[DannyKudos]

Sorry for the sort of double post..(for those of you who also check the ioniq 5 forum)
My wife's tesla 3's lease ends at the end of Oct and we are looking to buy a replacement EV,

As you can imagine, we are currently chasing around order cancellations.

We have found an ID.4 cancellation (Life Pro edition in Grenadilla Black Metallic with Hamar alloys)
and one Ioniq5 (premium with matte shooting star grey). Price on both very similar (less than £1K between them).

We test drove the ID4 and really liked the drive. Felt premium and unfussy.
We test drive the ioniq on Saturday. I have sat in the car. Lots of wow factor..but possibly a bit flash for me...(I quite like some understatement)

As I mentioned in my post in the Ioniq forum, I am concerned that the Matte paintwork on the Ioniq might be high maintenance. At the very least I will probably have to spend more ££ for some sort of ceramic coating.

My main concern about the ID.4 are the poor reviews of the infotainment system. Almost all the reviews I have watched complain about this.... poor controls, voice activation that doesn't really work, not being able to see the climate control controls in the dark...

Is this as bad as they say, or are there generally work arounds?
Will it drive me nuts?
Is the Life pro not going to get many of the V3 features? (I would have looked for a higher trim, but we are limited to what is available in cancelled orders).

Thanks for any real world guidance.

Cheers,

 

[efc]

I‘ve had a 1st Edition for over a year and find the infotainment system to be a non-issue. But note that I use Apple CarPlay all the time, so I don’t really have to interact with the native VW system much. The wireless CarPlay with my iPhone is fantastic.

as for the charge timing, it is broken and totally unreliable. I am incredibly disappointed with VW for not providing any software updates in the US to fix this. However, my understanding is that it has been fixed and a new vehicle may come with working timer software. You should ask what version of the software is on the vehicle you are considering and wether it includes the timer fix.

 

[Briggo]

Not that I've used it as I let my podpoint control the charging times but apparently for other Born owners the 3.0 software (which the ID4 should come with) has fixed the charging timer issues.

Also the infotainment is improved in 3.0.over the older versions but I'm the same as efc, mainly use android auto which works better.

 

[DannyKudos]

I suspect I will mostly use Android Auto and my wife will mostly use carplay. The profile feature I assume will ensure the correct phone/software will activate with the correct driver (?).

 

[6652]

My main concern about the ID.4 are the poor reviews of the infotainment system. Almost all the reviews I have watched complain about this.... poor controls, voice activation that doesn't really work, not being able to see the climate control controls in the dark...

Never mind what the reviewers say, what did you think about the infotainment system on your test drive?

I find it pretty good to be fair, it boots up a lot quicker than it did when the ID.3 first came out (I had an ID.3 1st edition with the same interface since Nov 2020) and is improving with every update. There are shortcuts that you pick up around navigating the interface, like turning on the heated seats with a double finger tap to the screen rather than menu diving.

The voice activation works really well in my opinion, the limitations of it I’ve found exist in every car I’ve tried with it. Once you learn the commands it’s possible to do quite a bit.

The wireless CarPlay is genuinely seamless and very reliable.

The twin climate controls and volume slider being unlit on the lip below the screen where the IR sensors are is a regular gripe, but volume can be adjusted from the steering wheel controls anyway, and the ‘Clima’ button just below is illuminated and pressing that gives you a myriad of options to adjust from the main screen. I tend to set and forget it, but you can also use the voice control to raise or lower the temperature or say your feet or hands are cold etc and it will adjust.

The charge timers for charging during off peak periods are flaky, but departure times and the remote App all work well. Fixed in v3.0 now apparently.

It depends when the ID.4 you’ve found was built, but it might be on v3.0 of the software already, but if not will be running factory v2.3, which might be important to you as it has some changes to the battery heating algorithm that apparently helps improve short journey cold weather consumption.

It might also have the extra sensors on the wheel arch area to enable Some extra features that are coming with the soon to be released. v3.0 OTA update, but even if it hasn’t it will get all the other changes.

A lot is written about the ID software, but much of it is based on the MEB launch, where it was certainly less than polished. After using the ID interface for nearly 2 years now, I prefer it to our Tesla M3 interface, I find much of the text far too small to read easily without my glasses on, which is a pain.

 

[sidehaas]

Sorry for the sort of double post..(for those of you who also check the ioniq 5 forum)
My wife's tesla 3's lease ends at the end of Oct and we are looking to buy a replacement EV,

As you can imagine, we are currently chasing around order cancellations.

