2022 VW ID4 Pro: What We Love, and What We Love to Hate
If you’re looking to buy a new or used VW ID4, scroll through this list of our favorite and most infuriating features.
We've logged over 14,000 miles in our 2022 Volkswagen ID4 Pro, which is on loan for a yearlong test, and learned a lot in the process (including if you can charge it at a Tesla Supercharger). If you're looking to buy a new or used VW ID4, scroll through this list of our favorite and most infuriating features.
1. Love:GetUp andGo
One of the best things you get used to with the ID4 is how easy it is to just get in and go. The smart key works great; walk right up, open the door, sit down, toggle to Drive, and head out. Your weight on the seat and foot on the brake pedal start the car. No twisting of a key or pushing of a button. Parking and exiting the vehicle turns it off, too. All this will be old news to Tesla owners, but it's still nicely done in the ID4. It's so slick, you forget about it and find yourself annoyed with other vehicles' slower entry and exit routines.
2. Hate: Panic Prone
Like much of the car, the ID4's smart key has no physical buttons (like Tesla pioneered a decade ago). As we mentioned, it works well as a proximity key. The downside is the overly sensitive panic button, which triggers the car's lights and horn. I've triggered it multiple times, usually while wrestling my 2-year-old into his child seat. He finds it hilarious.
3. Love: *Tight* Handling
The ID4 is legitimately fun to drive. With 201 hp and 229 lb-ft of torque on tap from its single rear-mounted motor, it's no speed demon, but the instant torque and single-speed transmission make the acceleration brisk and passing/merging a breeze. Steering is the real standout. Light, direct, with a natural and sporty feel, it's perfectly weighted for darting around and not bad on the freeway, either. The turning radius is also amazingly tight; one can easily throw a U-turn in a tight residential street.
4. Hate: Rear Seat Ride Quality
If you spend a lot of time in the rear seat, say, sitting next to a toddler in his child seat, you'll notice that the ride quality is markedly worse than what you get up front. Maybe it's that the driver and front passenger get advance visual warning of coming bumps or have softer seat cushions, but bigger hits seem to reverberate with more force and noise in the back seats.
5. Love: Cost to operate
As we profiled in our charging update, the ID4 is costing us pennies per mile to drive—$0.07 per mile in that writeup ($0.08/mile now). In truth, the figure might be considerably less than that depending on where you live and when you charge. The keys are to charge at home as much as possible and do it "off-peak," which is typically overnight or during morning and early afternoon. Avoid late afternoon into the night (approximately 4-9 p.m. ), which are peak electricity usage times in most households.
6. Hate: Touchy Window Controls
In an apparent effort to save costs, the two driver's side window controls do double duty as the rear window controls. You just have to tap the window controls and confirm audibly or visually which set of windows you're controlling. If you happen to brush up on the buttons and miss either cue, you'll open the wrong set of windows, which gets really old after a while.
7. Love: Apple CarPlay
If you love Apple CarPlay as much as we do, rejoice because the ID4 has it onboard, and it's far superior to the current VW operating system. It's inconsistent about connecting (rarely right away, usually after minutes of delay), but it's solid once you're connected. Pray to the heavens VW retains CarPlay because…
8. Hate: Software Mess
VW's operating system is a hot mess in too many ways to outline here. In brief: It's sparse, joyless, slow to respond, and often confounding. The welcome screen asks for a login every time you get into the car. We can't figure out how to trigger some kind of recognition, even though there is a mobile phone app. This is also not very helpful: While it's relentless about certain updates (doors locked/unlocked), it's useless when it comes to tracking your charging sessions, energy delivered and costs. Our third party charger's (Wallbox) app was far superior.
9. Love: Cargo space*
The ID4's styling is deceptive. It may look like a chunky hatchback, but it's actually quite large and a legit SUV (or at least CUV) when it comes to carrying people and things. The cargo area is large and deep and can swallow large strollers and suitcases. We just wish ours had more features, like tie-downs, dividers, or nets, to keep our grocery bags from tipping over, spilling out our cans and fruits.
