[oldtechie]

I have had the opportunity to drive 3 ID.4s now. One at the roadshow, the other two are the demo units delivered to local dealers in the DFW area within the last week or so. I thought people might be interested in my impressions. I'll try to keep it brief.

The dealers could not have been nicer. Both places (Autobahn in Fort Worth and Hendricks in Frisco) had people who were helpful and accommodating. Neither had 100% knowledge, but in fairness I was the first person to show up for a test drive in both places. We all learned a lot. We never did get wireless Android Auto to work though, the car is very Iphone-centric.

The roadshow was, however, a fiasco. Utterly disorganized, it was like a trade show where they hire local temps to work the booth.

The car itself is solid. Chassis, electric drive, fit and finish are all excellent, no worries there.

The interior leaves a lot to be desired. They are trying to be environmentally correct and have gone overboard with the recycled materials. The seats and carpets feel cheap and do not look like a $40,000+ vehicle. I drove a Mustang Mach-E and its interior was in a whole different class. I have a Jeep Grand Charokee and a Subaru Outback, both of which are dramatically better interiors and neither of which costs as much as the ID.4. And both have technology setups that are much easier to use while driving.

The interior design (dash, controls, infotainment, etc.) are just a step too "Jetson-ish". It seems they're trying to be futuristic at the cost of usability. One reviewer described it as being "weird just for the sake of being weird". I don't want to have to take my eyes off the road every time I want to adjust something, having to go through touch-screen menus is asking for trouble. And would it be too much trouble and expense to have 4 window buttons for the 4 windows instead of having to select a mode (front or rear) for the two buttons?

So my score is as follows.

Dealers: 10
Basic vehicle: 9.5
Interior quality: 3.5
Technology and controls: 4-5

It's a good solid vehicle with disappointing interior quality and many questionable design choices. I'm still deciding whether to purchase the one I have on order. I'll probably make up my mind when it gets here in early April.

 

[FredT]

I have had the opportunity to drive 3 ID.4s now. One at the roadshow, the other two are the demo units delivered to local dealers in the DFW area within the last week or so. I thought people might be interested in my impressions. I'll try to keep it brief.

The dealers could not have been nicer. Both places (Autobahn in Fort Worth and Hendricks in Frisco) had people who were helpful and accommodating. Neither had 100% knowledge, but in fairness I was the first person to show up for a test drive in both places. We all learned a lot. We never did get wireless Android Auto to work though, the car is very Iphone-centric.

The roadshow was, however, a fiasco. Utterly disorganized, it was like a trade show where they hire local temps to work the booth.

The car itself is solid. Chassis, electric drive, fit and finish are all excellent, no worries there.

The interior leaves a lot to be desired. They are trying to be environmentally correct and have gone overboard with the recycled materials. The seats and carpets feel cheap and do not look like a $40,000+ vehicle. I drove a Mustang Mach-E and its interior was in a whole different class. I have a Jeep Grand Charokee and a Subaru Outback, both of which are dramatically better interiors and neither of which costs as much as the ID.4. And both have technology setups that are much easier to use while driving.

The interior design (dash, controls, infotainment, etc.) are just a step too "Jetson-ish". It seems they're trying to be futuristic at the cost of usability. One reviewer described it as being "weird just for the sake of being weird". I don't want to have to take my eyes off the road every time I want to adjust something, having to go through touch-screen menus is asking for trouble. And would it be too much trouble and expense to have 4 window buttons for the 4 windows instead of having to select a mode (front or rear) for the two buttons?

So my score is as follows.

Dealers: 10
Basic vehicle: 9.5
Interior quality: 3.5
Technology and controls: 4-5

It's a good solid vehicle with disappointing interior quality and many questionable design choices. I'm still deciding whether to purchase the one I have on order. I'll probably make up my mind when it gets here in early April.

I disagree with your assessment of interior quality, particularly seats.

 

[ID.Furkan]

Wireless android auto only works when:

to keep it simple:
You are on Android 11
All phone brands
Phone has 5ghz wifi

Android 10
Samsung (s9 and up) / Google phone

Android 9
Samsung (s8 and up) / Google phone

Get started with Android Auto - Android Auto Help

Android Auto brings apps to your car display so you can focus while you drive. You can control features like navigation, maps, calls, text messages, and music. To get more information about your

support.google.com

Software wise.. walk to your VW dealer, sit in the latest Golf 8 GTI and use the screen. It's basically the same infotainment and see how fluid that is. We will move to that.. [is what i hope, still not perfect tho.]

 

[oldtechie]

I'm sure it will work, but there was no feedback as to what we needed to do and it didn't just pop up and work first time. For example, the one help screen that came up said to be sure both bluetooth and wifi were enabled in the phone. That is pretty vague, if it uses wifi what should it connect to? We tried to connect to the car's wifi hotspot and it asked for a password, nobody knew what that might be or how to reset it.

It's tough to try to learn how all this stuff goes together while sitting in the dealer's parking lot with no documentation and nobody around to ask when you've tried everything that's obvious.

