Volkswagen ID.5 GTX | The Fast One
The Volkswagen ID.5 GTX, is the fastest one of the ID family together with the ID.4 GTX. The name GTX has its roots in the name “GTI” and will be used for Volkswagen’s fast and more sporty EVs. I used to own a Golf GTI myself so this one definitely couldn’t be missing from my list. I was very curious to see if the GTX feels and drives a bit like an electrified GTI.
The Well Built Coupé
As usual, we will first do a little walk around the car to discuss the exterior of this ID.5 GTX. We start the tour at the front and when looking at the front we see it's nothing too crazy. Overall the same look as we’re used to see in the ID lineup, with exception of the cute ID. Buzz of course. I have to confess I like the front of these cars and that’s because of the front bumper which isn't completely closed. With many electric cars, you’ll see that there's no actual grille in the front because cooling is unnecessary there. But the overall looks of the car really improve when it has a little bit of a grille. Another key feature of the front are the lights, they look very sporty and robust and make the car look mean. The IQ. Light with Full-LED Matrix headlights gives you an amazing view in the dark and will perfectly light up the road in front of you. Something eye-catching is the LED strip which continues until the VW sign is reached. I wasn’t a big fan of these LED strips in the front of cars but I’m beginning to appreciate them. The lights will also turn on once you’re close enough to the car, how cool is that?! Also, the three little LED lights (Fog Lights) underneath the headlights are a big plus for me. They make the nose look just that little more playful and they aren't really common anymore, especially with EVs.
If we continue our tour and move over to the side of the car, we’ll see how beautifully streamlined this car is and how the whole body is designed like a wave. The upper part of the car is completely black and super contrasting with the lower part of the car. We also see a cool GTX badge in line with the door handles. A cool thing about the handles is that they will illuminate when night has fallen. The most important thing we didn't discuss yet is the color of this car. The color, named Scale Silver, is a very plain and safe color to choose from. It doesn’t look too bad, especially with the black trims and details but it may be a bit boring. Boring or not, it still perfectly shows the curves and lines of the ID.5. There's just one thing I don’t like when I look at the side and that's the 21-inch “Narvik” Silver rims. Don't worry, they are now only available with gloss black finish!
Let's move to our latest stop, the rear of the ID.5. There you will definitely notice its extraordinary but awesome design! The IQ. Light 3D LED taillights with dynamic turn signals and adjustable animations just steal the show and are very good-looking. These taillights also have that same continuous LED strip design like we have on the front. We also got some cool details on the rear. Just underneath the VW sign we have a black GTX badge which is super contrasting with the Scale Silver exterior color. Right above the taillights we’ll see a good-looking spoiler which makes this car really sporty. The spoiler is placed on the very big trunk that you can open automatically with a kick move underneath the bumper and close again with a press on the button. I’m quite a big fan of coupes in general, especially the higher models like this one. They look very sporty and are just big enough in my opinion. Overall, when you look at the ID.5 we can't say it’s a sports car or that it has a bit of “GTI” DNA. It just has some sporty details, that’s it. So definitely not close to an electrified Golf GTI comparing it with the exterior.
Simplicity Is The Key
The inside of this car is pretty, yet very simple. The “Open Space” interior offers you more freedom and space for everything you need. It’s a full black interior with the typical red stitching you’ll also find in the GTI models. The sporty steering wheel feels and looks really good. The little GTX details are amazing, like the GTX badge on the flat side of the steering wheel. When you look at the road you’ll see the optional Augmented Reality (AR) head-up display which projects important information into your field of view directly on the windscreen. Thanks to AR technology, you see the navigation instructions exactly where you are driving or need to turn. I’m starting to actually want these features like AR. A year ago I hated head-up displays but Volkswagen and many other brands have made great improvements to them.
The next thing you’ll see is the 12-inch touchscreen with the infotainment system, it works very well, fluently and is very practical. Thanks to the Design Plus package there’s also an amazingly big panoramic roof which gives a very spacious feeling. This car is very compact, but on the inside, there’s plenty of space. When you take a seat, you’ll feel that this car has amazing seats. These are the ergoActive seats with integrated headrests, it makes these seats very sporty and very comfortable at the same time. They are completely adjustable to your needs. You can change the support on your upper legs, as well as your lumbar support.
GTX Driving
With its AWD 220kW dual motor, this car has enough power for its purpose, yet, I’ve driven cars that felt a lot more powerful with less or just as much power as this one. It will sprint from 0-100km/h in 6.3s, it’s great but not super fast. Maybe I had my hopes up high because of the name, but it wasn’t as powerful as I hoped it would be. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great car and drives amazing but I just missed that “GTI” feeling I was expecting. The 77kWh battery can take you as far as 629km (WLTP) when driving in the city, and 510km (WLTP) when combining city and motorways. More and more car brands are becoming a little bit more accurate on their distances, but still, you’ll need to take a safety margin into account.
The driving itself is good. Very comfortable thanks to the adjustable DCC. It has everything you need for a relaxed trip, like travel assistance. This includes the lane-assist, emergency assist, and traffic jam assist. There’s also the side-assist that helps you safely change lanes and last but not least the Park-assist Plus. This gives the car the ability to save information about places where you park often, and makes the car able to do the parking completely on itself. Where the normal parking assist just tells you that there’s a spot and does the parking, this one remembers how you park on your driveway for example, and parks the car for you.
ID.5 Wrapped Up
So with everything that’s been discussed, taken into consideration, this car didn’t give me the feeling I was expecting from a car with the name GTX. I’m not saying it’s a bad car, absolutely not, but I missed the sporty feeling. With a starting price of €57.205 (BE) you get a lot of car in return, but this one with all of the options would eventually cost you just over €71.500. Overall Volkswagen made a good-looking and well-driving car again with this one but I hope to see more “GTI” DNA with the GTX models in the futere.
