2021 Volkswagen ID 4 Pro S review: A good EV let down by the details

The Volkswagen ID 4 is cheerful on the outside the house and upscale on the within. 


Craig Cole/Roadshow

The ID 4 is Volkswagen’s initial all-electric SUV and the brand’s initial global EV. Correct out of the gate, this car does a great deal of factors appropriate. The ID 4 is roomy and comfortable within, it has a easy powertrain, arrives with plenty of conventional driver aids and presents competitive array for a mass-marketplace EV. On the surface area, this cheerful-seeking VW is solely pleasant, but the devil is normally in the aspects and it truly is the very little factors that get their toll.

Like

  • Upscale trimmings
  • Roomy interior
  • Solid dynamics

Will not Like

  • Not specifically punchy at higher speeds
  • Laggardly infotainment technique
  • Discouraging controls

An upscale, roomy interior

But initial, some superior information. The ID 4 Pro S interior is unexpectedly top quality, seeking — and in numerous strategies emotion — like something from Volvo. The dashboard’s straightforward format is present day and practical, with the infotainment display screen angled somewhat towards the driver. I really like the loaded, geometric styles utilized on numerous of the surfaces, as well as there are plenty of gentle plastics and everything’s assembled with painstaking treatment.

Pro S styles element 12-way electrical power entrance bucket seats, which even provide massage functionality. Curiously, these chairs also have minivan-like armrests. Yes, they glance strange in an SUV, but they are soft and adjustable, locking in various positions for increased comfort. Also, between people seats is a perfectly-believed-out and flexible heart console. Not only does it provide plenty of storage space and options a roll-top protect, it offers a wireless charging pad, some American-sized cup holders and 4 USB-C ports, two up entrance and two serving travellers in the rear.

Speaking of the backseat, it truly is yet another a single of the ID 4’s powerful satisfies. You can find plenty of space in all a few proportions, the cushions are nicely contoured and the flooring is just about flat, supporting make this VW an great people-hauler. And when it truly is time to transfer cargo, the ID 4 ain’t much too shabby, both. You can find extra than 30 cubic ft of space at the rear of the rear backrest and extra than sixty four when you fold it down, figures that are related to the bigger Volkswagen Tiguan. In contrast to some of its rivals, the ID 4 doesn’t have a entrance trunk.

Higher-tech hits and misses

Transferring along, a 10-inch infotainment display is conventional devices in the ID 4, even though a 12-incher is provided in Pro S and Initially Edition styles. Possibly way, embedded navigation and wireless smartphone mirroring through Android Car and Apple CarPlay is provided.

You can find a great deal to like within this all-electric SUV, just not essentially the infotainment technique.


Craig Cole/Roadshow

That up-stage touchscreen will make a great initial perception. It can be colorful, tremendous crisp and simple to access. Sadly, the infotainment computer software that life within leaves much to be sought after. The understanding curve is steep as some aspects of the person interface really don’t make a great deal of perception, this kind of as how you get to the property display screen or pull up the radio station you are currently listening to. But worse than the menu composition is the system’s responsiveness. It continually lags when swiping between screens or pinching and zooming on the map. Frustratingly, it even flat-out ignores inputs from time to time.

Matching the main display is a electronic instrument cluster. At just five.3 inches, it truly is smaller, even though it operates perfectly. It moves when you regulate the wheel, which improves visibility. Other conventional devices involves keyless entry, rain-sensing wipers and an automobile-dimming rearview mirror. Lots of factors are heated, much too, which include the steering wheel, entrance seats, mirrors and washer nozzles. When all-wheel-drive styles develop into offered afterwards this thirty day period, they are going to also profit from a heated windshield to help hold Old Guy Winter season at bay.

When I initial listened to VW was switching to contact-sensitive controls on its vehicles I was aghast simply because this is a battle automakers have now fought — and misplaced. Physical buttons and switches are normally extra intuitive and responsive, something current Mercedes-Benz styles confirm. But in this circumstance, I was completely wrong. The contact-sensitive controls VW executed on the steering wheel perform correctly, reacting right away to faucets or swipes and performing an admirable task of avoiding fake inputs. If only the ID 4’s infotainment technique ended up this responsive.

Touch-sensitive controls are utilized somewhere else in the ID 4’s interior, with blended final results. There are quantity and temperature sliders on the dashboard that typically perform perfectly, even if they are not illuminated at night time, a curious omission. The doorway locks (which include boy or girl locks) and headlamps work off contact-sensitive controls, even though they are basically Ok. Far more annoyingly, the driver has no bodily switches for the rear electrical power home windows. There are two for the fronts, but if you want to reduced the again glass you have to push and keep yet another contact-sensitive regulate which makes it possible for people switches to work the rear home windows. A VW spokesman explained to Roadshow that their investigate displays motorists seldom at any time reduced the again glass in 4-doorway vehicles, so they ditched the bodily buttons. Still, I hope this is a development that does not keep on.

The ID 4 is roomy and comfortable. 


