Volkswagen ID.4 2021 electric car owner review

Timo Thornton drives a Volkswagen ID.4 First Edition 77kWh 2021 electric car.

This is Timo’s first electric car, he’s owned the ID.4 from new and drives 10,000-15,000 miles annually. The current mileage of the car is between 30,000-40,000 miles and he achieves 275 miles range from a full charge.

Why did you choose the Volkswagen ID.4?

I chose the ID.4 (moving from a Tiguan), as it’s a similar size (externally anyway, it’s actually somehow bigger on the inside) and it has a good range.

Positives

It’s been very reliable (much less to go wrong on an EV). It’s very spacious with lots of leg and headroom. It drives really well, and I love that you can pull away quickly and never worry about stalling. The boot is huge, which is great for going away. I’ve also been very pleased that, after 4 years of use, the battery range does not appear to have deteriorated at all (drops around 50 miles in winter, but has always bounced back again come summer).

Negatives

I don’t like the cable storage in the flap under the boot floor. I sometimes forget it’s there and only remember (for example) when I stop at a hotel on the way to an event as the car is crammed with kit and needed the cable out to charge (not an issue on most journeys as fast chargers include their own cable).

Maybe the car could include a small ‘frunk’ as the area under the bonnet doesn’t have an engine or motor (it’s between the rear wheels).

Not much thought given to internal storage – tiny glovebox (mostly just the fuse box) and no little compartments like under-seat drawers.

12 volt socket switches off when you get out of the car – no use for the 12V tyre inflator etc.

Compared to when you first bought the car, does your battery still charge at the same rate & do you still get the same range?

It varies a bit with temperature, but it does seem to get close to the original range. I mostly charge overnight, so the charge rate doesn’t really bother me. It has never charged at the rate that fast-chargers claim, when out and about but I understand that’s more to do with the chargers than it is to do with the vehicle’s capacity.

Have you experienced any faults with the car? If so, what have they been?

I did have an issue with the ‘gear’ switch that is used to change between Park, Drive and Reverse, which pretty much bricked the car early on in my ownership (couldn’t get it out of Park). This was apparently a ‘known’ fault in the early days and the switch was replaced very quickly by my dealership.

What are the standout technological features of the car?

Probably the adaptive cruise – it makes long distance travel very easy, as it automatically adapts to speed limits (even temporary ones), stays a safe distance from the car in front and stays in lane. Lane-keeping is not as good as my old Tiguan though, they seem to have toned it down, so it’s very late to kick-in in the ID.4 (possibly as some customers may not have liked the older version correcting so regularly, the moment you were not central in the lane).

Tell us something people wouldn’t readily know about your Volkswagen ID.4

People think that the weight of electric vehicles means the tyres wear really fast but I’m handing it back next week with more than 30,000 miles on the original tyres. They’re still legal but the dealership will probably need to replace them to sell the car.

What’s the biggest or funniest myth you’ve heard about EVs?

So many myths to chose from – the fire risk; the batteries only lasting 5 years; the destruction of the planet and deep ocean mining to harvest ‘rare’ earth minerals. However, the one I quite often hear is that you have to drive it 100,000 miles before the carbon footprint levels out to that of an ICE vehicle.

What electric car(s) are you interested in next and why?

I’m getting another ID.4 as this one has been great and it’s the right size for me for work and lifestyle. If the ID.Buzz had better range and wasn’t so expensive I’d probably have gone for that though, as it’s a great-looking vehicle.

Home charging unit

Pod Point Solo – which is great as the app lets me set it up for the cheaper night tariff. The only issue is that it sometime trips the trip switch when the tariff kicks in and therefore shuts down, so I wake up in the morning and the car isn’t charged. It doesn’t do it consistently, just when it’s most annoying and they’ve been unable to find the fault.

Electricity supplier & tariff

I’m on the EDF Pod Point tariff – 5 hrs of cheap charging from 00:00 to 05:00! It’s not expensive the rest of the time either like some of the other overnight tariffs.

What public charging networks would you recommend to others and why?

I only really use them on long trips and I’m still very frustrated by how few chargers there are at most of the services and stops on the major roads. Many services have two or three with customers queuing to use them for an hour+ when we need 20 or 30 fast chargers, so there is always somewhere to plug-in while we stop for a quick. I hate any that require you to use their app (other than Pod Point as I have the app for my home charger).

Insurance

I change insurer most years as they don’t reward loyalty. In fact, they seem to have a policy of hiking it up, if you stick with them. Currently I’m with Admiral but have never had cause to contact any of them other than to say I’m not renewing.

Please itemise where you’re saving money (or not) owning & running a Volkswagen ID.4

My monthly lease is similar to before. I have not calculated the fuel saving, but I used to fill up at least every two weeks, costing at least £65 and my electric bill hasn’t gone up a huge amount since switching to electric (maybe up about £25 per month) so probably a big saving there. A real shame the road tax saving will disappear from April-25. Servicing is included in my PCP from VW, so not really different and my insurance cost is fairly similar, I believe.