There are two things, two significant obstacles if you will, standing between this Volkswagen ID.7 Tourer and success in the Irish car market. First is the fact that this is quite an expensive car - with a list price of €56,490 including the SEAI grant, and an on-the-road price for our test car of €66,095 thanks to only a couple of ticks on the options list, it’s certainly not cheap. However, we’ve become accustomed to paying big bucks for our new cars of late - the best sellers list is full of cars costing €40,000 and much more - so perhaps that’s not the barrier it once was.
The other barrier, though, is a biggie. The ID.7 Tourer is an estate, and Irish car buyers hate estates. We left behind our traditional hatchbacks and saloons and went straight for SUVs in the past two decades, leaving estates - practical, usually handsome, almost inevitably practical, often good to drive - in the ditch, so to speak.
In 2024, some 5,808 estate cars were sold in the Irish market, which looks like a fairly healthy amount - 4.79 per cent of total sales - but the number doesn’t tell the full story because the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI), the body which tabulates the registration figures for new cars in Ireland, has got its estate category all mixed up. So, in with cars such as the Skoda Octavia Combi and SEAT/Cupra Leon (definitely estates) you’ll also find cars such as the Volkswagen ID.4 and ID.3, the SEAT Ateca and the BYD Atto 3 logged as estates, and they’re definitely not. Indeed, SIMI categorises the vast and tall Volvo XC90 as an estate, possibly due to some ancient tradition that if it’s a Volvo it must be an estate, so into the category it goes. If you’re talking sales of actual proper estate cars, then the Skoda Octavia Combi, with 660 sales, topped the estate car charts last year.
So, we avoid estates, we’re unsure about electric cars and, if the comments on Facebook are anything to go buy, we all go into septic shock when someone mentions a price tag above €30,000.
Does all of that bode poorly for this Volkswagen ID.7 Tourer? Yes, undoubtedly so, but then again this is a car of consummate talents and abilities, which might just be enough to sway at least some buyers. Added to which is the fact that, in the electric car era, you’re definitely, definitively better off buying an estate than an SUV if you want a practical family car. Why? Range...
How much is the Volkswagen ID.7 Tourer in Ireland?
As mentioned above, this is not a cheap car, but then the ID.7 Tourer does come with a huge swathe of standard equipment, so even if you go for the most basic version you can find, you’ll not be left wanting for toys.
The lineup kicks off with the €56,490 (after the SEAI grant) ID.7 Pro Plus Tourer, with the 77kWh battery and an official range of up to 609km. That’s the car we’re testing. Standard equipment includes a 15-inch infotainment touchscreen, heated front seats, auto-dimming rear-view mirror, 19-inch ‘Hudson’ alloy wheels with self-sealing anti-puncture tyres, an augmented reality head-up display, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, heated windscreen washer nozzles, car-to-car and car-to-X wireless communication including ‘Swarm’ data for road safety warnings, adaptive cruise control, high-beam assistance, rain sensing wiper, ‘ArtVelours’ microfibre seat trim, 30-colour ambient cabin lighting, an electric tailgate, rear privacy glass, metallic paint, park assistance with memory function, three-zone climate control and navigation.
That standard equipment list remains the same if you upgrade to the €66,290 Pro S Plus model, because what you’re paying for there is the bigger 82kWh battery pack and a range of up to 690km.
Our 77kWh test car came with a couple of options, including €610 worth of 20-inch ‘Montreal’ alloy wheels, the €2,505 Interior Package Plus (which comes with upgraded seat trim, heated rear seats, cooled and heated front seats, extra curtain airbags in the front and rear with a centre airbag in the front, and a 700-watt Harmon/Kardon sound system) and the Styling Package Plus, which includes a panoramic glass roof with electro-chromatic dimming, progressive steering, adaptive suspension dampers and a contrast black roof colour. To be honest, we could have done without all of that bar the adaptive dampers which sadly, can’t be ordered individually.
If you want more from your ID.7 Tourer, then you’ll need to upgrade further to the €74,390 ID.7 Tourer GTX Plus, which gets four-wheel drive and 340hp, and a range of up to 584km. Standard equipment includes 20-inch ‘Skagen’ alloy wheels, the GTX body kit, an Exterior Package Plus and the Interior Package Plus as standard, plus the sportier chassis and steering tune of the GTX lineup.
