Run, don't walk, away from the ID.4. It's *still* not ready for prime-time. A little over a year ago I had one for 3-4 months; I disliked it so much that I sold it and got a Model 3 - a car that I had been actively avoiding. The Model 3 is so, so much better than the ID.4 I can't begin to describe it without a ridiculously long post. A post which, in fact, I made on the VW ID forums. You can find that long thing
here, complete with a discussion. I'll put the text below, after a couple of MY specific comments.
Regarding the MY - it's just taller and heavier than the M3; mostly taller. With that, it's just not going to ride like it's on rails. It's...a small SUV and it corners like it. The MY is huge inside compared to the M3, the change to the hatchback helps so much. It still handles better than the ID.4 did. Disclaimer: I've got a MYP that now has 19" wheels, the stiffer suspension will help with some of that but the ID.4 is *not* good.
With that, here's my post from that other site. Which, by the way, you should visit if you're looking. Learn from them what you can.
FROM VWIDTALK DOT COM, keep in mind it's over a year old at this point:
There you go. After just over three months, my ID.4 is gone. Luckily Carvana is offering $42,000 for the car, which means I just about broke even after the tax credit, tint, a few accessories, and a $300 part to replace the infuriating pedestrian noise generator that I broke trying to silence/quiet the thing.
You can look up my very long posts pointing out the faults of the ID.4, but the short story is, it's just not ready for sale yet. The software is a hot mess, and some of the design decisions are so flawed as to be fatal. The kicker was the lane keep assist twice pushing me off the road towards a ditch, and twice into an oncoming car. It's too hard to overcome it, and because it resets every time you start the car, it's a PITA to turn off the dangerous tech. I will not allow my car to kill me. Oh - the 4-6 weeks to get a replacement windshield for a crack spreading across my eye line didn't help.
In short, just about every time I drove the ID.4 it would do something that would cause me to say "I hate this car." Literally. Those words.
The good stuff on the ID.4 vs. the M3: Build quality is slightly better, but surprisingly only slightly. The seat material is just amazing on the ID.4 (1st Edition). I'll miss all of the room in the back. Never thought I'd say this, but I miss kicking below the bumper to open the liftgate. The power sunshade was very nice. The speed control on the ID.4 is radar-based, and for the moment is better than the camera-only system on my M3. I'll miss Apple CarPlay...somewhat.
The M3, however: surprisingly good build quality. Yes, there are two panels that are touching but that can and will be adjusted. Everything else on delivery was perfect - and I'm picky. Look at my posts lambasting the ID.4.
Lane centering (Travel Assist on the ID.4, Autopilot on the M3) is...phenomenal. Wow. It's good on the ID.4, it's stunning on the M3. The glass roof tinting is just so much better, it's not even close. I had to leave the sunshade in the ID.4 closed all of the time, I think I won't be installing the sunshades that I bought for the M3 except for the really hot part of the summer. It's that good! (I did get the roof tinted with a ceramic tint, just like I did for the ID.4. I live in Houston) The acceleration and deceleration curves are far better. I didn't realize just how good one-pedal driving could be - and after three days I don't want to go back. This wasn't possible in the ID.4 not just because of the limited regen, but also the curve (how the regen kicked in and at what rate) just made it impossible to even start in B mode. And there's no creaking or rocking when I stop. It just stops, eerily smoothly without even using the brake pedal. Wonderful.
The interior is amazingly quiet until over 50-55 MPH...then it's not. So...it's OK. There have been recent improvements on this. The ride is surprisingly good, and in fact I think it's a much smoother and composed ride than my ID.4. The ID.4 was an FE on 21" wheels, this M3 has the 18" wheels. That has a lot to do with it - but it's more than that. It's just better suspension. It's
way better on curves, even mild ones. Feels like it's on rails, where the ID.4 needed lots of power to settle in and track well - and it still didn't feel great.
