2023 VW ID.4 Assessment: Some key updates, simply not sufficient of them

Automobile

By linda Last updated Aug 19, 2022

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Table of Contents

Execs: Cheap worth; extra passenger and cargo area than EV rivals; three years of free charging; made in America

Cons: Pull-your-hair-out inside controls; some low-cost inside supplies; slower to cost than rivals

In so many key methods, the 2023 Volkswagen ID.4 makes a ton of sense. It’s greater than its EV rivals and comparably sized to hybrid compact SUVs, making it probably the most household pleasant of fairly priced electric cars. And it’s certainly fairly priced, beginning at lower than $40,000 for the brand new normal battery or about $45,000 for the larger, 275-mile-range battery. Higher nonetheless, the 2023 ID.4 is made in Tennessee, which may profit it when it comes to the Inflation Discount Act’s new EV tax credit score necessities (the ultimate parameters of that have been nonetheless unknown on the time of this writing). Add in its ample gear and surprisingly sporty driving expertise, and also you get a really interesting bundle.

However you simply know there’s a “however” coming. Sadly, regardless of some welcome inside updates for 2023, Volkswagen did nothing to deal with the ID.4’s poorly designed touchscreen interface and touch-sensitive inside controls. Fairly merely, they’re so irritating to make use of and the wonky touchscreen controls so many car parts that we can’t advocate the complete car. Go forward and provides it a protracted, thorough attempt, although. Should you can reside with it, the ID.4 nonetheless has a ton to supply.

Interior & Technology | Passenger & Cargo Space | Performance & Range

What it’s like to drive | Pricing & Trim Levels | Crash Ratings & Safety Features

What’s new for 2023?

There are vital modifications and additions to the ID.4 lineup for 2023. First, there’s a brand new base mannequin with a decrease vary (208 miles) and a cheaper price ($38,790). Second, each ID.4 comes normal with Plug&Cost functionality, that means you merely plug the automobile into an Electrify America station with out worrying about utilizing the app or tapping a bank card. Third, there are refined design tweaks (gloss black accents up entrance, new wheel designs and an illuminated VW rear badge on S fashions), upgraded inside supplies and snazzier color schemes. The entire above helps counter the impression that the ID.4 was a bit uninteresting. Lastly, the ID.4 is now in-built Chattanooga, Tenn.

What are the ID.4 inside and in-car know-how like?

There are massive modifications for the 2023 ID.4, and whereas welcome, they don’t tackle our main complaints with the automobile that largely stop us from recommending it. First, although, the updates. Each ID.4 now comes normal with the bigger 12-inch touchscreen and the minivan-style seat-mounted armrests have been changed by a standard padded middle console bin lid/armrest. Supplies have additionally been improved and snazzied up. A brand new “mélange and leatherette” replaces the bottom material upholstery, and is on the market in both a Stone theme that options black and grey accents (pictured above left), or a Nutmeg theme that has brown hues. The improve S trims nonetheless have full leatherette, however they’re now out there in both a Galaxy theme that options black and grey parts, or a brand new Cosmic theme that pairs grey, white and blue. It’s pictured above, high.

Not one of the above probably addresses ideas that some underlying plastic items are on a budget facet, however there’s no denying that the ID.4 cabin may use the model enhancements its obtained for 2023. Some chintzy plastics weren’t our major concern, nevertheless. The ID.4 will get a revised instrument panel show with extra data offered ( factor, pictured under left), however nothing was finished to right the gradual and poorly organized touchscreen infotainment system that just about single handedly prevents the ID.4 from being amongst our top-recommended EVs. It’s a nightmare to make use of (particularly for these previous fogies like us nonetheless utilizing satellite tv for pc radio) and is paired with one other unaddressed sin: the touch-sensitive local weather, quantity and menu controls which might be tough to establish and press throughout the day, and just about not possible to establish and press at night time since they don’t seem to be illuminated. VW didn’t add correct rear window controls for the motive force’s door, both — there’s nonetheless solely two window switches and a toggle that you just use to pick the entrance or rear home windows (pictured under proper). It is as annoying as that sentence makes it sounds. So, the blue leatherette is good and all, however we’d fairly be capable to flip up the temperature and alter a radio station with out pulling our hair out.

How massive is the ID.4?

