Considering an ID.4 as second EV. Thoughts?

[ecarfan]

I drove an ID.4 yesterday for the first time. A friend of mine has had one for 1 1/2 years, he lives far from me and this is the first time I’ve seen him since her since she bought it.

I was completely unimpressed. My concerns:

• No frunk space. I was stunned that under the hood (which she had never opened) there was no storage. In a car that is almost as long and much taller than a Model 3!
• Very limited space below the trunk floor panel. Less space than the Model 3 and far less than a Y.
• The center screen UI is poor. I found it confusing, I could not readily determine where specific functions were located. Plus the screen was laggy; I would tap and then wait for something to happen. And I was not impressed with Apple Car Play. My iPhone integrates with my Teslas just fine for my purposes; I can easily make calls and play music from my phone. I don’t need Apple Maps and I certainly don’t need texts appearing in the car.
• Tried using voice to enter a navigation destination (which I normally do in my Teslas) but it kept failing to understand me. Maybe it was a poor internet connection but the car showed 3 bars of signal. Entered a nav destination and the route showed on the screen, but then 5 minutes later the route disappeared. This happened twice. Was in an urban area with good cell signal. My friend does not use the car nav, she uses her iPhone so could not assist me. She saw no reason to use the car nav. I kept trying to use the car nav and then it did work for me.
• I had read published 0-60 times for the ID.4 so I knew it was not nearly as quick as a standard 3/Y but I was not prepared for how underwhelming it was when I floored the accelerator.
• To enable regen braking in Drive you have to press the gear selector twice to put it into “B”. That’s weird. Regen should be on by default. Is there a way to make B the default? My friend didn’t know. Trying to dig through the settings in the center display was too time consuming.
• When I first went to drive and put the car in Reverse to back up it immediately started moving when I took my foot off the brake. So it does what the “Creep” mode does in a Tesla. But can that be turned off? My friend didn’t know.
• I found the front seats overly firm. The steering wheel adjustment did not go high enough for my preferred seating position so I had to lower the seat. I’m 6’2” but would have preferred to sit a bit higher in the car. No problem with headroom.
• My friend has not done multi-day trips with the car but has used the EA charging network and its worked fine for her. But when I took her to a Supercharger and plugged in my car she was shocked at how simple it was.

I could go on, but that’s enough. The only reason I can see for buying an ID.4 over a Model Y (which is its Tesla equivalent) is price. And I get that. My friend likes the car very much, and I’m happy about that. The more EV drivers the better! I hope VW improves the car in the future.

 

[GtiMart]

You have been spoiled by Tesla's "design from scratch" concepts. That's what made it possible to have a frunk, under trunk etc. They also decided to make EVs attractive (performance). Other manufacturers are sometimes stuck with reusing parts or designs and have to make do with some ICE concepts.
The B mode for regen, or at least for high regen, has been a concept on multiple hybrids and EVs already. Some people think it's genius. Again, you're used to one thing and now compare everything against it. The ability to configure behaviors to your liking and having those settings persist between drives is also relatively new and Tesla-esque.
I'll make a similar comment about software... I bought a Tesla because it was the most technologically-advanced car. Some people complain about its software and bugs, it's certainly not perfect, but there are many things they've done right. You are now comparing bleeding-edge with ICE car makers and they appear bad in comparison. It's expected. VW in particular has delayed their ID.3 a long time, with thousands already built but unable to be delivered, because of a software mess. They are barely recovering from that now, a couple years later.

I'm surprised about the seats though. German cars have typically had great seats IMO, and they typically fare well with tall people.

 

[ecarfan]

The B mode for regen, or at least for high regen, has been a concept on multiple hybrids and EVs already. Some people think it's genius. Again, you're used to one thing and now compare everything against it.

Yes of course, I understand that. But the B mode should be able to be set as a default instead of having to be engaged each time the driver wants to use it.

