- Last year when Volkswagen unveiled
its first long range electric vehicle for the U.S,
the ID.4, it warned us not to make the obvious comparisons
to other electric vehicles like Tesla.
That's because Volkswagen says it's real competition
is on the popular gas powered compact SUV's
like the Ford Escape, Honda CRV and Toyota RAV4.
VW has its eyes on a higher prize.
Not just the most popular electric vehicle in its segment
but the most popular vehicle on the road, period.
Did they succeed?
Well, I've only had the ID.4 for a couple of days
but I can comfortably say that the ID.4
is both a great EV and a really excellent mid-size SUV.
It has plenty of range for daily driving and short trips.
The technology inside feels intuitive
without being in your face.
And the really surprising thing
is the whimsicality of the ID.4.
Like VW wants you to just have fun while driving it.
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The ID.4's origins aren't so playful.
The car wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for Dieselgate,
the massive emissions cheating scandal
that nearly crippled VW five years ago.
As part of its many settlements,
VW promised to spend billions of dollars
towards electric vehicles.
That's why they're releasing the ID.4 now
and not two or three years from now
when the EV market is a bit more mature.
Consider it an apology for all the extra pollution
created by their diesel vehicles.
And as far as apologies go,
the ID.4 is a pretty great start.
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Let's talk about the car itself.
There are three different trim levels.
The Pro, the Pro S and the first edition
which is the one that we have here
and obviously the first one available for sale.
The cheapest model, the Pro with rear wheel drive
will retail for $39,995,
but when you factor in the $7,500 federal tax incentive
plus any local and state tax credits,
the ID.4 lands in that low to mid $30,000 range
that's generally considered the sweet spot
for most of us car buyers.
There are six exterior colors to choose from.
We've got the blue desk, which I think is really cool.
It pops without being too ostentatious.
The first edition ID.4 is expected to get 250 miles
of range on a single charge
but that hasn't been certified yet by regulators.
It's possible that the EPA will rate the ID.4
with less than 250 miles of range,
which could drive away those customers
who have extreme range anxiety.
Either way, it's not as much as the Tesla Model 3
or the Model Y
but I think it will suit most people's needs.
VW says every effort has been made to optimize aerodynamics.
You can see that with the swooping lines
in the body of the vehicle, the large roof spoiler,
and with the door handles that are flush against the side.
Again, not exactly regulatory,
a lot of EVs have similar features,
but it does show that VW is thinking seriously
about ways that it can improve range.
This version has an 82 kilowatt hour battery
which is located in the floor of the vehicle
helping create a really low center of gravity.
The electric motor is located in the rear of the vehicle,
which is similar to the Volkswagen Beetle.
You can feel that when you're on a winding road
and the ID.4 is just really hugging the curves.
There are four driving modes.
Eco, comfort, sport and a custom setting
that allows drivers to pick and choose
from the other modes to best suit their own style.
It's got a pretty good OOP for an EV
with 201 horsepower and 228 pound feet of torque.
It can sprint from zero to 60
in a little over seven seconds,
which is nowhere near as fast
as Tesla's performance models.
While driving, you would expect a low grade motor whir
common with EVs, and you'd be right!
No noisy combustion engine under the hood
means no noise radiating throughout the vehicles interior.
As you accelerate, the motor definitely admits
a higher pitch sound but it's not disruptive.
There is a fake sound that the vehicle makes at low speeds
as required by law to alert pedestrian and cyclist.
It's kind of a video game-ish, Nintendo-ish sound
that legit made me laugh when I first heard it.
One of my favorite parts about the ID.4
are the front and rear lights.
Normally, I'm not into illuminated vehicle badges
but there's just something appealing about the light bar
stretching across the full width of the vehicle.
It's the ID.4's way of saying, "Hey, I'm an electric car,"
without exactly clubbing you over the head with it.
There's actually a lot of cool lighting accents
all over this vehicle.
At nighttime, a hexagonal light emanates
from both the driver and passenger door handles
and projects on the ground.
Inside the vehicle, a light bar runs along
the base of the windshield
that serves as a communication device.
If you're using the navigation
and you're about to turn right,
a blue light will move left to right
across the width of the windshield,
to signal that you're about to make a turn.
It also serves as a status bar
when you're charging the vehicle.
I thought it seemed gimmicky at first
but seeing it in action,
I found it to be actually pretty helpful.
And the interior lights are all adjustable.
There are 30 different colors to choose from.
Are the adjustable lights absolutely necessary?
