Your experiences with the ID4

All Volkswagen ID.4 related discussions
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Vander
Posts: 37
Joined: Mon Apr 11, 2022 12:57 pm

Post by Vander »

Hi all

Forum newbie here.

Awaiting my Max, ordered end of November, and still languishing at status 00. Like others, I'm wondering how much longer to give the wait, or whether to jump to (eg) a Polestar or even BZ4X.

We chose the ID4 very carefully after several drives of other vehicles, but now that a few are in the wild, I'd like to know a bit more of peoples' real experiences of owning the car.

I'm hoping some of you can provide feedback on the following:-



- Dogs in the car - can the interior alarm be disabled?

- Adaptive Cruise control and lane keeping / changing

- User-friendliness of controls - have software updates improved things?

- Accuracy of range-o-meter - different journey types

- Experience of phoneapp to (eg) pre-heat car. Both We Connect and We Connect.ID get truly lousy reviews on Android!

- Helpfulness of Facebook owner's group - you can't join without a VIN, it seems.

- Expectations of resale values

- How good is the tech eg Wireless Android, Nav and voice control, internet connectivity?

- Abiity of dealers to quickly sort any issues / provide alternative transport if needed (not owned VW before)

- General reliability



Hopefully plenty there to stimulate a discussion - I'm really looking forward to hearing what you guys have to share!
ID4 Max Kings Red
Ordered Nov 21
Mar 23 order status: 10
Apr 23 Cancelled, tired of waiting.

ID5 Tech Pro in the meantime. V3.0 from the factory.

Kelvin1066
Posts: 43
Joined: Wed Mar 02, 2022 3:41 pm

Post by Kelvin1066 »

Hi Vander - sorry to hear you are still waiting. bought my ID4 77kw Pro Performance Life model as ex Demo with 300 miles on clock about 3 months ago. I can't help with all your questions but will give my views on some. Overall I am very happy with the car but to be fair if it gets me from A- B reliably and comfortably and is nippy in traffic I am happy.

User friendliness of controls - I find them ok - not always intuitive and take a bit of learning but like anything when you get used to them seem ok. Not figured out voice control - it keeps coming on when talking in car but won't respond correctly when I try to get it to do something but I haven't really tried much and have now switched it off.

I have only used phone app once to pre heat car - (warm winter and usually forgot) but it worked fine the one time I did it.

Lane keeping can be annoying on country lanes when you want to straddle lanes sometimes to avoid potholes - have kept it on but probably best just to use as safety feature for long journeys on motorways.

Accuracy of range info - I find it very good - I generally do local mileage on up to 50 mph roads so when go on long 70 mph journey the range drops quickly at first to adjust to the higher speed but after less than half an hour it settles down and matches mileage mile for mile more or less so feel confident with range. I previously bought a Peugeot that was hopeless in that respect so relieved to be able to trust this car. I would say I get about 230 - 250 miles from a 100% charge when doing a mainly 70 mph journey though have never gone below 50 miles on available range.

Reliability - In the 3 months or so (done 3000 miles) only 2 problems. An amber indicator light came on saying electric drive error - I phoned dealer who referred me to breakdown cover who initially said they would come out that afternoon but then called back to say can't deal with that outside workshop so need to book it in ( See below). In the event the light went off the next day so was just a blip. I also had the satnav screen go blank on a journey which was a bit worrying but it came back on a couple of minutes later so I guess it was just a loss of signal.

Dealers - this to me is a bit of a worry. When I had the indicator light problem I could not get an appointment to book car in for 3 weeks - longer if I wanted a courtesy car. I tried 3 dealers and it was the same for each. I was told in a fairly off hand way that the car was ok to drive for 3 weeks with the error and it was only an amber warning I did wonder what would happen if I had a serious issue that meant I could not drive. I suspect there is a general shortage of electric trained technicians so this may be a problem with other dealers that VW and Peugeot.

I hope this is helpful .
Warrior
Posts: 163
Joined: Thu Oct 07, 2021 11:12 am
Location: Worcester

Post by Warrior »

Welcome Vander, I'll try and give you some facts and my thoughts. Firstly, don't jump ship. I've read a couple of articles about the Polestar and one negative is that the infotainment chip is inferior to VW's and having had a look at Toyota's BZ4X, not a patch on the ID4, but just my opinion. Be patient and wait for your ID4. What I'd give for a Max in Kings Red. Anyway, a few answers to some of your questions.


Dogs in the car - can the interior alarm be disabled? - Yes, via a sub menu in the settings menu.

- Adaptive Cruise control and lane keeping / changing - Adaptive cruise is very useful on motorways. Distance can be adjusted. As for Lane Keeping, it's permanently set to ON, which is a pain. I found it a nuisance on lots of non motorway roads where it picked up old markings and roadworks. I bought OBDeleven basic and used their one click app to change the setting to permanently off, but I'm still able to set to ON when required.

- User-friendliness of controls - have software updates improved things? - Not brilliant yet, but reading other forums, Version 3.0 should be much better. As far as I know all cars being delivered now have v3.0 at least.

- Accuracy of range-o-meter - different journey types - Lots of people call this the Guess -o-meter. It all depends how you drive, but I believe, in the next software release, v2.4, the battery symbol will display percentage remaining as well as the estimated mileage. At the moment you have to go into the infotainment menu to find the percentage.

- Experience of phoneapp to (eg) pre-heat car. Both We Connect and We Connect.ID get truly lousy reviews on Android! - Sorry, I only use WeConnectID when charging.

- Helpfulness of Facebook owner's group - you can't join without a VIN, it seems. - Sorry again, don't do social media, I am an oldie that likes tech, but not that.