At the time of writing, Volkswagen Ireland has a finance package offer in place for the ID.7, with either zero per cent interest Hire Purchase finance, or a 0.9 per cent interest PCP package, with monthly repayments starting from €409. Check out https://www.volkswagen.ie/en/offers-and-products/new-car-offers.html for the latest and most up-to-date offers.
A look inside the Volkswagen ID.7 Tourer
The interior of the ID.7 follows much of the orthodoxy established by the existing electric ID range, such as the ID.3 and the ID.4 but the overall levels of quality, fit, and finish are far higher. High enough to sit comfortably with that €60k price tag? During our time with the car we never felt short changed when sitting in, and even on a chilly day the cabin has a warm, welcoming ambience, helped by the soft microfibre upholstery on the seats (which Volkswagen calls ArtVelours).
The big screen and other tech we’ll deal with in a moment, but the overriding sense you get in the ID.7 Tourer is simply one of practicality. At 4.9 metres long, this is a massive car on the outside, but then once you’re in it’s clear to see that it’s equally massive inside. You sit slightly high in the front seats though even a tall person like me can stretch right out in comfort. Those front seats are excellent too, with just the right level of squidge.
With a wheelbase that’s only 30mm short of a full three metres, there’s so much space in the back seats that it’s frankly almost comical. I can’t think of anyone who could fail to get comfortable in the back of the ID.7 Tourer, and the optional glass roof makes the rear of the car feel even airier. The only let down is that the sculpting of the outer two rear seats means that the rear centre seat is just too narrow and too perched up to be of much use, although at least the flat rear floor means that there’s plenty of space for feet. Anyone worried that the kids might complain about sitting low down compared to an SUV should be mollified by the large rear side windows, which allow an excellent view out.
Storage in the ID.7 is ample. The centre console between the front seats includes a vast storage area under the butterfly-style armrest, and more storage including cupholders under a split sliding cover in front. Underneath that, there’s a large open storage space too, and plenty of USB-C sockets, as well as wireless phone charging pads. The door bins and glovebox are also generously proportioned, so it’s hard to imagine anything that you wouldn’t be able to stash somewhere in the ID.7 Tourer’s cabin.
Anything that’s too big for the cabin should fit easily in the boot. At 605 litres, it’s big, albeit not quite as massive as what you get in a Skoda Superb (not much is, though). Fold down the back seats, which fold almost entirely flat, and that space expands to an extremely useful 1,714 litres although it’s a shame that the ID.7 Tourer’s back seat splits only in a 60:40 ratio, not a more versatile 40:20:40 layout.
That said, there is a load-through hatch behind the central armrest which allows you to carry long, narrow items. There’s hardly any load lip, although the section of the bumper that lies between your knees and the boot floor is quite deep, so you’ll have to lift heavier items past that. There are usefully deep storage areas at each side, a metre of load length both forwards and sideways, and the boot floor is height-adjustable, so if you leave it in the higher setting, there’s space underneath to stash charging cables. There’s no extra storage under the bonnet up front though.
How many child seats can I fit in the VW ID.7 Tourer
Clearly, Volkswagen had its eyes firmly on family practicality for the ID.7 Tourer, and so there are three ISOFIX anchor points - two in the rear outer seats, and one in the front passenger seat with a passenger airbag cutoff. The rear doors open nicely wide, and the space inside makes it easy to fit a large child car seat, although the lower ride height of the ID.7 does mean that you’ll have to lean down slightly more than you would in an equivalent SUV.
How safe is the Volkswagen ID. Tourer?
The short answer is ‘very safe indeed’ although that does come with a caveat. When tested in saloon form, the ID.7 returned an excellent result on the Euro NCAP crash test, with a five-star rating, and individual scores of 95 per cent for adult occupants, 88 per cent for child occupants, 83 per cent for vulnerable road users and 80 per cent for active safety systems.
Those systems, as standard, include VW’s ‘Travel Assist’ setup which comprises adaptive cruise control and lane-keeping steering, as well as the augmented reality head-up display which flashes up helpful warnings when you’re approaching the edge of your lane before the active steering takes over. There’s also active steering which can swerve you away from a head-on collision, automated emergency braking with pedestrian and cyclist detection, automated lane changing with blind-spot monitoring, and powerful LED headlights with active cornering beam and automatic high-beam blocking.
