Volkswagen ID 3 Pro Performance Family

There may be room for improvement, but our electric hatchback has ticked a lot of boxes in its time with us

- Allan Muir

IF I'VE LEARNT anything from watching Bridgerton (that worthy educational TV series on Netflix), it's that as far as British nobility is concerned, duty comes first. And when titles get passed on to the next family member in the line of succession, the new lord of the manor has to take those duties extremely seriously, with any failure to do so resulting in scandal and possible ostracism.

Volkswagen has had its share of scandal over the past few years, but it has survived and is moving more swiftly than most into the new electric vehicle (EV) era with the likes of the ID 3 hatchback. The ID 3's duty is eventually to take over from the venerable Volkswagen Golf as the brand's mainstay in the family car class, replacing conventional thinking with electric power and a mildly futuristic approach. Volkswagen may have some funny ideas about what constitutes progress, as we'll see, but for the most part the ID 3 is shaping up to be a worthy successor to the Golf.

Over the past six months, the Family-spec ID 3 that I've been running (which isn't available at the moment due to supply issues) has demonstrated that it can deliver many of the things that are important to drivers of EVs and family cars alike - including a respectable range, quick charging times, practicality and sensible running costs. Objectively, there's much to admire about it.