Craig Cole/Roadshow

Sprightly general performance

The ID 4 Pro S utilizes rear-wheel drive, its aft-mounted electric motor providing 201 horsepower and 229 pound-ft of torque, first rate figures that are related to what you get in a Chevy Bolt EUV (two hundred hp, 266 lb-ft) or Hyundai Kona Electric (201 hp, 291 lb-ft). The EPA-believed array these SUVs offer is in lockstep, much too, with this VW capable to go 250 miles between prices, courtesy of its flooring-mounted, liquid-cooled lithium-ion battery pack, which has a net capability of seventy seven kilowatt-several hours (eighty two kWh gross). In comparison, the Chevy is rated at 247 miles of array and the Hyundai 258. Constructed for the prolonged haul, the ID 4’s battery is confirmed to maintain 70% of its original cost capability for 8 a long time or one hundred,000 miles.

Like practically every single other EV, this Volkswagen has buckets of torque, which interprets into outstanding minimal-pace scoot. This car is responsive when accelerating from a stop, even though its enthusiasm does wane significantly at higher speeds. The ID 4 is sprightly, but it truly is not a higher-general performance EV, so really don’t anticipate it to hold speed with any version of the Ford Mustang Mach-E or Tesla Model Y, to say very little of some race-completely ready electric autos this kind of as the future Lucid Assist Desire Edition, which brandishes up to 1,111 hp.

When it truly is time to replenish that battery, the ID 4’s eleven-kW onboard charger can do the deed in about seven.five several hours when hooked to a Stage 2 electrical power source. Keep track of down a 125-kW DC speedy charger and this VW can go from five% to eighty% in as very little as 38 minutes. A welcome reward, ID 4 house owners get a few a long time of unlimited Electrify The usa DC speedy charging at no excess price tag.

Sadly, there’s no entrance trunk in this SUV.


Craig Cole/Roadshow

This uplevel ID 4 is rated at 104 mpge in the city and 89 mpge on highway drives. Merged, anticipate 97 mpge. In blended use, this SUV says I am having about 3.five miles for every kWh, which is about 118 mpge, considerably improved than what the window sticker says it must be returning. (That’s 3.five miles for every kWh times 33.seven kWh, the electrical equal of a gallon of gasoline. Does that make perception? Nope, I really don’t recognize it, both.)

Thanks to its just about 4,seven hundred-pound as-examined control weight, the ID 4 normally feels planted. It also rides like a luxury vehicle, its chassis tuning currently being neither so business that it clops or bounds more than imperfections nor so gentle that the overall body flops close to although cornering. There is a wisp of roll in turns, but shockingly very little. This vehicle’s steering is as benign as you’d anticipate for a mainstream SUV. It can be mild and easy, even though the turning circle is shockingly tight at just shy of 34 ft, something that will make maneuvering in tight areas a breeze. Snake the ID 4 as a result of some twisties and it truly is keen to perform, shockingly perfectly balanced and neutral, like it rotates about an axis that’s appropriate wherever you are sitting.

This VW’s entrance seats are awesome and supportive, but forward visibility could be improved. It can be hard to estimate wherever the entrance of the ID 4 finishes and the corners are really hard to see simply because of the bulging fenders. Fortunately, entrance and rear parking sensors are conventional devices, dramatically cutting down the likelihood of hitting something.

Like other EVs and hybrids, regenerative braking helps the ID 4 seize electricity that would in any other case be wasted. Its pedal feels easy and natural, even though if you flick the equipment selector more than to Brake mode as a substitute of Drive, this VW presents much higher regenerative braking. This is generally a a single-pedal driving knowledge, which normally takes some having utilized to but is great when you get the sense for it.

You can find very little showy about the ID 4, but it truly is still tastefully made and remarkably flexible. 


Craig Cole/Roadshow

A supporting hand

All versions of the ID 4 arrive with Volkswagen’s IQ Drive suite of assistance options. This bundles facilities like forward-collision warning and automatic emergency braking, lane-trying to keep guide, blind-location checking and extra. You also get automatic higher beams and road indication recognition.

Journey Aid, the German automaker’s version of adaptive cruise regulate with stop-and-go capacity and lane centering, is conventional devices, much too. For the most aspect, this technique operates perfectly, effortlessly altering the ID 4’s pace to match bordering website traffic, even though the lane centering could be enhanced. When engaged, it truly is continually building smaller adjustments, moving the wheel somewhat from left to appropriate. Competing units from Honda, Hyundai, Toyota and other automakers really don’t exhibit this unsettling conduct.

The ID 4’s main rivals are the Chevy Bolt EUV and Hyundai Kona Electric. Secondary competition involve the Ford Mustang Mach-E and Tesla Model Y.


Craig Cole/Roadshow

Checking the bins

The ID 4 starts at close to $forty one,000 which include $1,195 in destination expenses, even though that figure excludes any potential tax credits, which could total up to $seven,500 from the feds. This figure is a little bit steeper than its main battery-driven rivals, with the Chevy Bolt EUV kicking off at about 34 grand and the Hyundai Kona Electric close to $1,two hundred extra than that. Of training course, the fashionable Mach-E is pricier still and an entry-stage Model Y even richer. Right before any special discounts, VW would like $forty seven,a hundred ninety for the Pro S model evaluated below, which places it solidly in Mach-E and Model Y territory.

The 2022 Volkswagen ID 4 does what it desires to do but, sadly, not a full great deal extra. Its roomy, upscale interior, sufficient conventional engineering and refined road manners make it simple to are living with, even so, questionable controls and a slothful infotainment technique detract from an in any other case pleasant package deal. The ID 4 has its strengths, and it truly is definitely not a terrible selection if you are procuring for an all-electric SUV, but there are likely improved options offered currently, in particular if you are inclined to invest just a very little extra.