have a much bigger influence on your efficiency levels. 

GTX Style models get an additional electric motor for the front axle, which pushes power up to 295hp and reduces the 0-62mph sprint to 6.3 seconds. It also reduces the range slightly to 314 miles. The GTX feels far quicker than the single-motor models but it still lags behind the twin-motor offerings in the Ford Mustang Mach-E (0-62mph in 5.6 seconds) and KIA EV6 (0-62mph in 5.2 seconds).

Using a standard 7kW home wallbox will have the battery charged from 0-100% in around 12 hours. Find a 130kW public fast charger and you can zap the battery from 10-80% in just over 30 minutes. The all-electric ID5 benefits from a 0% company car Benefit-In-Kind tax rate and there is no road tax either.

The VW ID4 was tested under the newer more stringent Euro NCAP procedures in 2021 and received a full five-star rating. These results apply to the ID5 as well, which means a 93% score for adult occupant safety, 89% for child occupants and a stellar 85% for safety assist devices.

Standard active and passive safety devices include keyless entry, adaptive cruise control, road sign display, lane assist, rearview camera and autonomous brake assist. 

The VW ID range is relatively new to the market and as such it is too early to tell how it will fare in the reliability stakes. The ID5 does share a lot of components with other VW Group products and the fewer moving parts in an electric vehicle should help make it a reliable vehicle in the years to come.

The ID5 comes with a three-year/60,000-mile warranty, extendable for an additional year. The high voltage battery pack comes with an eight-year/100,000-mile warranty.