The VW ID.7 Tourer – a successful combination

Pretty rear and a lot behind it
The VW ID.7 Tourer – a successful combination

If you want it to be spacious, it doesn't always have to be an SUV: VW proves this with the first electric station wagon from Wolfsburg. The ID.7 Tourer is now intended to attract both corporate customers and families.

A Passat without a variant is like a VW sausage without curry ketchup. Nobody knows this better than the people of Lower Saxony themselves. That's why they are now transferring this unwritten law into the new era – and are providing a station wagon to accompany the electric Passat alternative ID.7 a good year after its launch.

With a base price of 54,795 euros, around 800 euros more expensive than the sedan, it will go on sale in autumn and thus fills a niche in the electric car market. Apart from the Opel Astra and its French cousin Peugeot 308, station wagons are few and far between there. If you ignore the exotic Chinese imports MG5 and Nio ET5, the luxurious BMW i5 Touring or the Porsche Taycan Sport Turismo.

Room for more

VW, on the other hand, uses its modular electrical system and uses it to build its first tourer. At 4.91 meters, this variant for Generation E is the same length as the hatchback sedan, but has the downside of a classic station wagon. This offers a lot of space behind the – of course electric – flap: 605 liters with the seats upright and 1714 liters with the seats flat. This means that the tourer not only outperforms the conventional ID.7 by around ten percent, but is also ahead of most electric SUVs in the ID family.

Just like with a conventional station wagon, the people from Lower Saxony are not concerned with the large space alone when it comes to the tourer. As with the Passat, there are also a few clever details that can be used, for example, to divide up the cargo space and hold luggage. Despite the battery in the floor, there is a compartment in the basement that is large enough for the charging cable. And even if it is poisonous for the range, the touring qualities of the tourer can be increased with a large roof box or a bicycle rack on the trailer hitch. It also fits in the trunk when unloaded.

It's not just loadmasters who benefit from the new cut. The backbenchers also have it better: they enjoy more headroom under the roof that extends to the rear. And because VW fills the huge area with glass instead of sheet metal, there is also a lighter ambience. If it gets too bright, Lower Saxony will provide shade electronically. Instead of a blind, there are crystals in the glass that become cloudy at the push of a button and block out the sun like frosted glass.

Not only more space, but also more power

With the new body variant, a new engine and a new battery variant also make their debut in the ID.7. Where there was previously only one electric motor with 210 kW/286 hp on the rear axle, the Lower Saxony company is now installing a second one with 81 kW/110 hp at the front, thus achieving a system output of 240 kW/326 hp.

Add to that a few striking add-on parts outside and inside, an ambience in black and red, an adaptive chassis with 15 levels for individual fine-tuning of the already tighter set-up and steering with more sharpness – you get a bit of a GTI feeling. At least that's what marketing hopes. But as much as the sprint value of 5.5 seconds for the sprint from 0 to 100 km/h makes you want more, the momentum is quickly gone. Because the GTX also stops at 180 km/h.

Perhaps more important is the new battery, which VW is installing in both body variants for an additional charge of almost 5,000 euros. It has a capacity of 86 instead of 77 kWh and extends the operating radius by almost 100 to up to 709 standard kilometers.

And so that you don't have to pay for the further journey with longer waiting times at the charging station, VW has increased the charging power to 200 kW. Therefore, in the best case scenario, less than 30 minutes are enough for the lift from 10 to 80 percent. Appropriate charging stations provided.

The ID.7 thus offers two very distinctive characters: As a GTX, it becomes a high-performance driver that sometimes gets your pulse racing a little, and with the large battery it becomes a long-term runner for frequent drivers and is closer than ever to a Passat TDI.

Conclusion: The universal Stromer

With the new battery, the powerful GTX model and, above all, the station wagon, VW has made the ID.7 a generalist among its battery-powered cars. Just as the people of Lower Saxony have already served all needs with the Passat, the ID.7 also fits into every everyday situation. But as is often the case with electric cars, this also comes at a price: families and frequent drivers have to dig deeper into their pockets if they want to keep up with the times and therefore drive electric.

Data sheet: VW ID.7 Tourer Pro S