Should you take a look at the specs, you may see the VW ID.4 is true in the course of the compact crossover bunch. Nonetheless, its electrical structure makes it a Granny Smith in a basket of Galas. Sure, it is not so long as a Honda CR-V or Toyota RAV4, as an illustration, however its wheelbase is significantly longer. That is finest seen within the really gigantic again seat. We have been capable of match an infinite rear-facing Britax Boulevard baby seat behind each the passenger and driver seat set for a 6-foot-3 driver. Meaning you possibly can match two rear-facing automobile seats within the again seat, a rarity, whereas additionally equating to palatial legroom for giant children and adults. Heck, go forward and produce alongside a couple of basketball gamers.

Admittedly, the ID.4’s prime electrical opponents, the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Kia EV6, have equally beneficiant passenger area because of comparable architectural causes. Nonetheless, the VW is greater off the bottom and SUV-like making loading these children into their automobile seats a bit simpler. VW additionally holds a decisive benefit when it comes to cargo capability. It has 30.2 cubic-feet of area behind its again seat, which lands it in the course of the compact SUV pack whereas blowing away the EV pack. In our ID.4 cargo area luggage test, the ID.4 falls wanting mega-carriers just like the RAV4 and Hyundai Tucson hybrids, however simply swallowed extra stuff than the EV6, Ioniq 5 and Mustang Mach-E.

What are the ID.4 vary, battery and efficiency specs?

For 2023, the ID.4 is on the market with a alternative of batteries and both rear- or all-wheel drive, which alter how a lot efficiency and vary you get.

The brand new ID.4 Normal powertrain will get a 62-kilowatt-hour battery that achieves a VW-estimated 208 miles. Its single rear motor produces 201 horsepower.

The ID.4 Professional trims have the identical rear motor and output, however will get a much bigger 82-kWh battery that yields an EPA-estimated 275 miles of vary for the bottom Professional and 262 miles for the Professional S. You possibly can anticipate a 0-60-mph time within the mid-8 second vary, which can be a bit gradual by EV requirements, however is completely regular for a compact SUV.

The ID.4 Professional AWD trims add a motor to the entrance axle for through-the-road all-wheel drive. Complete output will increase to 295 horsepower and the 0-60 estimate plummets to five.7 seconds. That’s blisteringly fast for a compact SUV, although slower than the AWD variations of the extra highly effective EV6 and Ioniq 5. Vary lowers to a still-competitive 255 miles for the bottom AWD Professional and 245 for the AWD Professional S.

As for charging, the ID.4’s max cost pace is 135 kW, which is lower than the Mustang Mach-E (150 kW) and means slower than the EV6 and Ioniq 5 (240 kW). On the upside, the ID.4 comes normal with three years of free charging at Electrify America stations, plus the comfort of merely plugging the automobile in with out worrying about consulting the EA app or utilizing the bank card at a station.

What is the ID.4 prefer to drive?

We’ve but to drive the brand new base ID.4, and though its smaller battery pack may in principle make it a bit faster and lighter on its ft, we doubt it’ll make that massive of a distinction. Keep tuned, although!

In any other case, Volkswagen’s efficiency bullseye with the ID.4 was compact SUVs fairly than neck-snapping, high-performance EVs. You continue to get the quick, easy and totally quiet energy supply of an EV, which makes it really feel way more potent in around-town driving than the Honda CR-V’s of this world. However must you merge onto the freeway, you may discover the constraints of its horsepower end in final acceleration that is finest described as “enough.” Stepping as much as the extra highly effective all-wheel-drive mannequin does enhance issues, however to not the extent of a Kia EV6 GT or one of many extra highly effective Mustang Mach-E fashions. To be clear, that is extra a factual assertion than a criticism.

As for its trip and dealing with, the ID.4 fairly clearly sprouted from the European department of the Volkswagen household tree that spawned the Golf fairly than the American one that includes greater, cushier automobiles just like the Tiguan and Jetta. The trip is firmer and extra managed, and the steering extra quick and related in its responses (although nonetheless awfully numb). When mixed with its ultra-low middle of gravity and rear-wheel-drive structure, all of it quantities to a surprisingly enjoyable crossover to drive. We really loved flinging it round a mountain greater than the Mustang Mach-E, a consequence that was simply as shocking to us.

That stated, the trip does allow you to really feel extra impacts from poor pavements, so some might lament the ID.4’s European really feel. There’s additionally numerous street noise, and regardless of the brake pedal having a pure really feel to it, we want we did not have to make use of it a lot. The ID.4 would not present a heavy regenerative braking mode that enables for so-called one-pedal driving. It does have “B” mode that ends in braking if you elevate off the throttle, however the quantity is corresponding to the “low” modes of different EVs.