9:00 am, August 9, 2025
When England’s Lionesses beat Spain on penalties to secure their second Euros title on the bounce, it sparked scenes of wild jubilation up and down the country. However, for me at least, the experience was tinged with a healthy chunk of grumpiness.
Don’t worry, I’m not about to go on some misogynistic rant about women’s football. No, my feelings were down to the fact that the only game I managed to attend was England’s opening match defeat against France.
The opportunity to attend that game came when tournament sponsors Volkswagen got in touch about a week before the festivities kicked off to ask if myself, and a guest, fancied driving the brand’s ID.7 over to Switzerland in order to enjoy the Lionesses’ opener from the comfort of UEFA’s hospitality lounge (I know, right?). Having convinced my now-wife that what she really wanted to be doing two weeks out from our wedding was to spend four days driving to Zurich and back, I agreed to take on the trip and the car arrived at my house barely 24 hours before departure.
At this point, I can already hear the EV-sceptics ready to crawl out from under the woodwork to tell me that I’d be stopping every seven minutes to recharge and the car would probably set fire before I reached Folkestone, and in all honesty, the range anxiety was something of a concern before setting off. The ID.7 has a quoted range of 424 miles but anyone who knows anything about EVs will tell you that those figures can be as accurate as Joey Barton’s views on women’s football. With our first overnight stop in Reims around 330 miles away, this would be something to keep an eye on.
I was looking forward to seeing what the ID.7 had to offer. The model has effectively replaced the Passat as VW’s big family saloon and for me that is a tall order. Not because the Passat was particularly great – it was on the whole a fairly middling car for fairly middling managers – but because it was the first car I remember my Dad owning when I was a child, it has a special place in my heart.
First impressions of this new upstart were good. The car looks genuinely great, especially in the dark shade of blue that our vehicle came in, and its 532-litre boot was more than a match for our luggage – even taking into account my wife’s preference for packing enough to clothe a small village! The ride was great too. On the first leg of the journey, the motorway miles soared by and we reached the Eurotunnel in complete peace and comfort.
The train ride over allowed an opportunity to take a closer look at the car’s interior and again, I was mightily impressed. Not only is everything incredibly well put together, using high-quality materials, but the infotainment screen is one of the best around. Everything responds exactly as it should and the 15-inch screen is crisp and clear. We were even able to, while sat in the Eurotunnel, to play some of the car’s inbuilt games – which included a stellar Pacman performance from yours truly!
Once on continental roads, the positives continued, with the VW eating up the kilometres as quickly as I ate my complimentary croissant from the terminal lounge in Folkestone. However, before too long the time came to recharge. This was the longest trip I’ve ever carried out in an EV and I was slightly nervy about what the experience would be like, having had more than my fair share of battles with the UK’s charging infrastructure. Thankfully, in France, there were far fewer issues thanks to the huge number of chargers at pretty much every service station and car park we stopped in. Despite this, we still found a number of France’s charging companies were unwilling to surrender a receipt without already having an account, so it’s certainly worth downloading all the apps if you’re thinking of heading over there any time soon.
As mentioned, our first overnight stop was in Reims, which turned out to be an incredibly pretty place to explore and enjoy a spot of Magret de Canard. Despite measuring roughly the same length as an aircraft carrier, the ID.7 coped absolutely fine with the city’s tight streets, with the only real issue occurring in the narrow hotel car park. Getting into the space provided required a rather tricky million-point turn, and getting out again led to a pretty hefty amount of swearing. The upside of this extra size is clear on the inside though, particularly in the back, where there is enough room to host an international summit – honestly it’s vast! As this was a trip for two, we never fully got to utilise this as my suggestion of my fiancee chauffeuring me to Zurich was met with short shrift.
The next leg of the journey passed without incident, as the ID.7 continued to munch up the miles. After so much driving the previous day, the car’s excellent massage seats really proved their worth from here on in, with the only pains of the day coming from my hastily-bought loafers – purchased after finding out that trainers were banned from the UEFA lounge at the stadium.
In all honesty, a couple of blisters was a price worth paying for the experience inside the ground (even though it turned out half the guests were wearing trainers anyway!). Among those also in the lounge were England men’s team manager Thomas Tuchel and cricketer Heather Knight, and my wife did an admirable job of keeping me from embarrassing myself by asking for selfies after one or two free bottles of Heineken. The game itself was something of a damp squib in the end (I can hear you all playing the world’s tiniest violins at this point) with England putting in a pretty meek performance to get their tournament under way.
For me, the star of the trip was not Leah Williamson, Lauren James or Alessia Russo – it was the ID.7. I went into the journey wondering how I would find the experience of long-distance motoring in an EV and the truth is it was a doddle. The ID.7 is an absolutely fantastic long-distance cruiser and a genuinely brilliant family car. The only real downside is the £50,000 price tag. Then again, when you consider that Newcastle United once spent £6m on Joey Barton, it doesn’t seem that steep after all.