No, but are they fun to play with?
Yes.
More evidence of VW's quirky designs
are the play and pause pedals.
I remember seeing these a few years ago
in VW's ID Buzz electric microbus concept
and thinking they seemed really stupid.
But now I kind of get it.
I mean, you can't call it a gas pedal
when the car runs on electrons, right?
So why not play and pause?
There are two screens, a 5.3 inch instrument cluster
behind the steering wheel
and a 12 inch one in the center console.
It's nice to see a pair of screens
that don't completely dominate the interior.
The UX is totally fine
but for those who prefer their smartphones interface,
the ID supports both wireless Apple CarPlay
and Android Auto.
The screens looked great.
They were bright and vibrant, and the colors really popped.
There's a home button on the left side of the screen
for easy access
and the default software felt similar enough to CarPlay
that I was fine using either.
That said, the ID.4's navigation
is not as clean looking as Google Maps
but that's usually the case with most cars today.
There aren't any physical buttons
but there are haptic feedback ones
that felt really satisfying to touch.
There is a voice assistant
which is activated by saying, "Hello ID."
And it worked pretty well.
Hello ID.
Turn my seat heater on.
- [Voice Assistant] Okay, warming now.
- [Andrew] Hello ID.
Change the ambient lighting to blue.
- [Voice Assistant] Please select an ambient lighting
setting on the screen.
- You gotta make me do it like that!?
Sometimes I found I had to repeat myself
to really get it to work.
I mean, it's definitely not as advanced
as the new Volvos with native Android Auto.
And there's gesture control, as you can see,
that works pretty well.
Sometimes, other times, not so much.
I can see that as being something that
probably most people don't end up using.
I didn't experience a lot of lagginess
in my time with the ID.4
but there were a few sticky spots.
Now, the ID.4 will accept
over the air software updates in the future,
so it's not anything that Volkswagen can't fix.
Volkswagen is new to OTA updates,
so it remains to be seen how they will actually approach it.
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The panoramic roof is similar
to what's found in most Teslas these days
and it was really a joy to sit under.
The white leather in the first edition was a nice touch
and the air vents are real air vents
with open and close knobs.
So this might be the car for you
if you find Tesla's digital air vents off-putting.
The ID.4 uses a front radar, front camera, two rear radars
and eight ultrasound sensors to see the world around it.
The driver assist system,
not as advanced as autopilot or super cruise,
but it does have the standard features
like adaptive cruise control, automatic emergency braking,
blind spot detection and pedestrian monitoring.
Let's talk charging.
The ID.4 comes with an 11 kilowatt onboard charger
that'll charge the vehicle to full in seven and a half hours
at home or at a public Level 2 charger.
As with most EVs, it's not recommended
to charge the ID.4 on a normal 120 volt outlet
because the rate of charging is practically glacial.
At a DC fast charging station
with 125 kilowatt charging available,
the ID.4 can charge from five to 80% in about 38 minutes.
Now, the challenge of course is finding a public charger
that actually provides that much power.
A lot of public chargers really only provide
about half as much as that.
One of the big selling points for the ID.4
is three years of free charging
with VW's Electrify America charging network.
Now like Tesla, VW have skin in the game
when it comes to electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
And that'll go a long way to luring shoppers away
from the warm embrace of combustion engine familiarity.
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Electrify America has approximately 470 charging stations
in the U S with over 2000 DC fast chargers.
Though the company expects to install
or have under development approximately 800 stations
with about 3,500 DC fast chargers by December, 2021,
a fast reliable network of charging stations
will go a long way in selling the ID.4 to customers.
The $40,000 price tag will help too.
But it's still going to be tough VW to siphon away buyers
from low priced alternatives,
like the Honda CRV or Toyota RAV4,
both of which are in the mid $20,000 range.
Volkswagen is calling the ID.4
the most important vehicle since the launch of the Beetle.
And it's really apparent that the company
has put a lot of effort into making that true.
The company has a legacy in the U.S
that it wants to maintain and a lot of baggage to overcome.
And fortunately, the ID.4 is a really strong contender
in a year that's gonna be overloaded with
electro crossovers.
But if price is any indicator,
it's gonna be an uphill battle to make sure that
Volkswagen's battery powered crossover
crosses over into the main stream.
Hey, thanks for watching.
If you wanna see more stuff about electric vehicles,
we just did a video about all the electric vehicles
that are coming out this year.
Please check it out.
We also did a great review of the Ford Mustang Mach-E.
You should definitely check that out
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