Independent SME Fleet Motoring News

Company Car and Van

Independent SME Fleet Motoring News

Volkswagen ID.7 Pro Tourer

by Andrew Walker

Volkswagen are beginning to get their electric cars right. After a sticky start with ID.3, 4 & 5 the latest models including ID.7 are proving to be a much better company car proposition. We drove the ID.7 in late 2023 & concluded that it’s the best electric VW yet. Fast – forward to early 2025 & the ID.7 Tourer landed at our doors & as we discovered it’s arguably even better. Here’s how we got on.
 
What is it ?
 
In effect a more spacious ID.7 offering 605 litres of boot space increasing to 1,714 with the rear row folded down. A flat boot floor with storage underneath for your charging cables & cargo nets add to the Tourers practicality.
 
Model choice
Three versions of the ID.7 Tourer are offered. Our test car the Pro Match is fitted with a 77kWh battery & offers 286bhp. Next up is the Pro S Match, with a bigger 86kWh battery & the same power & finally range-topping GTX also mated to the 86kWh battery but offering 340hp & 4WD.
 
Range 
 
Our test car the Pro Match comes with a 373 mile range, whilst the GTX offers 359 miles. The leader though is the Pro Match S which offers a highly competitive 424 miles putting it in the top-tier of battery electric cars.
 
Exterior
 
An estates an estate so don’t expect anything too funky here. VW have simply added some touches to illuminate the 7’s exterior namely, 19” alloys, IQ.Light LED matrix headlights, LED tail clusters, body coloured bumpers & door handles, gloss black door mirrors, a black roof & silver roof trim.
Interior
 
Where early VW ID’s got this badly wrong the latest gen of ID models are now offering a tasty interior especially on the 7. The central 15” touchscreens’ a good start dominating the dashboard & offering some great graphics & straight forward menus to navigate around.
There’s a small driver display that’s almost redundant thanks to the excellent augmented head-up display which offers the driver information in 3D format. The highlight is a directional arrow making it difficult to miss any SatNav instructions. There’s also a blue lit dashboard, that looks cool & a handily placed wireless phone charger with twin USB’s.The climate controls sit at the base of & beneath the screen & are relatively easy to work with.
 
The interior fixtures & fittings are neat & tidy with a selection of good quality plastics & seat coverings lifting the rather bland grey & chrome colour way. Space up front is generous whilst in the rear thanks to the cars near 5m length & flat footwell there’s acres of space for three adults to sit side by side. Headroom on our test car was slightly affected by the optional darkening panoramic sunroof.
 
Highest praise is saved for the on-board sound system, one of the best we’ve come across
 
Standard spec
 
As we were testing the entry-level Pro it was great to see so much kit as standard. Included are, comfort seats  with seat bolsters, ergoActive driver & front passenger heated massage seats with power adjustment, pneumatically adjustable lumbar support, with memory feature & seat depth adjustment. A  leatherette-trimmed, heated, multifunction steering wheel is also standard as are interior ambient lighting with 30 colour options, Discover Pro SatNav with media & internet, the 15”touchscreen, DAB, Bluetooth, 8 + 1 speakers, wireless Apple CarPlay & Android Auto, two front & two rear USB-C inputs & wireless smartphone charging. All models also come with a rear view camera, keyless entry & exit, 3-zone climate control, rear tinted glass & an electric tailgate.

Safety

Impressive with Park Assist Plus with memory function, front & rear parking sensors, Adaptive Cruise Control, Front Assist, Lane Assist, Side Assist, Traffic Assist, Rear Traffic Assist, Emergency Assist, Forward Collision Warning & Traffic Jam Assist. 

Driving

It’s refreshing to drive an EV estate & like the ID.7 the Tourer drives well even over poor road surfaces. It’s easy to drive & even its length is no hindrance when parking thanks to the on board tech that comes as standard.

In town it’s quiet & composed aided by the light steering. The right side gear change becomes second nature especially driving in the B regeneration setting & if you toggle between the driving modes you’ll find that Eco, Normal, Sport & Individual do in fact offer slight tweaks to how the 7 handles & in Eco will conserve the battery range. It’s at it’s best as motorway cruiser happily transporting five in comfort with the excellent speakers a stand-out & of course it comes with a highly practical boot & cabin as well.

Inside, there’s way more room on offer than you get in a Model 3 & pretty much everything else out there. We like that it’s a car that focus’s on comfort & it scores highly for refinement too

As far as driving range goes we were achieving 2.8 miles a kWh in cold February & would surmise that the claimed range of 373 miles is a likely 300 in most circumstances.

Pros

Practical, comfortable & spacious. Good quality fixtures & fittings. Drives & handles like a smaller car. Excellent on the motorway.

Cons

You have to pay £600-£700 more for the Tourer than the ID.7 hatch & the boots not that much larger.

Verdict

The highest praise that we can give the ID.7 Tourer is that it gives the class conquering Tesla 3 & Y a run for their money. It’s also refreshing to see an electric estate in the marketplace & kudos to VW for upping the ante inside with some quality finishes. It is a bit more to buy than a standard ID.7 but does offer a bit more space in the boot. We also think it’s more handsome than the standard ID.7

An electric estate that gets almost everything right. 4.5/5

About Andrew Walker

Andrew 'Max' Walker is a member of the Northern Group of Motoring Writers & has been reviewing cars & vans since 1991. He has supplied stories for Fleet North, MSA Newslink, Health Fleet Management, Local Authority Fleet Manager & various Chamber of Commerce & lifestyle publications. He launched Company Car & Van in April 2010 specifically for SME fleets, who are the backbone of the UK economy. His favourite car of all time is the original Citroen DS & like most motoring writers, he loves to drive a van.