Volkswagen ID.3 GTI revealed

Is this a proper GTI, though?

It certainly seems so on paper. The ID.3 GTI gets the latest AP550 electric motor driving the rear wheels (a rear-drive GTI! Oh my god, it’s happening!!!), developing 326hp and 545Nm of torque. That’s sufficient for a 0-100km/h time of 5.6 seconds, which is only fractions of a second slower than the ultimate petrol-powered Golf GTI, the Edition 50.

What about the range of the new Volkswagen ID.3 GTI?

A crucial question for any electric car, even one with a freshly minted GTI badge, but there should be no worries when it comes to how far you can take this ID.3 — thanks to a 79kWh battery, the ID.3 GTI quotes a range of 601km on a full charge. It will charge quickly too, at up to 183kW on DC power, allowing a 10 to 80 per cent top-up in just 28 minutes.

It looks a little different to the regular ID.3…

It certainly does. The ID.3 Neo gave the ID.3 a bit of a facelift anyway, but the GTI pushes that further with a distinctive set of ultra-slim headlights that are linked by an ‘IQ.Light’ panel, which itself gets the classic mark of the VW GTI just above it — a slim red stripe (which, in fairness, is a bit hard to spot against the fabulous ‘Tornado Red’ paintwork of the car in these photos, but trust us, it’s there). There are also neat vertical LED running lights in the lower bumper, honeycomb grilles, and a chunky rear roof spoiler and under-bumper diffuser panel. There are, of course, some neat GTI badges sprinkled about too.

Those wheels look pretty good…

They should do. They’re 20-inch alloy rims called ‘Worthersee’ in Volkswagen’s catalogue, a nod to the massive celebration of high-performance VWs (and Skodas and other VW Group models) that takes place every year in the Austrian town of the same name. The design is distinctly different from other current ID.3 alloys, and has faint hints of the classic ‘Pirelli’ wheels fitted to Mk1 Golf GTIs back in the day.

Does the Volkswagen ID.3 GTI come in colours other than red?

Yes, although quite why you’d want another colour is slightly beyond us — Tornado Red (colour code LY3D if you’re feeling nerdy…) after all has its heritage in the original Mk1 Golf GTI, so it’s very much a signature GTI shade. If you must, though, there is the option of Moonstone Grey solid, Scale Silver metallic, Grenadilla Black metallic or Glacier White metallic. Sadly, the gorgeous Dark Gloss Green metallic that features on the Golf GTI Edition 50 isn’t available, but hopefully it may be eventually.

What’s the inside of the Volkswagen ID.3 GTI like?

Inside, as with that new nose, there’s a lot of commonality with the new ID. Polo (which of course is getting its own GTI model shortly). The same slightly squared-off steering wheel with proper physical buttons and a 12 o’clock marker picked out in red; the same new slim digital display behind it. The steering wheel has another trick, though — a GTI button on the lower section that, when pressed, activates the specific GTI driving mode. This is on top of the existing Eco, Comfort, Sport and Individual modes, and VW says it’s this car’s ‘special sauce’, tweaking the steering, accelerator response, DCC adaptive suspension dampers, and even the ambient lighting for a maximally sporty experience. The digital dash also switches to a specific GTI mode, and there’s a simulated combustion engine noise too. The seats don’t switch, but they don’t have to — they’re high-back buckets with a new interpretation of the classic tartan trim from the 1970s.

What else is new on the inside?

As with the rest of the ID.3 Neo lineup, the GTI gets a new 13-inch touchscreen which uses slick, Google-based software, but better yet, there are also new physical controls for the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning which are far easier to use than the fiddly ‘slider’ controls of old. There’s even a simple rotary knob for the stereo volume. Bliss. Speaking of which, a banging Harmon/Kardon stereo will be on the options list, along with a panoramic glass roof, massaging seats, and a head-up display. Oh, and on the safety front, for the first time, the Travel Assist adaptive cruise control can now respond to traffic lights.

Anything else?

There’s a clever touch in the rear bumper, as VW realises that while we all love driving, we might have some other hobbies. The ID.3 GTI now comes with an optional Power Socket that taps into the vehicle's battery-to-load (V2L) functionality, and it pairs with the optional 75kg-capable rear bike rack, letting you carry two e-bikes on the back of the GTI and charge them as you drive.