VW ID.3 GTX Performance has just gone on sale, offering an extra kick over the existing ID.3 GTX, and an interesting alternative to the GTI Clubsport. The ID.3 GTX and GTX Performance were both launched in the spring, but until now only the base GTX has been available to order. Both models get a single, rear-mounted electric motor, but while the GTX makes 282 hp and takes 5.9 seconds to reach 100 km/h, the GTX Performance benefits from a beefier 322 hp motor that drops the 62 mph time down to 5.7 seconds.
Other Performance-trim benefits include a 200 km/h – rather than 180 km/h – top speed and DCC
adaptive dampers in place of the stock GTX’s passive shocks. The US$ 1,500 premium
takes the price of a zero-options Performance to € 52,295 (US$ 57,930), though VW
is offering German customers a € 3,570 (US$ 3,900) incentive – also available on
the base GTX – that drops the price of the Performance to € 48,725 (US$ 53,260).
And that discounted price brings it very
close to its ICE-powered alter ego, the € 48,075 (US$ 52,550) Golf GTI Clubsport.
The Clubbie makes 296 hp from its 2.0-liter turbocharged engine, and
just sneaks ahead of the GTX Performance in a race to 62 mph, getting there in
5.6 seconds, a tenth faster. We’re still waiting for a chance to get behind the
wheel of all four of the GTX and GTI variants, but from what we’ve seen so far
the entry level GTI looks the best deal of them all. Now uprated to 262 hp as part of the MK8.5 Golf facelift, it hits 62 mph in just 5.9 seconds and
costs thousands less than the other three cars.
A base GTI will set German buyers back
€ 44,505 (US$ 48,650), though if we’re talking good deals, it’s American GTI buyers
that come out on top. The new GTI is likely to cost just US$ 34,000 in base trim
in the US, where the ID.3 is not offered in any guise.
