I’ve been in the new Volkswagen ID.3 GTI, and it arrives with a pretty significant place in GTI history: it’s the most powerful production model ever to wear the famous badge.
The electric ID.3 GTI produces 322bhp backed up by a sizeable 545Nm of torque and sends its power to the rear wheels. That power is enough for 0-62mph in 5.6 seconds, helped by standard Launch Control, while top speed is electronically limited to 124mph.
Those figures make it the performance flagship of the new ID.3 range, with Volkswagen revealing the car in the year that marks 50 years since the original Golf GTI appeared in 1976.
There’s a 79kWh battery underneath with Volkswagen claiming a maximum range of up to 373 miles, while rapid charging peaks at 183kW. A 10 to 80 per cent charge is expected to take around 29 minutes.
Volkswagen hasn’t just added more power and a GTI badge, either. The car gets an adaptive DCC sports chassis, progressive steering and a dedicated GTI driving mode alongside eco, comfort, sport and individual settings.
Press the illuminated GTI button on the steering wheel – as I did when I sat in the car – and the motor, steering and suspension switch to their sportiest settings,launch control becomes available and the cabin lighting turns red. The digital instrument display changes at the same time and Volkswagen has even added the rumbling sound of a combustion engine in the background.
There are plenty of familiar GTI design cues on the outside, too. It’s particularly good to see the red stripe stretching across the front of the car above the light bar, taking its inspiration from the red grille surround of the original Golf GTI. LED matrix headlights are fitted, along with an illuminated Volkswagen badge, vertical LED elements and the traditional honeycomb pattern lower down.
The 20-inch alloy wheels are called Wörthersee, a reference to the Austrian gathering that became closely associated with GTI models, while the colours available include Tornado red, Moonstone grey, Scale silver, Grenadilla black and Glacier white.
The GTI treatment continues inside, where the grippy sports seats feature a new Superclark tartan pattern inspired by the checked seats of the 1976 Golf GTI – and they look great. There’s more red detailing across the dashboard and seats, plus a red 12 o’clock marker on the sports steering wheel – in my view it’s all just on the right side of tasteful.
The ID.3 GTI also picks up the redesigned interior from the new ID.3 Neo, which I was hugely impressed with when I drove it recently. That includes a larger digital instrument display and a 12.9-inch central touchscreen. There’s now a separate strip of controls for the air conditioning beneath the screen, while a rotary controller on the centre console looks after volume and skipping through songs or radio stations.
Among the options offered will be a panoramic roof, massage and memory functions for the front seats, a 480-watt Harman Kardon sound system and an augmented-reality head-up display. A removable bracket for carrying bikes will also be offered, together with vehicle-to-load technology that allows electrical devices, including e-bikes, to be powered from the car’s battery through an adapter.
The latest Travel Assist technology will also be available and can react to traffic lights, including bringing the car to a stop if the system detects a red light, although Volkswagen stresses that the driver remains responsible.
The ID.3 GTI is still officially described as a near-production concept, rather than a car currently on sale. However, German pre-sales are scheduled to begin at the start of 2027, while Volkswagen says UK prices and specifications will be confirmed soon. I’d expect it to be somewhere between £45,000 and £50,000 given that the most expensive ID.3 Neo currently tops out at just over £40,000.
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