BRIGHT SPARK? (some text hidden) --NONE--

By Jonathan Crouch

Introductionword count: 76

In 2021, Volkswagen ramped up its efforts in the EV segment with this ID.4 compact mid-sized Crossover, which was the marque's first global market electric vehicle. It aimed to deliver more of a premium choice than volume brands could then offer in this rapidly growing segment. Ready for the EV switch and need a pre-owned mid-sized mainstream brand SUV with a bit more of an up-market feel? We think you might be tempted by this one.

Modelsword count: 4

5dr SUV (52kWh, 77kWh)

Historyword count: 289

Back at its launch in 2021, the ID.4 was key in the realisation of Volkswagen's plan to sell 1.5 million EVs worldwide by 2025. The brand expected the ID.4 to account for about a third of that total - so it could hardly have been more important. We mentioned global sales. From this model's introduction, Volkswagen saw this very much as a 'world car', in the mould of the original Beetle or the modernday Golf. And because the world today is obsessed with SUVs, particularly compact-to-mid-sized ones, that's what this had to be. From original launch, the aim here was to out-sell established EV crossovers of this size, like Kia e-Niro and the Hyundai Kona Electric; and, in this model's more premium forms, to take sales from slightly pricier ones, like the Ford Mustang Mach-E and the Tesla Model Y. In line with this ID.4's global pretensions, it was built not only in Germany (at VW's Zwickau plant) but also by factories in China and the US. All the engineering here was shared with the similar VW Group EVs that campaign in this class, two available at this ID.4's original launch (the Skoda Enyaq iV and the Aidi Q4 e-tron), the other introduced two years afterwards (the CUPRA Tavascan). These three cars represent arguably this Volkswagen's closest rivals and, like the ID.4, all use the same MEB electric platform and primarily the same EV engineering that we first saw in Volkswagen's only slightly smaller ID.3 hatchback. So, a slightly aspirational Volkswagen EV. Interested yet? And does an early ID.4 make sense as a used buy? Let's see. Here, we'll focus on the early 2021-2023 versions of this model, the cars produced before the mid-term facelift that arrived in late-2024.

What You Getword count: 595

This ID.4, said then-Volkswagen styling Chief Klaus Zyciora at its launch, aimed to represent 'the evolution of electric vehicle design'. Well it was certainly an evolution from the friendly but slightly anonymous look of its showroom stablemate, the ID.3 family hatch. And it was a more substantial thing, 287mm longer and 60mm higher, with short bonnet proportions unlike any existing Volkswagen SUV. The profile is certainly distinctive, thanks to a variety of careful touches - an A-pillar that starts a long way forward, a strong wave-like shoulder line, arched flanks and a low dynamic roof arch intended to make the silhouette look long and stretched. All the key drive stuff sits over the rear axle - principally the single-speed gearbox and the permanent-magnet synchronous electric motor that's been mated to it, both very efficiently packaged; Volkswagen says that both elements, together with the associated control electronics, collectively weigh just 90kgs and could fit into a typical gym bag. All of this powered by a high voltage battery that is efficiently arranged in the underbody to save space. Which leaves nothing to sit at the front end but a few auxiliary units like the air conditioning compressor and of course the steering rack. So, just as with the original rear-engined Beetle, there's no need for a grille to embellish the flat front end, which sees air flow through a hexagon-trimmed wide inlet lower down, which has a silver-trimmed lower frame. The brand badge sits simply on a narrow light strip, which, above base trim, rather neatly illuminates when the large headlights are on full beam. At the wheel, there's no need for a gear lever, an ignition slot or a handbrake - and that's just the beginning of the things you'll need to adjust to, in a cabin designed around what Volkswagen calls an 'Open Space' concept. You sit quite high, on top of all those batteries, and the interior design has an airy but minimalist and rather clinical feel which Volkswagen tried unsuccessfully to lift by imprinting 'Play' and 'Pause' symbols on the two footwell pedals. There's not much in the way of switchgear and of course, you do without conventional instruments, all of this replaced by a couple of TFT displays, a little 5.3-inch one behind the steering wheel and a main 'Discover Max' tablet of 12-inches in size in the centre of the dash. Build quality is generally good but cheaper plastics betray the cost cutting necessary to undergird all that sophisticated EV technology. The gear selector is housed in a right hand protrusion from the instrument binnacle, though here, there's the additional novelty in the fact that the whole binnacle moves up and down as you adjust the wheel. Other adjustments are done using either touch-sensitive buttons (like the fiddly sliders for the climate system); or with voice control prefaced by the command “Hello I.D”. In the rear, Volkswagen claims that there's as much leg room as you'd get in a Mercedes E-Class executive saloon or their large 7-seat Tiguan Allspace SUV; it certainly feels like it. It's also wider cabin than you'd expect a compact-to-mid-sized SUV to be able to provide and with no central transmission tunnel to obstruct things, three adults could actually fit reasonably easily into the back of this car. Out back, there's 543-litres of boot space. The rear bench doesn't split flexibly 40:20:40, but Volkswagen does at least provide a ski hatch so that longer items to be poked through into the cabin. Flattening the 60:40-split rear bench frees up 1,575-litres of capacity loaded to roof height.

To see the full road test text contact us on 0330 0020 227