That’s a comprehensive set of safety kit, but Volkswagen does leave some on the table - if you want extra curtain airbags front and rear, and a central front airbag (which stops you clashing heads with your passenger in the event of a side impact) then you’ll have to pay an extra €2,505 for the Interior Package Plus.
The Volkswagen ID.7 Tourer’s on-board technology
Most of the ID.7’s tech is accessed via the big 15-inch touchscreen standing proud on the centre of the dashboard. The ID.7 was one of the first VW cars to get the company’s updated and upgraded on-screen software which is far, far better and easier to use, although as with any touchscreen-based system (and there are almost no physical buttons) it’s more distracting than is ideal.
At the top of the screen is a customisable menu bar which allow you to click-and-drag small shortcuts for your most commonly used menu items, which is a help, as is the fact that the temperature controls for the climate system are always on at the bottom of the screen. The ‘slider’ touch-sensitive bar for stereo volume and cabin temperature remains awkward to use, but at least it’s now backlit at night. The haptic buttons on the steering wheel are also too fiddly to use.
Fiddly, yes but the VW’s screen is in fairness packed with tech, including on-board gaming for whiling away those inevitable fast-charger queues, and built-in ChatGPT AI software which aims to make the ‘IDA’ voice control assistant more flexible and able to understand your natural speech. There are even ‘Wellness Modes’ - named Fresh Up, Calm Down and Power Break - which can be activated to use the air conditioning, massaging seats, stereo and ambient lighting to alternately jazz you up or calm you down as needed.
As ever, we fundamentally disagree with having nearly all of the air conditioning and climate controls on the screen, but at least you get some tech-bang for your buck in this instance, as while it might seem daft to have the adjusters for the air vent directions on the screen, you soon realise why when you notice that said vents are motorised and can waft warm or cool air about the cabin as needed.
Driving the Volkswagen ID.7 Tourer
If you’re looking for a one-word sum-up, it’s smooth. The Volkswagen ID.7 Tourer is one of the most outright comfortable cars we’ve driven in ages. The optional adaptive suspension dampers must come in for some praise here. There are the usual Sport, Normal and Comfort settings for those, but there’s also a manual adjustment, accessed via the touchscreen, which allows you to set the dampers several notches beyond mere Comfort mode, at which point this very modern electric car starts to feel almost as soft as a classic Citroen. Which is entirely fine by us.
The steering, although it has decent weight, isn’t very talkative and given the ID.7 Tourer’s combo of length, width and weight, it’s never going to be a keen driver’s choice, but on a longer journey it’s exceptionally comfortable, quiet, refined and relaxing. It’s the kind of car that you climb out of after a long run and ask, ‘are we there already?’ That counts against it in town, where it can feel a touch unwieldy in tight spaces, but that’s arguably worth it for the main road and motorway comfort.
What’s the electric range of the Volkswagen ID.7 Tourer?
Here’s where an estate really pulls out an advantage over an equivalent SUV - it’s almost always, for a given battery capacity, going to have more range. Volkswagen quotes a range on one charge of 609km for this ID.7 Tourer Pro Plus with the 77kWh battery, and while we didn’t quite manage that, 500-550km should be pretty easily doable, with perhaps a little less in very chilly weather. Compared to a VW ID.4 SUV with the same battery, that’s between an extra 50- and 100km of real-world range, based on our own on-road tests, and that’s with a bigger boot and more space in the back seats. Estates rule, folks. Honestly, they do.
Volkswagen quotes average energy consumption of just 14.6kWh/100km but in real-world conditions, we’d say that 15-17kWh/100km is more like it, depending on the weather and where you’re doing your driving.
The reasons you'd buy a Volkswagen ID.7 Tourer
The Volkswagen ID.7 Tourer puts together an ideal mix of long-range electric capability with estate car practicality, throwing in some exceptional levels of comfort and refinement as a bonus. It’s spectacularly roomy and practical, and if it’s not the keen driver’s choice in this Pro Plus form, well then there’s always the GTX model.
Ask us anything about the Volkswagen ID.7
If there are any details relating to the VW ID.7 Tourer that we’ve not covered, or you’d like advice in choosing between it and other vehicles, you can avail of our (completely free) expert advice service via the Ask Us Anything page.
