In several recent reviews out of Europe, the tested cars had electronically controlled dampers (active suspensions). They got very high marks for ride quality. I do not see these available for U.S. models, or maybe I missed it somehow. Anyone know?
That is because they are not available for the US version. I was told this by a VW of America Engineer who works out of the Chattanooga, TN, location. He did confirm however that the suspension on the ID.4 is comfortable.
There is also a video of VW race car driver Tanner Foust drifting a rwd ID.4 around a race track with the same said suspension.
This means the suspension we will get is comfortable for everyday driving bad roads, but still good enough to take corners fast.
I had a 2017 GTI Sport with standard suspension and have a 2019 GTI SE with the DCC adaptive suspension. If you have a good paired suspension between the Shocks and the Springs you will have a comfortable ride over not so good roads and a tight ride for powering out of apexes.
With that said I normally drive my GTI with a custom set up with the DCC on Normal, the steering on sport and the exhaust note on sport. When I come to a terrible section of road with potholes and cracks everywhere I put in comfort, but there is too much up and down motion for me in comfort to keep it there so as soon as I’m past the stretch I switch it back to normal DCC. I put it in sport while driving through Big Sur or whenever I want to take curves fast and with the Sport DCC it seems I can make better time than when I had standard sport suspension on my 2017 GTI Sport. However Sport DCC is too stiff to leave it in so back to my custom mode with DCC normal as soon as I’m done pushing it.
When I sat in the ID.4 I noticed that the seats were very comfortable, much more comfortable than the seats in a Tesla 3, Tesla S or Chevrolet Bolt...
If Bilstein, H&R or KW comes out with coilovers specific for the AWD ID.4 I may get some. The ID.4 has a turning radius tighter than a Porsche 911 and GTI so with the right suspension it could be quite sporty. With Bilstein Coilovers you can dial in the preferred stiffness/comfort and adjust ride height. There is only about 2.5” of wheel gap on the ID.4. It seems you are really after comfort so you should be pleased with the stock US suspension.
We will have the Driving Mode selector to choose between Eco, Normal, Sport etc. just not the DCC adaptive suspension. The most comfortable suspension I ever had was not the DCC adaptive suspension on my GTI. It was the standard suspension on my Chattanooga built 2013 VW Passat.
