Volkswagen ID.4 - Range, charging and running costs
Entry-level cars are competitively priced, while the ID.4 delivers decent range and should be relatively affordable to insure
The cheapest ID.4 is the 168bhp Match Pure with the 52kWh battery, which starts at just under £43,000. Upgrading to the Match Pro with the larger 77kWh battery and more powerful electric motor adds roughly £1,700 to the ID.4's price tag, and you'll see a similar price increase on top of this to step up to the Match Pro 4Motion four-wheel drive version.
The top-of-the-range ID.4 GTX is currently priced at just over £54,000. We reckon that unless you’re prepared to pay handsomely for that 5.4 second 0-62mph time, you'll find more value in the rear-wheel drive Match Pro with the same 77kWh battery as the GTX.
The base Match Pure ID.4 provides enough juice for a range of up to 224 miles, but you want to go further between charging sessions, the Match Pro in rear-drive form has the best range, covering up to 336 miles on a single charge. The all-wheel drive, dual-motor Match Pro 4MOTION and GTX versions get the same 77kWh powerpack, but range is reduced to 324 and 317 miles, respectively, due to the additional weight and inefficiencies of four-wheel drive compared to the regular rear-wheel drive models.
During our group test between the Volkswagen ID.4, Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Ford Mustang Mach-E, the VW managed to return 3.4 miles per kilowatt-hour – the same as the Hyundai. That equates to a real-world range of 262 miles for the 77kWh ID.4 we were testing. We saw the same results when we pitted an ID.4 GTX against the Toyota bZ4X and Hyundai Ioniq 5, although we did that test in the summer. The first time we drove the ID.4 GTX, it was in colder conditions, and it returned 2.7mi/kWh, demonstrating the effects of cold weather on the EV's range.
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An interesting and slightly worrying quirk we noted during our testing of the ID.4 in the summer, was that switching on the air-con noticeably reduced the range. We noted a 27-mile drop in overall range just by turning the system on.
The ID.4’s maximum charging speed depends on which version you get. Stick with the 52kWh battery, and the ID.4 will reach 115kW if you find a suitably fast rapid charger, so a 10 to 80 per cent top-up will take 28 minutes. If you upgrade to the 77kWh battery, the maximum charging speed jumps to 135kW, so the same 10 to 80 top-up also requires 28 minutes. Thanks to that update in late 2023, the GTX charges up to 175kWh, although VW says the charging time for 10 - 80 per cent still takes 28 minutes. It’s worth noting that rivals like the Hyundai Ioniq 5 or Kia EV6 car reach 233kW and can be topped up even faster.
When it comes to charging at home, fully replenishing a 52kWh model will take roughly eight and a half hours, while 77kWh models will need more than 12 hours plugged into a 7.4kW home wallbox.
Buying a battery-powered car can bring lower day-to-day running costs, and the ID.4 is no different. Business users, in particular, will gain from the low Benefit-in-Kind tax rate of 2 per cent for 2024/2025, not to mention the exemption from road tax (VED) and the London Congestion Charge until 2025.
Insurance
The entry-level 168bhp/52kWh ID.4 should be reasonable to insure because it sits in group 24. In comparison, the Ford Mustang Mach-E starts from group 33.
Opting for the most potent ID.4 GTX is in insurance group 39, but that’s still below the Extended Range Premium trim Mach-E in group 41, or even the entry-level Tesla Model Y RWD in group 47
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Depreciation
Our expert data suggests that over a typical three-year/36,000-mile ownership period, the entry-level 168bhp Match Pure model will retain the most resale value, at 50 per cent, with the top-of-the-range GTX performing the worst at 44 per cent over the same period.
A Tesla Model Y retains more of its value though, and should be worth 56 per cent of its original value after the same three-year period.
To get an accurate valuation on a specific model check out our valuation tool...
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