Volkswagen ID 5 long-term test: report 5

The car Volkswagen ID 5 77kWh Pro Performance Style Run by Mark Pearson, used cars editor

Why it’s here To see how the pricey Volkswagen ID 5 stands up against its many polished rivals in this highly competitive class

Needs to Show that it’s more than just a pretty face. It’ll need to deal with commuting, work and family life without any range anxiety issues and cope with a wide variety of everyday duties

Miles covered 4999 Price £52,185 Target Price £51,413 Price as tested £54,960 Test range 280 miles Official range 315 miles

14 June 2023 – Ohme on the range

Anyone considering switching to an electric car may well have range very much at the top of their list of concerns. My Volkswagen ID 5 has an official range of up to 315 miles on a full charge, which is pretty competitive. However, in the real world, you are almost bound to see less than this. 

My car’s digital readout has indicated anything from 266 to 295 miles as a maximum range when fully charged. This is not necessarily a prediction of how far you will actually go but more a figure all the clever electronic brains inside it will have assumed based on a number of criteria including how the car's been driven recently and the outside temperature. 

The good news, though, is we’ve actually already put my ID 5 through the rigours of our electric car summer real-range test, and it did very well. It ran for 281 miles before it ran out of juice, which is only a 10.5% shortfall from that official range. Interestingly, though, it actually ran on for 15 miles after the range readout reached 0%. There are many, myself included, who would argue that the 266 miles it reached until it indicated zero was a more realistic maximum usable range, maybe, because many will base their journeys and charging on the car’s readout, and quite rightly panic when it edges near zero.  

The bad news is that in the colder weather, as hinted, you can expect to add another 10% to 15% to that loss of range, and that means, at a rough calculation, my ID 5’s top range could become as low as 226 miles, if you discount the available range after the zero reading.

Luckily, I have a rather good Ohme Pro T2 charger, which did very well in our recent electric car home charger test, so I can usually charge up to the max before a long journey, but even with this if you wanted to avoid having to stop at a public charger a journey of around 100 miles one-way is certainly a limiting maximum in the colder weather, leaving a little in reserve to avoid range anxiety. 

Is that enough? Well, so far I haven’t put this to the test, but I have one such journey coming up. Stay tuned to find out if I make it in one hit. 

For all the latest reviews, advice and new car deals, sign up to the What Car? newsletter here

Read more on our long-term Volkswagen ID 5 >>

Read about more long-term test cars >>