Kia EV5 vs VW ID.7

The VW ID.7 costs £11,690 more than the Kia EV5. For that premium it adds 50 miles more WLTP range, 73 kW faster peak rapid charging and 50 kW more power. On EVcarsguide's combined category scores, the VW ID.7 comes out ahead overall.

The Kia EV5 is £11,690 cheaper to buy. The VW ID.7 is cheaper to charge, roughly £152 a year versus £184 for the Kia EV5, at 8,000 miles on an off-peak home tariff. Add 5 years of charging and the Kia EV5 comes out roughly £11,530 cheaper overall. These figures cover list price and home charging only - insurance, servicing, tyres and depreciation will move the real total.

EVcarsguide estimates a real-world motorway range of about 235 miles for the Kia EV5 and 281 miles for the VW ID.7 - both below their WLTP figures, because sustained high speed is the hardest case for an EV. The VW ID.7 goes roughly 45 miles further between charging stops.

The two are within 13 mm on width, so neither is meaningfully easier to thread into a tight space. In a standard 2,400 mm bay that leaves about 538 mm of total clearance for the VW ID.7 and about 525 mm of total clearance for the Kia EV5. The Kia EV5 also turns in a 1.7 m tighter circle, which helps with U-turns and multi-storey ramps.

Over a 8-year ownership window EVcarsguide's degradation model projects roughly 89% battery health for the Kia EV5 and 84% for the VW ID.7. That gives the Kia EV5 a modest edge in retained real-world range. Both use NMC-type cells, so for daily use keep the charge limit near 80% to slow degradation.