First Drive: 2021 Volkswagen ID.4
The first salvo in what is likely a tidal wave of Volkswagen EVs
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The ID.4 is just the first salvo in what is to be a veritable tidal wave of EVs we should expect from the Volkswagen Group over the next five years. Yes, I know VW produced a piece-of-you-know-what called the e-Golf and, oh sure, Porsche’s monstrously powerful Taycan is already terrorizing Teslas and Audi has a spate of e-Trons on the road. But, the scourge of greenhouse gasses will not be erased with the playthings for the rich and superficial, nor some unloved orphan as easily forgettable as Pontiac’s Aztek. If there really is to be an electric revolution, it will be on the shoulders of cars like this, the ID.4, that offer practical transport for the common, everyday commuter.
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So the big question then, after a couple of years of loudly proclaiming it is now an electric mobility company, is whether this electrified Volkswagen is up to the task?
The answer is mostly yes. For one thing, it just squeaks under the magical $45,000 mark — by just five bucks, mind you — that shoppers might enjoy the federal government’s $5,000 subsidy. It also has what is, at this price, a fairly enormous battery. 82 kilowatt hours, in fact. Said big battery lets the ID.4 claim a fairly healthy 400 kilometres of range, says NRCanada.
Now that might not sound like much compared with the claims emanating from some of its competitors. Chevrolet, for instance, claims 417 km from just 60 kWh and Hyundai’s Kona makes a similar claim from its 64 kWh, while Tesla’s Model 3 Long Range claims an outrageous 568 km from a similar 82 kWh. The discrepancy is at least partially explained by the entire Volkswagen Group’s more cautious approach to range claims. The company ran afoul of the EPA once — with its diesels, you might remember — and, as a consequence, has become extraordinarily attentive to regulations involving the US government. So although it’s rated for 400 km, we saw a high of 430 klicks on a single charge in the city and a credible 324 klicks rocketing down the highway at a steady 125 km/h. That last, if you’re looking for context, is just 30 klicks less than the 2019 Model S100D and its 20 per cent larger battery.
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That’s the good news. The bad is that its maximum recharge rate is but 120 kilowatts. Those looking for the benefits of mega-buck luxury EVs should look beyond battery size — the ID.4’s 82 kWh makes mockery of the concept that only $100,000+ electric vehicles can have large batteries — but rather at their charging ability. Ford’s Mustang Mach-E promises 150 kW, Tesla 250 kW and the VW Group’s own Porsche Taycan 270 kW (with a promise of 350 kW to come), a hierarchy that pretty much follows their price point. So, while the ID.4’s range is more than adequate, its ability to recharge is less so. More plainly put, the number of miles it can quickly eke out on a single charge may add up to an extended trip; its ability to replenish those miles, less so. I suspect that VW sees the ID.4 as an urban-slash-suburban runabout and will release more robust beasts for the longer haul.
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Initially, the ID.4 will be limited to a single motor and 201 horsepower that will scoot the 2,116 kilogram (4,665 pound) electric hatch to 100 km/h in about eight seconds. Later on this summer, an all-wheel-drive model (costing five grand more) will arrive with another motor and boast a more substantial 302 ponies, good enough to lop a full two seconds from that eight-second sprint.
What distinguishes the ID.4 from its GM and Korean competition — and begs comparisons with Tesla’s Model 3 — is that said singular motor is in the rear. Yup, unlike much of its bargain-basement competition, the ID.4 is a rear-driver. And while that may not make it the ideal Canadian winter car, it sure does make the ID.4 one fine handling German touring crossover. One might not go so far as to label the ID.4 as sporty, but it is at the very least entertaining, and that is at least one of the reasons Tesla owners cite as justification for buying their Model 3 rather than its Chevy Bolt and Hyundai Kona competition. There is even a “Sport” mode, which, among other things, alters throttle response and the weight of the steering.
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Another area where the ID.4 differentiates itself is in styling. No, not the exterior, which looks vaguely traditional in a Tiguanish way. Rather, I’m talking about the interior, which, in many ways, takes spartan minimalism to an extreme. For instance, the gauge set —which, on most modern automobiles and EVs, typically takes up a substantial acreage on the dashboard — is a tiny little 5-inch screen mounted on the steering column. There’s room for a small numerical digital speedometer, an infographic detailing the adaptive cruise control system usage and the gear-selection indicator. That’s it. I’ve seen more information packed onto a head-up display. Oh, and by the way, that gear-selection mechanism is a triangular toggle up on the aforementioned tiny gauge set. You’ll get used to it, but it will take a few seconds to find it the first time you drive the new Veedub.
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That’s not the only quirk inside the ID. In fact, all of the switchgear is rather reductive. The driver has but two toggles to control the four windows. When you want to lower a rear window, for instance, you need to swipe a touch-sensitive button marked “rear” because what you thought were the front window switches also lower the rear windows. In other words, Volkswagen has reduced two window toggles but added another touch-sensitive swipe button. And no, I don’t see any simplification in the process either.
The lighting for the “mode” switch is so faint it almost disappears into the centre console. Virtually all the climate controls are based in the infotainment screen, but to access the fan speed, etc., you need to push the tiny little “Clima” button that’s almost as well-hidden as the “mode” switch. And I have yet to discover how to manually change the radio station. I thought I had it sussed by discovering a super secret submenu only available if you swipe left very slowly — swipe rapidly and it doesn’t work — but it only allows you toggle between the stations you’ve deemed “favourites.” The ID.4 actually has a decent audio system; just don’t ask it to manually change radio stations.
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The upside to all these — and many more — exceptions from the norm is that they are, for the most part, easily learned once deciphered. The downside is that revised switchgear operation appears to have been done just to be, well, different. I may have learned how to use the VW’s different controls easily enough, but I sure as shooting couldn’t find any advantage to them other than, as I said, that VW gets to say it does things differently. Those who value differentiation for differentiation’s sake will appreciate it; those looking for straightforward controls won’t.
Quirky controls aside, we quite liked our few days in the ID.4. Occasionally baffling, always fine handling, there’s a liveliness to the little Veedub that seems missing from other EVs that squeeze under the $45,000 mark. I think it pretty much hits all the marks Volkswagen set for it.