11. Hate: Phantom Voice Prompts
A subset of the ID4's troubled operating system is the voice activated control system. In theory, you can adjust the air conditioning, radio, navigation, and other features simply by touching an icon on the right side of the steering wheel or by saying "Hello ID" or "Hey ID," followed by some simple commands. In practice, however, the system seems to come to life on its own, mishearing something that was said, and bringing up a Siri-like prompt on the main infotainment screen that takes a few seconds to clear. It's mystifying, distracting, and annoying to determine what called up the voice assistant. Was it an errant touch or something I said?
For More on Our Long-Term Volkswagen ID4 Pro:
- Volkswagen ID4 Pro Arrival: Second Chance to Make a First Impression
- Winter Road-Tripping in Our Long-Term EVs Has Been … Interesting
- Can You Charge a Volkswagen ID4 at a Tesla Supercharger?
- Electrifying and Revolting Features in Volkswagen's Tesla Challenger
- Lessons Learned On An EV Road Trip
- Our VW ID4 Is Costing Us Pennies to Run
- How Carefree Is VW Maintenance?
I used to go kick tires with my dad at local car dealerships. I was the kid quizzing the sales guys on horsepower and 0-60 times, while Dad wandered around undisturbed. When the salesmen finally cornered him, I'd grab as much of the glossy product literature as I could carry. One that still stands out to this day: the beautiful booklet on the Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX that favorably compared it to the Porsches of the era. I would pore over the prose, pictures, specs, trim levels, even the fine print, never once thinking that I might someday be responsible for the asterisked figures "*as tested by Motor Trend magazine." My parents, immigrants from Hong Kong, worked their way from St. Louis, Missouri (where I was born) to sunny Camarillo, California, in the early 1970s. Along the way, Dad managed to get us into some interesting, iconic family vehicles, including a 1973 Super Beetle (first year of the curved windshield!), 1976 Volvo 240, the 1977 Chevrolet Caprice Classic station wagon, and 1984 VW Vanagon. Dad imbued a love of sports cars and fast sedans as well. I remember sitting on the package shelf of his 1981 Mazda RX-7, listening to him explain to my Mom - for Nth time - what made the rotary engine so special. I remember bracing myself for the laggy whoosh of his turbo diesel Mercedes-Benz 300D, and later, his '87 Porsche Turbo. We were a Toyota family in my coming-of-age years. At 15 years and 6 months, I scored 100 percent on my driving license test, behind the wheel of Mom's 1991 Toyota Previa. As a reward, I was handed the keys to my brother's 1986 Celica GT-S. Six months and three speeding tickets later, I was booted off the family insurance policy and into a 1983 Toyota 4x4 (Hilux, baby). It took me through the rest of college and most of my time at USC, where I worked for the Daily Trojan newspaper and graduated with a biology degree and business minor. Cars took a back seat during my stint as a science teacher for Teach for America. I considered a third year of teaching high school science, coaching volleyball, and helping out with the newspaper and yearbook, but after two years of telling teenagers to follow their dreams, when I wasn't following mine, I decided to pursue a career in freelance photography. After starving for 6 months, I was picked up by a tiny tuning magazine in Orange County that was covering "The Fast and the Furious" subculture years before it went mainstream. I went from photographer-for-hire to editor-in-chief in three years, and rewarded myself with a clapped-out 1989 Nissan 240SX. I subsequently picked up a 1985 Toyota Land Cruiser (FJ60) to haul parts and camera gear. Both vehicles took me to a more mainstream car magazine, where I first sipped from the firehose of press cars. Soon after, the Land Cruiser was abandoned. After a short stint there, I became editor-in-chief of the now-defunct Sport Compact Car just after turning 30. My editorial director at the time was some long-haired dude with a funny accent named Angus MacKenzie. After 18 months learning from the best, Angus asked me to join Motor Trend as senior editor. That was in 2007, and I've loved every second ever since.
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