You say that the ability to configure settings like regen braking is “relatively new”. I could do that over ten years ago in a Model S.

Three years ago I rented an electric Golf in New Zealand. It was far worse than an ID.4. VW has made progress. But they still have a ways to go…

 

[GtiMart]

A Model S is a Tesla so my point is still valid... They have blazed the trail. I completely agree with you about the various "should" that you are stating, but the fact is that most car manufacturers are just not there yet. One could hope that ten years later everyone else has caught up but the reality is that they haven't. A few manufacturers were bold enough to start new designs and many are still struggling.

EDIT: You've seen it first hand in the ID.4. It might still be a great second car. I believe you need to lower your expectations if you want to buy a non-Tesla EV, that's all.

 

[daktari]

I drove an ID.4 yesterday for the first time. A friend of mine has had one for 1 1/2 years, he lives far from me and this is the first time I’ve seen him since her since she bought it.

I was completely unimpressed. My concerns:

• No frunk space. I was stunned that under the hood (which she had never opened) there was no storage. In a car that is almost as long and much taller than a Model 3!
• Very limited space below the trunk floor panel. Less space than the Model 3 and far less than a Y.
• The center screen UI is poor. I found it confusing, I could not readily determine where specific functions were located. Plus the screen was laggy; I would tap and then wait for something to happen. And I was not impressed with Apple Car Play. My iPhone integrates with my Teslas just fine for my purposes; I can easily make calls and play music from my phone. I don’t need Apple Maps and I certainly don’t need texts appearing in the car.
• Tried using voice to enter a navigation destination (which I normally do in my Teslas) but it kept failing to understand me. Maybe it was a poor internet connection but the car showed 3 bars of signal. Entered a nav destination and the route showed on the screen, but then 5 minutes later the route disappeared. This happened twice. Was in an urban area with good cell signal. My friend does not use the car nav, she uses her iPhone so could not assist me. She saw no reason to use the car nav. I kept trying to use the car nav and then it did work for me.
• I had read published 0-60 times for the ID.4 so I knew it was not nearly as quick as a standard 3/Y but I was not prepared for how underwhelming it was when I floored the accelerator.
• To enable regen braking in Drive you have to press the gear selector twice to put it into “B”. That’s weird. Regen should be on by default. Is there a way to make B the default? My friend didn’t know. Trying to dig through the settings in the center display was too time consuming.
• When I first went to drive and put the car in Reverse to back up it immediately started moving when I took my foot off the brake. So it does what the “Creep” mode does in a Tesla. But can that be turned off? My friend didn’t know.
• I found the front seats overly firm. The steering wheel adjustment did not go high enough for my preferred seating position so I had to lower the seat. I’m 6’2” but would have preferred to sit a bit higher in the car. No problem with headroom.
• My friend has not done multi-day trips with the car but has used the EA charging network and its worked fine for her. But when I took her to a Supercharger and plugged in my car she was shocked at how simple it was.

I could go on, but that’s enough. The only reason I can see for buying an ID.4 over a Model Y (which is its Tesla equivalent) is price. And I get that. My friend likes the car very much, and I’m happy about that. The more EV drivers the better! I hope VW improves the car in the future.

This is all valid and well known criticism.

I will add that some of the critique are based on what you are used to. the UI for example has some really neat features and is pretty fast when you know it. But the first time I drove the car I couldn't even find the menus...

IDs with 3.0, 3.1 3.2 sw are much snappier.

You maybe want to test the adaptive regen feature. I don't like it, I use B and don't find twisting the gear selector one notch further an issue. In D the car will regen automatically for other cars, crossings or turns based on map location, and will coast instead most of the time. Some like this, and VW engineers says it increase mileage. Hard Tesla regen is not for everyone.

I wish they had a frunk also, there is space. But I like the roomy cabin and the seats with massage and extending thigh support. The rear seats are also great with a higher position making view great.

The HUD an matrix lights are great also.