its first long range electric vehicle for the U.S,

the ID.4, it warned us not to make the obvious comparisons

to other electric vehicles like Tesla.

That's because Volkswagen says it's real competition

is on the popular gas powered compact SUV's

like the Ford Escape, Honda CRV and Toyota RAV4.

VW has its eyes on a higher prize.

Not just the most popular electric vehicle in its segment

but the most popular vehicle on the road, period.

Did they succeed?

Well, I've only had the ID.4 for a couple of days

but I can comfortably say that the ID.4

is both a great EV and a really excellent mid-size SUV.

It has plenty of range for daily driving and short trips.

The technology inside feels intuitive

without being in your face.

And the really surprising thing

is the whimsicality of the ID.4.

Like VW wants you to just have fun while driving it.

(instrumental music)

The ID.4's origins aren't so playful.

The car wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for Dieselgate,

the massive emissions cheating scandal

that nearly crippled VW five years ago.

As part of its many settlements,

VW promised to spend billions of dollars

towards electric vehicles.

That's why they're releasing the ID.4 now

and not two or three years from now

when the EV market is a bit more mature.

Consider it an apology for all the extra pollution

created by their diesel vehicles.

And as far as apologies go,

the ID.4 is a pretty great start.

(instrumental music)

Let's talk about the car itself.

There are three different trim levels.

The Pro, the Pro S and the first edition

which is the one that we have here

and obviously the first one available for sale.

The cheapest model, the Pro with rear wheel drive

will retail for $39,995,

but when you factor in the $7,500 federal tax incentive

plus any local and state tax credits,

the ID.4 lands in that low to mid $30,000 range

that's generally considered the sweet spot

for most of us car buyers.

There are six exterior colors to choose from.

We've got the blue desk, which I think is really cool.

It pops without being too ostentatious.

The first edition ID.4 is expected to get 250 miles

of range on a single charge

but that hasn't been certified yet by regulators.

It's possible that the EPA will rate the ID.4

with less than 250 miles of range,

which could drive away those customers

who have extreme range anxiety.

Either way, it's not as much as the Tesla Model 3

or the Model Y

but I think it will suit most people's needs.

VW says every effort has been made to optimize aerodynamics.

You can see that with the swooping lines

in the body of the vehicle, the large roof spoiler,

and with the door handles that are flush against the side.

Again, not exactly regulatory,

a lot of EVs have similar features,

but it does show that VW is thinking seriously

about ways that it can improve range.

This version has an 82 kilowatt hour battery

which is located in the floor of the vehicle

helping create a really low center of gravity.

The electric motor is located in the rear of the vehicle,

which is similar to the Volkswagen Beetle.

You can feel that when you're on a winding road

and the ID.4 is just really hugging the curves.

There are four driving modes.

Eco, comfort, sport and a custom setting

that allows drivers to pick and choose

from the other modes to best suit their own style.

It's got a pretty good OOP for an EV

with 201 horsepower and 228 pound feet of torque.

It can sprint from zero to 60

in a little over seven seconds,

which is nowhere near as fast

as Tesla's performance models.

While driving, you would expect a low grade motor whir

common with EVs, and you'd be right!

No noisy combustion engine under the hood

means no noise radiating throughout the vehicles interior.

As you accelerate, the motor definitely admits

a higher pitch sound but it's not disruptive.

There is a fake sound that the vehicle makes at low speeds

as required by law to alert pedestrian and cyclist.

It's kind of a video game-ish, Nintendo-ish sound

that legit made me laugh when I first heard it.

One of my favorite parts about the ID.4

are the front and rear lights.

Normally, I'm not into illuminated vehicle badges

but there's just something appealing about the light bar

stretching across the full width of the vehicle.

It's the ID.4's way of saying, "Hey, I'm an electric car,"

without exactly clubbing you over the head with it.

There's actually a lot of cool lighting accents

all over this vehicle.

At nighttime, a hexagonal light emanates

from both the driver and passenger door handles

and projects on the ground.

Inside the vehicle, a light bar runs along

the base of the windshield

that serves as a communication device.

If you're using the navigation

and you're about to turn right,

a blue light will move left to right

across the width of the windshield,

to signal that you're about to make a turn.

It also serves as a status bar

when you're charging the vehicle.

I thought it seemed gimmicky at first

but seeing it in action,

I found it to be actually pretty helpful.

And the interior lights are all adjustable.

There are 30 different colors to choose from.

Are the adjustable lights absolutely necessary?