I don't need or use the acceleration. I drove my ID.4 in Comfort mode, I drive the M3 in Chill mode. But holy cow. I've only got the Long Range, and when I do put it in Standard acceleration (the fastest I have) it's just wonderful. Lordy.
As an aside, the ID.4 is no slouch though. I wound up dusting a modified GTI. Took him by surprise at the first light, then left him behind at the second when he was up for the game. Fun! Only to 45-50 MPH, of course, with nobody in front and no cross roads. No opportunity to do that in a M3. Everyone knows...and that's fine.
The infotainment screen is just light-years ahead of the ID.4. It's fast, well laid out, and informative. Navigation is not just usable (which would be a huge improvement) it's pretty darn great! I can
actually find charging stations that are not only relevant, but usable. I can look up an address on my phone and send it to the car with one button in the share sheet. Amazing. There are driver profiles, tied to your phone or key card (or fob if you're a luddite). They
work. I thought I'd miss having the binnacle in front of me with speed, etc...don't care. Don't miss it at all. The rear-view camera is stunning. Never thought I'd describe a rear-view camera that way, but there it is.
The physical controls are great, too. The feel great, they work just as designed. They don't get accidentally activated because they're touch-sensitive. I haven't yet put the M3 into an unexpected/dangerous cruise control mode - something I did multiple times per day in the ID.4.
There's no piano black, anywhere, None. That deserves it's own line.
There is almost no plastic or rubber that meets a waxed surface on the outside. Yep - no more grey plastic. And the paint is beautiful.
The pedestrian warning sound is a reasonable volume in forward, if a bit loud in reverse. But it's fine.
The phone app is wonderful. It works - quickly - every time! It's
useful. It doesn't log me out. I don't need a PIN or FaceID to access the ONE car I own, on a device I use FaceID to unlock.
One niggle - my car is only three months after they went all vision. There are ultrasonic sensors for parking, but no radar sensors for longer range stuff. It's all cameras. So, adaptive cruise control / Autopilot is a bit rough around the edges and not smooth. It's
really sensitive about traffic in the next lane over. There's a thing called phantom braking that I have yet to experience, but I'm sure I will. Ugh. I'm quite a few software revisions behind, and expect my first one in a month or so. This should all improve rapidly - and Tesla actually pushes updates.
About those software updates. It seems that new cars typically don't get an update for a month or so, and can be delivered with a slightly out-of-date version to boot. There's no clarity on why, but the best reason I've seen pondered is this gives new owners a well-tested experience, and a month or so to learn the car before it starts doing new/better stuff. I'm OK with this
because I know an update is coming and my car will be better.
The purchase process was great, but I did pay cash. There's no BS about stupid fees. Nobody tries to get you in the finance office and sell you crap. In Texas, you have to pay before the car is delivered - that took some getting used to but when I asked I was told that if I backed out for any reason, the money would be sent to me within a few days. Fine. For delivery I literally did not talk to
anyone at the dealership except one fellow customer who said hello. Once your car is ready, your phone app is activated (I was still at home) and you can see your car. When you walk up to your car, use the phone to unlock the car through the app, then follow instructions to pair the phone as a key. Walk around the car, take notes if needed, set it up for you, and drive away. Paperwork was delivered electronically except for the state registration docs in a folder on the seat. Key cards were on the center console. Truly, this is the way. (If there was something that needed correcting, people are there)
I'll grant you that the M3 is a different beast from the ID.4. It's a sedan vs. a small SUV. But the Tesla is just better in almost every way that counts, and VW is quite simply selling a car that isn't ready. This year's model will
never catch up due to hardware issues. And if you need the small SUV, the Model Y is for you - although they don't ride very well in my opinion. This is getting better, I'm told, it just wasn't there for me. (The story was that they set them up for towing, expecting lots more than what people are doing) And, of course, the MY isn't that great looking IMO. But that's fine - it's a great car.
The ID series will be great cars in 3-5 years. I do think it's the next VW Beetle. But for now, I could
never recommend someone buy one. Get a Tesla. It's the best car out there at the moment.
