VW ID4 Pro long

Month four with the Volkswagen ID4 and, among the many positives effused in previous reviews, it’s time to pick up on a few issues and concerns we’ve discovered over that time.

We’ve already highlighted the malfunctioning off-side passenger door, which for a few weeks refused to open from the inside. It has since corrected itself after some enthusiastic lock/unlock pressing of the key fob – thanks to one of the several forums for that nugget of advice.

Another issue we’ve been living with is the poor quality seal around the frameless front windows. On the driver’s side, it has a tendency to fold the wrong side of the window (i.e. inside the glass) when wound down.

This causes the window to wind down when you want it to close, wind up v-e-r-y slowly, or jam completely.

Leveraging the seal so it sits on the outside of the glass offers a temporary situation, as it generally returns to its preferred position the next time the window is opened.

The seal itself seems flimsy compared to other the frameless windows on other cars, which have stiffer rubber. Fortunately, it hasn’t happened on the near-side window.

Among the pluses, we like the fact that the car is primed and ready to go when you get in – there’s no need to press the engine start button; just select drive and away you go.

Where that becomes a slight annoyance is when trying to switch the car off: it doesn’t disengage the aircon and radio until you leave the driver seat. If you are still in the car, say waiting for someone, the convenience features remain active, slowly sapping the electric charge.

My solution is to lock and then unlock the car and leave the door slightly ajar. I’ve yet to find a way to override it so everything switches off when the stop button is pressed.

Our only other minor niggle is the fact that the infotainment system doesn’t automatically connect Apple CarPlay – at least it doesn’t every time. Usually you have to click the icon on the screen and then confirming by clicking ok to connect, which seems unnecessary.

None of the above are reasons to overlook the Volkswagen ID4, of course – but they are worth bearing in mind when comparing prospective company cars. Scroll down to previous reviews where we offer plenty of reasons why this car should be on the consideration list.

Beating the WLTP range

With the weather now regularly in the mid-teens, the efficiency performance of the Volkswagen ID4 has soared.

Journeys now average 3.6-4mi/kWh and have reached as high as 4.4. The latter figure would take maximum range to a WLTP-busting 330 miles. That’s 100 miles more than we were achieving in the colder weather.

We’re finding it easy to live with the ID4. Its compact exterior proportions (it’s shorter than the Mustang Mach-E and Hyundai Ioniq 5) mask a spacious interior with the lengthy 2,771mm wheelbase and flat floor resulting in ample head, leg and arm room for front and rear passengers.

The 543-litres boot capacity is generous (and bigger than the Mach-E and Ioniq 5), while beneath the false floor, even more items can be stored, making the SUV a perfect companion for family getaways. There is no storage area under the bonnet, though.

It takes a while to get used to the gearshift. Instead of a conventional lever, the selector is a rocker switch protruding from the top right of the steering column-mounted instrument panel screen. It requires a twist to select drive or reverse.

Twist forward twice to select ‘B’ for brake energy recuperation, which means the car recovers more energy when lifting off the accelerator and braking. So far, we’ve not used this option as we were waiting for the range to settle down to make a proper comparison. We’ll report back in a future test on the performance of the energy recovery.

The ID4 has a neat feature: it communicates with the driver through an intelligent strip of light at the base of the windscreen.

When a destination has been put into the sat-nav, the ID Light denotes upcoming turns by flowing a bead of aquamarine light in the direction of the turn, like an indicator.

It pulses blue when the car is approaching a change in road setting, such as a junction, roundabout or speed limit. And it flares bright red if it senses a risk of an imminent crash or in the event of an emergency stop.

ID Light welcomes the driver by flashing white then blue to let them know the vehicle is ready to use, and it pulses with a green status bar during charging.

We found it a useful visual aid, particularly when using the sat-nav – a helpful alternative to a head-up display.

For a 10-day period, we have had to experience life without a home charger after our Pod Point stopped working. Fortunately, the situation has been rectified with a new circuit board after remote diagnosis didn’t solve the problem, but it did give an opportunity to live with the car without the option of charging at home.

Fortunately, with a 17-mile commute to an office with charging, it wasn’t a huge burden but on a couple of occasions we cut it very fine, down to the final 10 miles.

Public charging was, of course, the alternative solution – albeit at much higher cost - but with mainly short journeys over that time, we were able to cope by relying on workplace chargers.

More than just an electric Golf

It appears there is a known issue with the child locks on the 2023 ID4 model – a Google search brings up various forums complaining about the problem.