We have found an ID.4 cancellation (Life Pro edition in Grenadilla Black Metallic with Hamar alloys)
and one Ioniq5 (premium with matte shooting star grey). Price on both very similar (less than £1K between them).

We test drove the ID4 and really liked the drive. Felt premium and unfussy.
We test drive the ioniq on Saturday. I have sat in the car. Lots of wow factor..but possibly a bit flash for me...(I quite like some understatement)

As I mentioned in my post in the Ioniq forum, I am concerned that the Matte paintwork on the Ioniq might be high maintenance. At the very least I will probably have to spend more ££ for some sort of ceramic coating.

My main concern about the ID.4 are the poor reviews of the infotainment system. Almost all the reviews I have watched complain about this.... poor controls, voice activation that doesn't really work, not being able to see the climate control controls in the dark...

Is this as bad as they say, or are there generally work arounds?
Will it drive me nuts?
Is the Life pro not going to get many of the V3 features? (I would have looked for a higher trim, but we are limited to what is available in cancelled orders).

Thanks for any real world guidance.

Cheers,

I have an ID.3. I don't think voice control is much good and occasionally the system is a bit laggy, but otherwise it's fine. Android Auto works very well wirelessly, it never drops out. Yes the sliders below the screen should be backlit, but you can control the same things from the wheel anyway. I tend to think that YouTube reviewers of ID cars just rewatch reviews of first editions beforehand and regurgitate the same tropes rather than doing anything new.
Re: timed charging - apparently it's fixed with 3.0, if the car is on 2.3 you'd need to schedule through the charger.

 

[LS99]

I've had an ID.4 for 18 months, 28k miles. My thoughts :-

• The ID voice control is bad / don't bother using it, and yes the buttons on the infotainment should have been lit, when I first took delivery the infotainment system would regularly "lock" and stop working, after 6 visits to the dealer - this now hardly ever happens.
• The Audio on the Infotainment system is ok/good - but noticeably "clips" at high volumes (it's like the Amp Can't cope), this is reported by other users who also notice it.
• Timed Charging (forget it), it looses settings, doesn't start charging, so I've given up on it, instead relying on my OHME, a promised upgrade last year was meant to fix timed charging, this didn't, it's claimed VW have fixed it in the latest upgrade - lets see.
• Android Auto is Good / Very Good - works well with my Samsung Note, reliable, connectivity good.

Overall the car is nice to drive, very large inside (I use it for work) and very comfortable for long journeys/traffic. Based on the EV's I've compared (clients have alot on their fleet's now), I think the ID.4 build quality is good/un-fussy (as the OP mentions), but it's certainly a slight "step-down" in level of "robustness" compared to my Golf.

 

[6652]

The ID voice control is bad / don't bother using it, and yes the buttons on the infotainment should have been lit, when I first took delivery the infotainment system would regularly "lock" and stop working, after 6 visits to the dealer - this now hardly ever happens.

It’s funny how two people can find something so different isn’t it, it works well for me, genuinely useful, but you do need to learn the ‘language’, and not use commands it doesn’t understand.

It’s not yet Siri like, but for doing common things without taking your eyes of the road or hands off the wheel, it’s good.

Helps if you don’t have an accent too, although I believe VW are improving that with each update.

Timed Charging (forget it), it looses settings, doesn't start charging, so I've given up on it, instead relying on my OHME, a promised upgrade last year was meant to fix timed charging, this didn't, it's claimed VW have fixed it in the latest upgrade - lets see.

Not sure what software you’re running, but it’s still broken in 2.4, supposedly fixed in 3.0 now, but we’ll see. It’s nearly there, works most of the time in mine, but not 100%, which kind of means it may as well not work at all.

 

[sidehaas]

It may be worth adding for the OP that if he is using Android auto (or presumably also Carplay) then Google (or presumably Apple) voice control works perfectly and you can control it using the same button as the car's own voice control anyway (if you don't want the special word turned on). Obviously google can't do things like climate or the pano roof but if you are using Android auto for music and nav then the voice control is great.

 

[LS99]

I find the ID voice control like a primitive word processing/dictation system from 20 years ago - it can't understand what's being said, asking for the instruction to be repeated or inputting addresses or instructions it just seems to "make up" (I have "clear" London accent, which colleagues in India - when I've set up projects there - described as easy to understand and like a BBC world news presenter) - if the ID voice can't understand mine - what hope does it have for someone who's got a regional dialect/accent !

