It’s fast, efficient and refined, but does it feel like a hot hatch and has this road star translated well into the battery era?

Geraldine Herbert test drives the VW ID.3 GTX in the Kings Red Metallic colour (it also comes in grey, white, silver and black). Photo: Paul Herbert-Kane

Geraldine Herbert test drives the VW ID.3 GTX in the Kings Red Metallic colour (it also comes in grey, white, silver and black). Photo: Paul Herbert-Kane

In the hot hatch hall of fame, the VW Golf GTI is the Mona Lisa: endlessly copied, never bettered, and somehow still smirking after eight generations. Others may have invented the genre, but Volkswagen was the one that convinced the masses. The plan to bin the GTI badge in favour of the GTX badge has been shelved, but there is certainly an appetite for a GTI equivalent in electric form. Our test car this week, the VW ID.3 GTX, sets out to be exactly that.

The GTX Performance Plus wears GTX bumpers front and rear while at the side, you’ll spot 20-inch Skagen alloy wheels, black mirror caps and discreet GTX badging. Round the back there’s a gloss black diffuser and animated LED lights. At 4.26m long with a tallish stance, the GTX looks more “upright family hatch” than crouching GTI predator.