- Expectations of resale values - Who knows what the future holds with the current world situation, but at the moment, having found one particular VW website, I discovered that VW would buy my car for around £1000 more than I paid for it. The problem is, the long wait for a replacement new car.

- How good is the tech eg Wireless Android, Nav and voice control, internet connectivity? - I find the Nav is okay, but with all systems, I think you need to use an alternative as well. There's no harm in having a map book with you. i Don't use voice control, but again, future software updates should make things much better.

- Ability of dealers to quickly sort any issues / provide alternative transport if needed (not owned VW before) - Not had any issues, so can't really comment.

- General reliability - As per previous comment, no problems in just over twelve months of ownership.
ID4 1st Edition in Dusk Blue Metallic (77 kWh)
EO Mini Pro 2
tkid
Posts: 87
Joined: Tue Jul 06, 2021 11:03 am

Post by tkid »

Hi Vander, welcome. Here are some of my thoughts on your questions -

- Polestar/BZ4X: Whilst the Polestar may have Google integrated into the car giving you the advantage of Google Maps' route planner that also includes charging stop planning, its boot space is small (405L). I had the opportunity to see a friend's Polestar 2 and there was really not much space to fit whatever life may throw at you. Sitting in the driving seat felt a little claustrophobic - then again, it's more of a sports car rather than a SUV which is what the ID.4 is.
As for the BZ4X, the only comparison I would think about is again the boot space (452L) which again is smaller than the ID.4's (543L). The Ionic 5's boot is only 527L.
Having a large boot was never something I actively sought out when looking for a car, but having done several long distance road trips carrying lots of stuff with the boot filled to the brim with the ID.4, boot space is something that I would now look at in detail. And if you'll be carrying dogs, the larger space will obviously help. If I recall correctly, there's a thread or two about boot liners and cages/grills in this forum.

- Adaptive Cruise control and lane keeping / changing: Like what @Warrior said, useful on motorways and you can set your distance. As for lane keeping, it used to be a lot more aggressive prior to v2.3, but it's mellowed down. It can get annoying at times, but it doesn't bother me so much.

- User-friendliness of controls - have software updates improved things: Could be better for sure. Responsiveness is better in v2.3, but like a lot of others here, we're just waiting for v3.0.

- Accuracy of range-o-meter - different journey type: Touchy subject for some people. At the end of the day it boils down to two factors: Outside ambient temperature and your style of driving. Many people get hung up over the difference between advertised range and real-world range, but in reality do people in their ICE cars run them down until the petrol tank is empty? Or do they complain when the advertised MPG doesn't meet the real world MPG?
v3.0 will give you the remaining % charge on the main dashboard alongside the car's remaining estimate based on your driving style and outside temp, so you can do what you will with that info on the dash.

- Experience of phoneapp to (eg) pre-heat car: It does work. I have a departure time set through the app to pre-heat the car and it works. The only thing I've noticed is that if you notice that your state of charge is not accurate in the app (because you know what it was in the car), just close/kill the app on the phone and restart it. It's just a matter of getting the status update from the car to the app correctly.

- Helpfulness of Facebook owner's group: Joined, but I haven't been back since, so no idea what goes on there.

- Expectations of resale values: No idea here.

- How good is the tech eg Wireless Android, Nav and voice control, internet connectivity?: I use Android Auto, and experience has been good - voice commands to Google work. The only thing I'd like is the charging stop integration like with the Polestar, but it's not a deal breaker. You can have multiple phones hooked up to the car.
I've only had to use the car's NAV occasionally as a backup and that's been ok as well. (I believe the car's NAV does have charging stop planning). The main dashboard does show you upcoming directions with Android Auto, and I think it will show as well in the HUD (Max owners, any experience here?). Using the car's NAV will also get the ID.Light to tell you which direction to turn (but doesn't do so when using Android Auto).

- Ability of dealers to quickly sort any issues / provide alternative transport if needed (not owned VW before) - Not had any issues, so can't really comment here either

- General reliability - Generally been good (12+ months). You'll find the issues that people encounter in the Faults & Technical section of the forum
Vander
Posts: 37
Joined: Mon Apr 11, 2022 12:57 pm

Post by Vander »

Thanks, all - some great feedback.

I think my reservations about the car have been mostlly software-related, it seems widely acknowledged that VW hardware is great but software leaves a lot to be improved. From what you've all been saying, those improvements do seem to come.....eventually. Warrior, it's great to hear that I'll get V3.0 out of the box. Who knows, I may even get V4.0!

Kelvin's point about dealer tech knowhow seems to be common across most vehicle makes - I guess the leaps in vehicle technology have been so rapid in the last couple of years, and dealers take a while to catch up. You mention Peugeot, Kelvin, and I certainly experienced these issues when faults developed on my 5008.

When I first started looking at EVs, I heard about the Toyota offering (I've had several RAV4s in the past, and been very happy with all of them), but the release of the BZ4X seemed so far in the future that I discounted it. Now I hear that my local dealer's getting a demonstrator in later this month, and it got me wondering about the car.

The photos I've seen of the BZ4X's interior are pretty grim, I have to say, and that name!, but I'll probably give it a spin since my Max *still* has not even a provisional build date (dealer confirmed yesterday). Good to hear tkid's comments about the Polestar, which seems such a faff to test drive unless you happen to live close to a big city.

I dare say I'll hang in for the ID4, but I do seriously wonder whether by the time it gets delivered, it may be starting to look a bit long in the tooth. It's really encouraging, though, to hear that by and large, those lucky enough to have taken delivery seem generally thrilled with their choice.

V
ID4 Max Kings Red
Ordered Nov 21
Mar 23 order status: 10
Apr 23 Cancelled, tired of waiting.

ID5 Tech Pro in the meantime. V3.0 from the factory.
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