I have made a career out of figuring out other people's technical designs, but at least a little bit of background info would be helpful. The sales guy never offered to break out the owner's guide, but we would have been there all day if we had tried to research every puzzle.

 

[ID.Furkan]

I'm sure it will work, but there was no feedback as to what we needed to do and it didn't just pop up and work first time. For example, the one help screen that came up said to be sure both bluetooth and wifi were enabled in the phone. That is pretty vague, if it uses wifi what should it connect to? We tried to connect to the car's wifi hotspot and it asked for a password, nobody knew what that might be or how to reset it.

It's tough to try to learn how all this stuff goes together while sitting in the dealer's parking lot with no documentation and nobody around to ask when you've tried everything that's obvious.

I have made a career out of figuring out other people's technical designs, but at least a little bit of background info would be helpful. The sales guy never offered to break out the owner's guide, but we would have been there all day if we had tried to research every puzzle.

Wireless Android Auto is a google issue, you wont find that in the VW manual. May I Ask which phone you were using and which android versions you were running? Also did you have android auto installed on your phone at all?

If al boxes were ticked the car should have asked you after you connected with bluetooth if you wanted to use "handsfree" or Android Auto.

 

[oldtechie]

Oneplus 7 pro. Android 10. Yes it's installed and works fine on my 2018 Subaru outback in wired mode.

The phone's android auto app did identify the I'd.4 was its selected target, but no action.

I do not recall the vehicle asking anything after connecting to bluetooth, but there was a lot going on and we could have missed it.

 

[ID.Furkan]

Oneplus 7 pro. Android 10. Yes it's installed and works fine on my 2018 Subaru outback in wired mode.

The phone's android auto app did identify the I'd.4 was its selected target, but no action.

I do not recall the vehicle asking anything after connecting to bluetooth, but there was a lot going on and we could have missed it.

if you didnt bring your cable then there is your issue. Android 10 is not supported with oneplus for Wireless Android Auto.

Not attacking you just giving a reason why it didnt work but laying down the requirements to get AA Wireless working for future references.

And this shows the power of iphones and its simple ecoystem maintained by a single entity.

 

[oldtechie]

It would have been helpful to know this. Interestingly in settings AA did indicate it wanted to use the vw, so silly me assumed there was wireless support.

As I said it will get worked out, I'm very early.

Living in the walled garden it too high a price to pay. 😊

 

[Swimrwo]

Thanks, @ID.Furkan , your experience is welcome and appreciated. I noticed that the VW Video on Android Auto wireless connection already had the phone (Pixel 3xl) connected to the MYVW wireless before the user paired the bluetooth. The instructions, while released earlier this week, were NOT done on an ID.4 also.

Here's the VW video: (41) Android Auto Wireless Connection | Knowing Your VW - YouTube

 

[dfox]

I just did a test drive today at my dealer in Indiana. First, I must explain that my wife is very afraid of tech and I expected her to freak out with the touch screen. Well, the first thing she said when she sat in the passenger car is "This is really comfortable and roomy." I had very high expectations going in, and I must say I wasn't disappointed. I drove on busy city streets and about 15 miles on an interstate at 75 mph and was stunned at the ride quality and silence. I had her drive it and she saw she could ignore the technology and just drive and she loved it. My only fear is that she will take over the new car and I'll have to drive the 2015 Hyundai Santa Fe! She loved the seat massage.

We didn't spend a lot of time with the settings, I just wanted to get a driving impression. It is so smooth and quiet that you don't realize how fast you are driving. The Driver Assist worked pretty well, but I kept grabbing the wheel when a big truck was near by. I guess it may take a while to trust what it can and can't do. Acceleration is very good, but it feels slow because it is so smooth and quiet.

I was told my car and the sales managers' car are the first expected to arrive at the dealer, so hopefully it will arrive soon.

 

[bottyguy]

..It is so smooth and quiet that you don't realize how fast you are driving.

I had my first test drive as well today, and had the same impression. Very smooth, quiet ride. Plenty of acceleration. I don't get the need to get to 60 in under 4 seconds when everyone in front of me is going so slow (My 2007 EOS can probably do it in under 7 seconds in sport mode but I never feel the need). You can feel the weight of the batteries but it doesn't interfere with the acceleration. I couldn't tell the difference of any of the "modes". It has VW steering which I really like.

I liked the interior, lots of room, very comfy seats (I like the faux leather material), rear seats are great. The screen stuff seems to work fine, easily responsive enough, hello ID works much better that Siri does for me. All the things that open and close did that nicely. The sound system is good, but my wife will still turn in down when we are in the car together.

Things that should be improved: rear view mirror view is really bad (makes my tiny EOS view looks like a Panavision), B mode could be better it slows pretty heavily and if it's going to do that it should go all the way to a stop, It really shouldn't creep in B mode, there is no torque converter that needs to be running all the time and the computer is controlling the brake and acceleration anyway, it should stay stopped. Nothing here that is a deal breaker.

 

[oldtechie]

I just watched a Youtube video that summarizes my feelings about the ID.4. He explains this stuff better than I am able. Some good, some not so good. I did cancel mine in favor of doing more shopping and waiting for the AWD version or one of the competitors' cars.