No, but are they fun to play with?

Yes.

More evidence of VW's quirky designs

are the play and pause pedals.

I remember seeing these a few years ago

in VW's ID Buzz electric microbus concept

and thinking they seemed really stupid.

But now I kind of get it.

I mean, you can't call it a gas pedal

when the car runs on electrons, right?

So why not play and pause?

There are two screens, a 5.3 inch instrument cluster

behind the steering wheel

and a 12 inch one in the center console.

It's nice to see a pair of screens

that don't completely dominate the interior.

The UX is totally fine

but for those who prefer their smartphones interface,

the ID supports both wireless Apple CarPlay

and Android Auto.

The screens looked great.

They were bright and vibrant, and the colors really popped.

There's a home button on the left side of the screen

for easy access

and the default software felt similar enough to CarPlay

that I was fine using either.

That said, the ID.4's navigation

is not as clean looking as Google Maps

but that's usually the case with most cars today.

There aren't any physical buttons

but there are haptic feedback ones

that felt really satisfying to touch.

There is a voice assistant

which is activated by saying, "Hello ID."

And it worked pretty well.

Hello ID.

Turn my seat heater on.

- [Voice Assistant] Okay, warming now.

- [Andrew] Hello ID.

Change the ambient lighting to blue.

- [Voice Assistant] Please select an ambient lighting

setting on the screen.

- You gotta make me do it like that!?

Sometimes I found I had to repeat myself

to really get it to work.

I mean, it's definitely not as advanced

as the new Volvos with native Android Auto.

And there's gesture control, as you can see,

that works pretty well.

Sometimes, other times, not so much.

I can see that as being something that

probably most people don't end up using.

I didn't experience a lot of lagginess

in my time with the ID.4

but there were a few sticky spots.

Now, the ID.4 will accept

over the air software updates in the future,

so it's not anything that Volkswagen can't fix.

Volkswagen is new to OTA updates,

so it remains to be seen how they will actually approach it.

(instrumental music)

The panoramic roof is similar

to what's found in most Teslas these days

and it was really a joy to sit under.

The white leather in the first edition was a nice touch

and the air vents are real air vents

with open and close knobs.

So this might be the car for you

if you find Tesla's digital air vents off-putting.

The ID.4 uses a front radar, front camera, two rear radars

and eight ultrasound sensors to see the world around it.

The driver assist system,

not as advanced as autopilot or super cruise,

but it does have the standard features

like adaptive cruise control, automatic emergency braking,

blind spot detection and pedestrian monitoring.

Let's talk charging.

The ID.4 comes with an 11 kilowatt onboard charger

that'll charge the vehicle to full in seven and a half hours

at home or at a public Level 2 charger.

As with most EVs, it's not recommended

to charge the ID.4 on a normal 120 volt outlet

because the rate of charging is practically glacial.

At a DC fast charging station

with 125 kilowatt charging available,

the ID.4 can charge from five to 80% in about 38 minutes.

Now, the challenge of course is finding a public charger

that actually provides that much power.

A lot of public chargers really only provide

about half as much as that.

One of the big selling points for the ID.4

is three years of free charging

with VW's Electrify America charging network.

Now like Tesla, VW have skin in the game

when it comes to electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

And that'll go a long way to luring shoppers away

from the warm embrace of combustion engine familiarity.

(instrumental music)

Electrify America has approximately 470 charging stations

in the U S with over 2000 DC fast chargers.

Though the company expects to install

or have under development approximately 800 stations

with about 3,500 DC fast chargers by December, 2021,

a fast reliable network of charging stations

will go a long way in selling the ID.4 to customers.

The $40,000 price tag will help too.

But it's still going to be tough VW to siphon away buyers

from low priced alternatives,

like the Honda CRV or Toyota RAV4,

both of which are in the mid $20,000 range.

Volkswagen is calling the ID.4

the most important vehicle since the launch of the Beetle.

And it's really apparent that the company

has put a lot of effort into making that true.

The company has a legacy in the U.S

that it wants to maintain and a lot of baggage to overcome.

And fortunately, the ID.4 is a really strong contender

in a year that's gonna be overloaded with

electro crossovers.

But if price is any indicator,

it's gonna be an uphill battle to make sure that

Volkswagen's battery powered crossover

crosses over into the main stream.

Hey, thanks for watching.

If you wanna see more stuff about electric vehicles,

we just did a video about all the electric vehicles

that are coming out this year.

Please check it out.

We also did a great review of the Ford Mustang Mach-E.