I just use Google assistant via Android Auto - which understands everything about 98% of the time.

I'm waiting to book my 2.4, and some other warrantee issues to be addressed - door handle wobble on 2 doors and the back light needs re-aligning to stop creaking (which is known about by VW) slightly hesitant (after the 6 dealer visits last year), and my dealer doesn't have a loan available until late September - I'm taking the approach - they can practice on some other ID's with the upgrade and then mine should be more seamless ! lol

My general issue with the charging is - I rely on the car for work - and VW timer charging is so un-reliable, I would put the car onto charge, needed it for work - would wake up, but as it hadn't charged, I would then have to make a stop at a Rapid, pay premium £ before I could travel and be late. So after this happening numerous times - I've now settled on using the Ohme.

 

[Philip Medlock]

The charge timer works on my ID4 for charging on Octopus Go. This is with v3 installed from new.

I don't like the infotainment much, wireless android auto drained my phone (Galaxy S21) so i disabled it and reverted to wired. Having to click ok on your user when you get in is a pain. Also i've found if my wife leaves the car after using it with her user i can't then see much at all in the on line app for "privacy reasons".

I really dislike the touch sensitive controls for lights, mirrors climate etc. But to be fair it's rare that you use most of them.

The stock stereo sound quality seems pretty bad (Pure 52). And the road noise a little higher than i expected. I was expecting the ID4 would be quieter than the Tesla M3 (2022) from online reviews, but find it the other way around. Not sure how both those aspects would compare to the Ioniq.

 

[LS99]

It's good to hear that the timer charging is more reliable on v3 - (although I would need alot of convincing to use it instead of my Ohme) - given how it's messed me around in the past.

I'm use to the touch sensitive controls - easy to wipe/keep clean. Just not convinced about all the shiny plastic that shows up finger prints/dust (around the centre console / door handles)

An anomaly worth mentioning (seeing if other owners have noticed?), when you're overtaking or being overtaken, if the air-vents are just open (no a/c or blower on), at the point a large vehicle passes the ID.4 - there's a sudden "rush of air" through the vents, where clearly the aero-dynamics of the car seem to "direct" the air-flow through the ventilation in-takes. It was a little weird/disconcerting at first - but now "sort of" use to it.

 

[6652]

It's good to hear that the timer charging is more reliable on v3 - (although I would need alot of convincing to use it instead of my Ohme) - given how it's messed me around in the past.

If the Ohme works for you then it’s not an issue, at least the car wakes up when the EVSE prompts it, not all cars do.

I would use my Ohme for timed charging as well, but there is zero Sim coverage for it where I live, even though the car itself finds a 4G connection, so mine is dumb.

 

[DannyKudos]

wireless android auto drained my phone (Galaxy S21) so i disabled it

Do you not leave your phone on the wireless charger?

 

[Ambassador Spock]

wireless android auto drained my phone (Galaxy S21) so i disabled it and reverted to wired.

I'm still annoyed the 1st edition didn't come with a wireless charger....

 

[DannyKudos]

I need to see if I can get Octopus to fit an Ohm for me. I have a dumb charger (Chargemaster). It seems difficult to get a quote when you dont need the whole thing installed... just the box changed.

 

[LS99]

I need to see if I can get Octopus to fit an Ohm for me. I have a dumb charger (Chargemaster). It seems difficult to get a quote when you dont need the whole thing installed... just the box changed.

If your existing supply is suitable and you can find a competent electrician (who can ensure the earthing meets regulations for an EV charger and your existing CU / Breaker is suited) go for the Ohme Commando version, your electrician just removes the commando socket and terminates into an IP rated junction box and re-uses your existing supply.

Ohme

Welcome to the home of innovative smart charging for electric vehicles. Our solution helps you charge at the cheapest rate. Sounds good, right? Simple.

ohme-ev.com

 

[LS99]

I'm still annoyed the 1st edition didn't come with a wireless charger....

Ali-express do some retro fit wireless charging options.

 

[Ambassador Spock]

Ali-express do some retro fit wireless charging options.

As a rule I avoid Ali-express...

 

[sidehaas]

I need to see if I can get Octopus to fit an Ohm for me. I have a dumb charger (Chargemaster). It seems difficult to get a quote when you dont need the whole thing installed... just the box changed.

Ohme chargers themselves are sometimes quite finicky. If the car you are looking at is on 3.0 I would get it and see if it works fine with your current dumb charge point (scheduling from the car) before forking out £1000 or whatever for a new home charger.