Last week, Volkswagen announced that its ID.4 electric crossover would no longer be built in America. However, it’s not fully discontinued yet. Not only is inventory expected to last into 2027, the marque stated, “A future version of ID.4 is currently planned for the North American market; details will be shared at a later date.” While that “later date” hasn’t arrived yet, we just got a serious look at what could be in store for the next ID.4 thanks to the new Volkswagen ID.3 Neo.
The ID.4 was Volkswagen’s first scratch-built EV for America, but it wasn’t the marque’s first electric car that wasn’t just a converted regular car. It was preceded by the ID.3, a hatchback-style platform-mate that wasn’t sold in America but featured pretty much all of the ID.4’s general operational annoyances. Given that general timeline, it’s solid reasoning that the ID.3 would be the first ID. model to receive an update, and guess what? It looks just about fixed.
This is the ID.3 Neo. Yep, like the MacBook. However, instead of being a relatively cheap computer for teenagers to discover GarageBand on, it’s a tall Golf-sized family hatchback that promises more of everything. Let’s start with more lights, because the first thing most people will notice is the giant light bar across the front end like a supersized version of what we’ve already seen on models like the Tiguan and Atlas. It’s an easy element to get wrong because any gaps between a light bar and headlights look cheap, but Volkswagen seems to have done it right. More importantly, strong horizontal elements are a great way to make a car look less tall, so the light bar and the wider lower grille really put in some work here.
Under the skin, the ID.3 Neo also gets some meaningful upgrades. It now supports vehicle-to-load power transfer so you can charge and run appliances off the car’s battery pack, and high-efficiency motors boost range by 12.7 percent to 391 miles on the WLTP cycle. At the same time, peak DC fast charging energy transfer rises from 175 kW to 183 kW on models with the 79 kWh battery pack. A small gain, but a meaningful one.
However, the biggest advancement with the ID.3 Neo is how touch-sensitive nonsense has gone out the window in favor of real physical controls, starting aptly with the window switches. The outgoing ID.3—like the ID.4—featured the mildly infuriating arrangement of two physical switches and a touch-sensitive capacitive pad to operate four windows. If you wanted to crack a rear window to get a cross-breeze going, you’d need to find the pad marked “Rear,” press it, then use the window switch of your choosing, and then not forget to hit the pad again to control the front windows. Mercifully, Volkswagen has rediscovered that it’s entirely possible to put four window switches on the driver’s door panel. That’s one wheel un-reinvented.
It’s a similar deal with the dashboard controls. Touch-sensitive sliders for volume and temperature were a pain to use, even after Volkswagen finally illuminated them. Real toggle switches for temperature, fan speed, and other key climate control functions are going to be an enormous upgrade for usability. The lovely-looking knurling is just icing on the cake.
Then there’s the dead-simple volume knob, which adopts an idea used by brands like Audi and Mazda. It’s in the console so it’s easy to reach, you twirl it to adjust volume, jog it left and right to seek through tracks, and press it in to cycle audio power. It’s pretty much the perfect volume knob form factor because it’s instantly intuitive.
Oh, and then there are the steering wheel controls, which we’ve basically seen on the ID.Every1 concept. Cruise control and a volume rocker on the left, digital instrument cluster controls, a voice command button, an audio track rocker, and a real heated steering wheel button on the right. Simple yet comprehensive. Exactly as it should be.
Given the architecture commonalities between the ID.3 and the ID.4, I wouldn’t be surprised if a whole bunch of the upgrades on the ID.3 Neo make it over to the next ID.4. Vehicle-to-load and revised drive units, perhaps, but a brace of real buttons is the big deal because it would fix the biggest problem with Volkswagen’s electric crossover. Considering the ID.4 only launched a year after the original ID.3, there’s a good chance we’ll find out for sure relatively soon.
