I prefer Comfort mode over Sport; the latter makes the steering heavier but with no more feedback and makes the lift-off regen braking more aggressive. Power delivery is very smooth despite the bump in output.
In any of the three modes (which includes Eco as well as Comfort and Sport) the ride is a little bouncy—US market ID.4s do without adaptive dampers, so it doesn’t change when you switch. And there was a fair bit of road noise from the tires at highway speeds.
I was surprised that, in relatively mild weather, I was able to achieve an average of 4.1 miles/kWh (15.2 kWh/100 km). As the weather got hot and AC was a necessity, this dropped to 3.5 miles/kWh (17.8 kWh/100 km), which is still an improvement on the First Edition we tested in 2022.
User experience and interface changes
Among the UI/UX tweaks are a new drive mode selector. This pokes out between the steering wheel and main instrument display, and you twist it one way to engage reverse, or the other way to engage D or B (which is the one-pedal mode). Throughout the week, I continued to find this a bit confusing when getting into the car and kept twisting it the wrong way to engage reverse. But when actually driving, it does make it very easy to toggle between coasting (in D) and one-pedal driving (in B).
Jonathan Gitlin
The ID.4 interior can feel a bit spartan.
Jonathan Gitlin
Jonathan Gitlin
The main instrument display is quite minimalist. But if you use Apple CarPlay it will show turn by turn directions from Apple Maps here.
Jonathan Gitlin
The ID.4 interior can feel a bit spartan.
Jonathan Gitlin
The main instrument display is quite minimalist. But if you use Apple CarPlay it will show turn by turn directions from Apple Maps here.
Jonathan Gitlin
Jonathan Gitlin
The ID.4s original infotainment system was widely criticized for being slow. The new system in the ID.4 Pro is better.
Jonathan Gitlin
Jonathan Gitlin
And finally the sliders that live below the screen (for hot and cold air, as well as volume) are now backlit so they are functional after dark.
Jonathan Gitlin
The ID.4s original infotainment system was widely criticized for being slow. The new system in the ID.4 Pro is better.
Jonathan Gitlin
And finally the sliders that live below the screen (for hot and cold air, as well as volume) are now backlit so they are functional after dark.
Jonathan Gitlin
There’s also a new 12.9-inch infotainment system for the ID.4 Pro, replacing the much-maligned 12-inch unit. It’s still not class-leading, but the tile-based user interface is pleasant and more responsive, and Apple CarPlay is easy to use. Perhaps most importantly, VW has now backlit the capacitive controls for heating, cooling, and volume that until now were functionally useless in the dark because you couldn’t see them. We’d still prefer real buttons, but it is what it is.
