Volkswagen ID.4 Review

If you’re the sort of person who gives your car a name, the Volkswagen ID.4 isn’t for you.

If, however, you buy your cars in the same way that you’d buy a washing machine, the ID.4 is a strong choice – albeit still not class-leading.

The ID.4 is cheaper to buy than many of its rivals, potentially very cheap to run, big enough for a family’s clutter and has an assured, easy-going driving experience.

The car in our pictures is a high-spec car with upgraded lights, shiny alloy wheels and chrome trim. But basic ID.4s – especially with flat paint and naff plastic hubcaps – look apologetic and drab. The car equivalent of a cold, rainy Tuesday. Dare we go as far to say bleak?

Whether that matters might come down to your budget, because used ID.4s are very affordable. Examples that have already travelled halfway to the moon are approaching £10,000, and even at £15,000 there’s very little that comes close to the ID.4’s spaciousness and/or range.

Spend more than that and you’ll be able to drive away in a Hyundai Ioniq 5, Mercedes EQC, Volvo XC40 Recharge, an early Tesla Model Y or even a Jaguar I-Pace (if you take a brave pill). All of those do broadly the same thing as the ID.4 but with more flair or more equipment, which is worth taking into account when you’re paying the cost of a washing machine every month for several years…

Much has been said about the interiors of VW’s ID. cars, and not all of it positive.

But we’ll start with the positives. The build quality is pretty good, the cabin feels light and airy, and the digital instrument cluster displays a lot of pertinent information in a crisp and clear way.

And more recent ID.4s come with VW’s latest infotainment system – it’s much bigger than the previous one and loses the row of shortcut buttons under the climate control sliders. Don’t get hung up on having fewer buttons – they were touch panels anyway and the new screen works a lot better.

The new screen comes with a lot of configurability so it’s easier to live with, and it’s quicker to respond and to load. Meanwhile, the older screen takes a little getting used to, with some functions and settings buried several menu layers deep.

VW has now rowed back on its widespread use of haptic touch panels, but the ID.4 hasn’t received proper buttons yet. The climate sliders are imprecise, it’s easy to brush one of the steering wheel buttons while you’re driving, and having two window switches to control four windows is needlessly frustrating.

While the ID.4’s cabin feels durable, the materials don’t feel premium enough. There are a lot of cheap plastics in prominent places – which could be forgiven in a Vauxhall or Dacia but don’t make the grade in a VW.

Plus, early cars came with optional interior themes, so you could have some classy brown trim if you wanted to. Mind you, our test car was white on the outside and brown inside – we’d christen it ‘the toilet’ if we bought it!

Now, though, the only interior colour scheme is a sea of melancholy greys and blacks. A shame when the Skoda Enyaq offers a whole range of interior ‘suites’ and nicer materials in places you’ll touch.

The ID.4 is more than big enough to serve as a family car. Its 543-litre boot is one of the best in the class, and the doors open wide so it’s easy to get relatives of all shapes and sizes in.

Rear-seat passengers get plenty of legroom, and there’s even enough space if the front seats are slid all the way back. Plenty of headroom, too, and the ID.4’s taller roofline means it’s better for tall passengers than the coupe-styled ID.5.

There are useful door bins, a pull-down centre armrest with cupholders, USB sockets to keep kids’ tablets charged and dedicated seatback pockets for your phone. The Isofix points, meanwhile, are easy to find, and the ID.4’s big windows give kids or adults a good view out.

Storage in the front is good, too – the cupholders are big and there are several useful cubbies in which to stash Polos or other VW-branded sweets. You won’t get much in the glovebox, however, because it’s half as wide as you’d hope.

Once again, the elephant in the room is the Enyaq. Because Skoda’s effort has an even bigger boot, not to mention a range of ‘Simply Clever’ touches such as a parking ticket holder, an umbrella in the door and an ice scraper within the bootlid. You get the same bootlid moulding in the ID.4 with a blank filler plate instead.

Given that the ID.4 is big enough to be a family’s main car, it’s really worth considering how you’ll use the car and whether the cheaper batteries are big enough.

You can get a 52kWh battery that’s officially good for 224 miles between charges. But remember that that figure will be noticeably lower in cold conditions, and ideally it’s best to charge the battery to 80% unless you’re doing a long journey. Suddenly that becomes 179 miles in perfect conditions, and it could quite easily be a lot lower if you’re on the motorway in the middle of winter.

The 77kWh battery ups the official range estimate to around 350 miles – or 280 miles at 80%. This’ll be less efficient in winter, too, but you’ll get a much more usable range figure in any weather.

It’s a shame the smaller battery doesn’t go a little bit further, because the performance it offers is plenty. 150hp and a 0-62mph time of nine seconds doesn’t sound that much, but it’s no trouble to get these 'Pure' versions up to speed whatsoever.

The bigger battery also nearly doubles the output of the motor. With 286hp on tap, the ‘Pro’ versions take just 6.7 seconds to hit 62mph from a standstill. A bit unnecessary in a family hauler like this, but it means you’re never short of power for getting out of junctions quickly or overtaking slow-moving vehicles.

Insurance costs are reasonable – the big-battery versions are in a much lower insurance group than the likes of the Tesla Model Y and Volvo XC40 Twin Motor. It’s worth noting that ID.4s registered since April 2025 will be subject to the luxury car tax rate if they originally cost more than £40,000 new – but older ones are taxed at the standard rate regardless of their initial price.

Volkswagen imbues a sense of solidity and confidence into all its cars, and the ID.4 is no exception. Even in frosty conditions, the ID.4 is calm, controllable and collected, giving you the reassurance that it’s taking everything in its stride.

The steering isn’t as light as we expected, which is a good thing for driving at higher speeds – it means the car feels planted and doesn’t need constant steering input on the motorway. Still easily manoeuvrable around town, too.

On the motorway, you’ll not notice too much wind or tyre noise; the ID.4 remains impressively refined.

The suspension does a good job of controlling the ID.4’s considerable mass, both in terms of smoothing out bumps and cornering keenly. Hit a particularly sharp pothole and you’ll feel the impact, but scraggy road surfaces are dealt with nicely.

At the top of the ID.4 range is a GTX performance model, but this is best avoided for most buyers. Yes, it’s quick, but it’s far too heavy and lumpen to be sporty, and the GTX will be less efficient than lower-powered versions.