Top graphic image: Volkswagen
This almost perfectly aligns with what I would be looking to buy in the next couple years. The size and layout appear right. It’s not goofy and overstyled. Specifications and range meet my use case. It’s got four real door handles in the right place on the doors (hooray!) The main downsides are the tacked on screens and not being offered here (boo!). Maybe by the time I need it, Canada and the EU will have harmonized their standards and it will come here.
and no Piano Black trim!!!
So that knurling came from the cousins in Zuffenhausen, right?
MECHANICAL DOOR HANDLES?
Also is it just me or does it look like a Second Gen Nissan Leaf from the back corner pic?
It’s too much of what I would have expected from vw after the egolf there much be some hideous catch. Maybe if it’s cheap enough in Europe they can bring it to the us for whatever that works out to. I can’t see them selling enough of them in the US to make it here unless it’s absolutely dirt cheap. 2 door hot hatch version would be a riot.
The first line of evidence that VW might be getting its shit back together
Wow. It looks so…. normal. It’s like someone finally discovered you can build an EV without designing it to like a weird 1990s fever dream spaceship.
I like it.
Two large circles in the dash. One is the speedometer. The other?
Looks like battery discharge/regen rate. My dad’s hybrid Civic had a similar (digital) gauge off to the side. Pretty handy if you’re trying to max out range.
Wife’s hybrid has one, much smaller, on a rotating-menu with other info.
That big? Seems like a major distraction while driving.
Seems like a filler for design choices. They probably decided the dashboard needed to be that width and have 2 big gauges to meet the aesthetic target, and figured that was the most relevant thing in an EV. It’ll probably/hopefully be easy to dismiss in favor of navigation or some other menu.
The display is configurable, this is the retro layout that replicates the Mk1 Golf.
The default doesn’t look like that.
That’s what I figured, most vehicles with digital clusters have some flexibility on what gets displayed there.
Looks like percentage of motor load with regen at the bottom.
It’s for the fake redline.
The mk1 Golf dash display is a brilliant touch.
I love when they do that! The Fox-body dials on the Mustang are just as good.
I specifically bought the German market version of my Bosch dishwasher because it has buttons on the front, not the US “touch panel” on the top edge, with an app to control half the features.
So yeah, buttons all the way.
You mean just the front control version? Front control, top control, and ADA compliant (a variation with front control) are all standard offerings from Bosch for the US market.
My problem with all Bosch dishwashers (except the ADA ones) is that certain dishwasher functions are now only accessible in an app. The ADA have other shortcomings though, as a result of them being ADA compliant.
I dunno. I was in Canadian Appliance Source and that was the rundown the sale guy gave me. I chose the one with buttons on the front.
It’s a great dishwasher btw. The people online are right, buy a 300 series Bosch and move on with life.
Just like your dishwasher, the German market version of this (or any) Volkswagen is going to be better than the US model.
It’s kinda still sad looking interior compared to mk7. Also just call it eGolf already. And make wagon and allow it to tow a bit. Unlike ID4, it’s not tow rated at all, which was showstopper for us. We don’t need much, but with garden and old house renovations, ability to take stuff to carbage yard or hardware store is big deal with our small trailer.
Yes, it is black and kinda depressing, but honestly? It is an economy car.
At least it is a clean, crisp functional European design. Is that not what people want?
Every time a current VW BMW, Mercedes, etc is posted, people (rightfully) complain that the design is too “wild” and not restrained and tasteful enough.
Well, here’s a restrained, classic black VW interior, just like every Golf I’ve been in since the Mk3.
Under the new naming scheme it’ll be ID.Golf, but I bet that’s the next generation.
It’s giving German Chevy Bolt a bit.
So we do care about Volkswagen? Asking for a friend. But really, what’s going on with that steering wheel?
Agreed. Not circular and there has got to be room for just one more button. For windows? Or to pop the hatch? Adjust the mirrors? Aim the headlights? Recline the seat?
Otherwise, it is about the size I’d like to replace my medium-warm hatch. ID.4 is too big for me and wife. ID.2, if such a thing exists in a hatch, would be even better, assuming the numbers are relative to sizes.