When the Volkswagen ID 4 was first launched, it withstood severe criticism for a wide range of causes, however the one function that everybody appeared to have a hatred for was its infotainment system, with a particular deluxe stage of disdain for the automotive’s unilluminated touch-sensitive local weather management and quantity sliders.
To handle the limitless complaints, Volkswagen is updating the ID 4 Professional fashions with a brand new infotainment system for 2024, plus extra energy, extra vary and a handful of latest options. Sadly, these modifications are solely reserved for the higher-end Professional fashions of the ID 4 with the bigger battery pack, which suggests the cheaper ID 4 Customary is caught with the crappy previous infotainment, slower motors and fewer vary. A lot for being the Folks’s Automotive.
Full disclosure: Volkswagen invited me out to Pasadena to drive its newly up to date ID 4 on the legendary Angeles Crest Freeway. I solely acquired to spend just a few hours with the automotive, so my impressions come from a really quick drive that happened throughout a vivid and sunny Los Angeles day.
The ID 4 Professional fashions are fitted with an 82-kWh battery pack, the identical as earlier than, however with a brand new, extra highly effective rear drive motor. Rear-wheel-drive ID 4 Professionals now have 282 horsepower and 402 pound-feet of torque, up from 201 hp and 229 lb-ft (the numbers that the Customary automotive nonetheless will get). All-wheel-drive ID 4 Professionals have 335 hp, a average enhance from the earlier mannequin’s 295 hp, however VW hasn’t launched a last torque determine. The brand new ID 4 Professional AWD can go from 0 to 60 mph in a claimed 4.9 seconds, nearly a full second faster than final 12 months’s greatest effort.
Driving the up to date ID 4 is a pleasing expertise. The automotive I get to pilot and be passenger in is an ID 4 Professional S RWD, the mid-range configuration with the brand new motor that gives the longest potential most vary within the lineup at an underwhelming EPA-rated 291 miles, a slight enhance from 275 miles in final 12 months’s mannequin. AWD ID 4 Professionals get a bump from 255 to 263 miles. I don’t have wherever close to sufficient time to check the vary, however I do get to take it by means of a few of California’s greatest mountain roads, which is definitely type of enjoyable. The upgraded motor offers ample energy and the type of electrical punch I would like, once I need it. The steering is devoid of really feel and actually gentle, however the rack is fast sufficient to maintain me from tangling my arms when going round hairpins. Contemplating that the ID 4 is a household crossover, it handles fairly properly and feels far more playful than the Chevrolet Blazer EV RS.
There are not any drive modes apart from a “B” mode for regenerative braking which solely provides one depth. Although it’s not highly effective sufficient for one-pedal driving, it’s a clean system that does its job properly. The precise brake really feel is mildly disconcerting, although — it seems like I’m pushing the brake pedal on a automotive with exceedingly worn brakes. The rear suspension additionally feels a bit bouncy to me, with extra rebound from street imperfections than desired, nevertheless it’s not a dealbreaker.
Regardless of having restructured menus and a bigger 12.9-inch display, the brand new infotainment system continues to be unnecessarily convoluted, and the larger display doesn’t use its extra house significantly properly. Menus take up the whole display, inflicting your route steering to vanish must you need to select a brand new radio station or change your local weather management settings. A bigger display ought to imply extra space, so I want VW added some menu pop-outs as a substitute of creating each little motion require the whole 12.9-inch display.
I don’t get a correct likelihood to expertise the newly backlit slider controls, that are nonetheless mounted instantly under the touchscreen. I do undergo just a few tunnels and overpasses that enable me to see the illumination, however they give the impression of being disappointingly dim. Possibly that’s for the higher in order that they don’t blind the occupants at evening, however I’m not very impressed.
The inside pleasantly muffles wind and street noise, however there’s an excessive amount of scratchy plastic, particularly contemplating the excessive costs of higher ID 4 trims. One other change VW made with this replace was shifting the gear selector from the gauge cluster encompass into the right-side steering wheel stalk. Not like different lengthy cumbersome gear selector stalks that protrude from steering columns, like what you get in a GM truck, the ID 4’s doesn’t truly transfer. As an alternative, it’s a Bop-It type selector the place you twist the selector away to pick drive and twist it in direction of you to pick reverse. I discover it to be bizarre at first, nevertheless it falls near your hand and an proprietor will get used to it fairly shortly.
Different new additions embody commonplace 20-inch wheels and elective 21s on S fashions, obtainable ventilated entrance seats, and a newly elective Harman Kardon sound system with 9 audio system, an amp and a sub that my take a look at automotive sadly doesn’t have.
For 2024 the ID 4 receives a value enhance too, so the most cost effective new ID 4 you should buy now prices $41,160 after vacation spot. A Professional S RWD like I drove passes the $45k mark, whereas the bottom value of the best trim stage, the Professional S Plus AWD, begins at over $58,000, which is a large sum of cash, although it fortunately is eligible for the total federal EV tax credit score. The 2024 ID 4’s elevated energy is enjoyable, its improved tech is a glacial crawl in the best route, and the higher vary ought to ease nervous EV adopters. It’s only a disgrace the ID 4’s upgrades are restricted to the pricier variations.
