• Good space up front, acres of room in the rear
• Boot space is good, and aided by hatchback rear
• No front luggage area, unlike some rivals

How much space is there?

First thing’s first, if it’s not already clear to you from what you’ve already read, the ID.7 is a large car. Very large. Forget comparisons with the Polestar 2 or Tesla Model 3, because this is on another level. Think of it as an electric Skoda Superb – a car that offers lots of everything for less than costlier, premium rivals.

It’s extremely generously proportioned inside, with lots of room up front, where it also makes the most of its flat floor, offering an unsually impressive amount of storage between the front seats for nick-nacks as well as people.

Moving to the rear, and the ID.7 really shines, with impressive rear legroom and just about enough headroom for six-footers. You can sit three abreast in there, too, although the hump in the seat means the person in the middle won’t be particularly comfortable. A nice touch is that there are bespoke phone holders in the back of the front seats, though.

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Boot space and storage

With the rear seats up, there’s 532 litres of boot space and with them folded this increases to 1,586 litres – which means this elegant fastback is up there will the larger SUVs you might be considering. There’s an adjustable false floor with enough space underneath to carry your charging cable.

It’s big, flat area and extremely well shaped – and can’t see it not being able to cope with the demands of a growing family, or a four-up business trip. The boot has a high loading lip, but if you put the boot floor in its upper position you lose that. Unfortunately, there’s no front luggage compartment.

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Is it easy to park?

The Volkswagen ID.4 is almost 5m long and 2.2m wide, so is going to need a large parking space or garage to accommodate. But it comes with parking sensors and cameras front and rear, with a crystal clear display, which helps enormously.

It’s not great to see out of, though. The view through the windscreen is good, but the bulky A-pillars make it a bit of a handful at angled junctions or when approaching roundabouts, while over-the-shoulder visibility is poor – but at least you get blindspot monitoring.

Riding on 19-inch alloys throws up a concern – the poor front-three quarter view and high dashboard making guessing where the extremities are quite difficult when parking. So, watch out for kerbing.

Safety

• Five-star Euro NCAP rating
• All the latest safety features you’d expect
• Lane-keeping assist isn’t perfect

Euro NCAP awarded the Volkswagen ID.7 a five-star rating in 2023, which reflects a car that is at the cutting edge of current safety performance. You also get:

• Front seat side impact airbags
• Centre curtain airbags
• Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), including Front Assist
• City Emergency Braking system
• Driver Alert system, fatigue detection
• Lane Keeping Assist
• Oncoming vehicle braking when turning and swerve support.

Family drivers also note – the ID.7 comes with front passenger Isofix mounting as well as ones for the outer rear seats as standard.

Cars fitted with adaptive cruise control automatically adjust for speed limits and even slow you down if there’s a bend coming up in the road. This does cause problems, sometimes assuming you’re heading down a sliproad when you’re not, or misreading speed signs. But overall, a very safe car.

Watch the Euro NCAP crash test video