Within a couple of weeks of taking delivery of our new long termer, the offside rear passenger door developed a fault and stubbornly refused to be opened from the inside. The car logged it as a fault within the onboard computer.

On the driver forums, some owners recommended pressing lock-unlock twice in quick succession which didn’t work but just as we considered taking the ID4 to the local dealership, the problem went away. All doors are now fully functioning.

Such is the compactness of this compact SUV’s exterior proportions that a few people have asked whether it is VW’s electric version of the Golf. The company did briefly have an e-Golf, but its limited range meant it won few fans.

The ID4’s dimensions are similar, but bigger – 4,584/2,108/1,634mm (length/width/height) versus the Golf’s 4,258/2,027/1,492mm – but it’s inside where the differences really become clear.

The ID4 has a 2,771mm wheelbase, for decent legroom, and 1,066/979mm front/rear headroom, while the Golf offers a 2,620mm wheelbase and 1,018/967mm headroom in comparison. Luggage capacity is also firmly in the ID4’s favour at 543 litres versus the Golf’s modest 380.

We’ll focus more on the ID4’s interior features in our third review.

The biggest question anyone asks about this car – indeed any electric car – is, of course, what’s the range. The answer very much depends on the weather or, more precisely, the temperature.

Range during cold weather hovers around 220-230 miles, rather less than the 322-mile WLTP combined figure, with efficiency just about hitting 3mi/kWh (WLTP: 3.9), although many trips hover around 2.8-2.9. However, more recently, with temperatures starting to regularly exceed 10 deg C, the same journeys have resulted in 3.5-3.6mi/kWh, taking the potential range to around 270 miles.

That’s still lower than our previous full electric long termer, the Hyundai Ioniq 5, which we had during warmer weather and comfortably achieved 4mi/kWh, sometimes even exceeding 5mi/kWh, on similar routes.

It’ll be interesting to see if the ID4 can get anywhere near that as the weather continues to warm. We’ll let you know!

VW ID4 Pro Style 77kWh joins our fleet

The ID4, build on the brand’s modular electric drive matrix (MEB) platform which also underpins the ID3, has been designated a ‘net climate-neutral product’ by German audit body TUV Nord as it is built at net carbon-neutral plants using renewable energy, while suppliers are use renewable energy. Any unavoidable emissions are offset through climate protection projects.

With ID models accounting for around 14% of Volkswagen UK’s cars sales last year (just over 18,200 units of ID3, ID4 and ID5), the cars have a vital role to play in shoring up VW’s future as a sustainable brand.

The ID4 comes with three body derivatives: Life Edition and Style, both rear-wheel drive with a choice of 52kWh or 77kWH, plus the all-wheel drive GTX with 77kWh battery and 295hp. We have Style with the 77kWh battery which has a WLTP range of 322 miles.

All batteries come with an eight year/100k warranty.

Charging times range from almost 13 hours on 7kW and 7.5hrs on 11kW (both to 100%), to just 38 mins on a 125kW DC rapid charge (to 80%).

As with many electric models, levels of standard equipment are high and include driver alert system with fatigue detection, park assist with front/rear sensors and rear parking camera, lane assist, oncoming vehicle braking when turning and swerve support, dynamic road sign display and 10-inch infotainment display.

The ID4 is also one of the first models to feature advanced connectivity technology: Car2X allows it to wirelessly exchange information about local hazards with other vehicles and the traffic infrastructure.

In addition, the WeConnect app provides information such as battery range, vehicle health and vehicle locator as well as allowing drivers to pre-set air-con levels based on departure times.

Additional kit on our test car includes energy efficient heat pump (£1,050), 20-inch alloys (£500), 3-pin mains charging cable (£190) and stonewashed blue metallic paint with black roof (£690) which take the P11D price from £47,995 to £50,425.

Initial impressions are good, although with the cold snap recently experienced, range indication is closer to 230 miles with an efficiency just nudging 3mi/kWh.

Acceleration is quick but not explosive and handling precise and well-weighted, while the car grips to the road with minimal body roll, despite weighing in at more than two tonnes, thanks to a low centre of gravity.

As a family car, the ID4 rightly prioritises security and calmness over outright fun, but more on that in future tests.

CO2 emissions and fuel consumption data correct at time of writing. The latest figures are available in the Fleet News fuel cost calculator and the company car tax calculator.

Fleet News group editor Stephen Briers has been an automotive B2B journalist for 27 years. He has been editor of Fleet News since 2009 and before that was editor of Automotive Management for almost seven years. He now oversees both titles, as well as Smart Transport Journal, as group editor.

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