Biding your time, waiting for the right moment to deploy something – be it a spicy email, a coming-out revelation, or a mid-sized electric SUV that needed some revision – definitely has its benefits.
In the case of the Volkswagen ID.4, the four-and-a-half year delay following its September 2020 European arrival has enabled VW Australia to benefit from both an extensive mid-cycle update and a planets-aligning pricing strategy.
Expected to start at around $70K, the 2025 Volkswagen ID.4 Pro single-motor instead debuts at $59,990 before on-road costs, with the sole options being metallic paint ($1000) and an exterior styling pack ($900) that adds silver roofline and rear pillar trim, silver anodised roof rails, silver bumper inserts and a black-painted roof. Everything else is standard.
Its impressive level of equipment includes 15-setting adaptive dampers, Matrix LED headlights, 3D LED taillights with sequential indicators, 19-inch alloys, a panoramic glass roof with electric sunblind, rear privacy glass, illuminated door handles, and ‘ErgoActive’ microfleece electric and heated front seats with two-setting memory and massage function.
There’s also three-zone climate control, a 12.9-inch touchscreen with wired smartphone connectivity (wireless from July production, with earlier-build cars expected to be software updatable), seven-speaker audio, a 360-degree camera, and an electric tailgate.
Compared to its chief competitors – Tesla Model Y RWD ($58,900), BYD Sealion 7 Premium RWD ($54,990), Hyundai Ioniq 5 RWD ($69,800), Kia EV5 Air Long Range ($61,170) and Kia EV6 Air RWD ($72,590) – the ID.4 Pro is more comprehensively equipped and is the only car to feature adaptive dampers.
At 544km, it also offers greater WLTP driving range – by a significant margin in most cases, apart from the much less powerful EV5 (555km) – and the ID.4’s competitive 10-80 percent charging time is somewhere between 22 and 28mins, depending on who you believe.
On paper, then, the 2025 Volkswagen ID.4 Pro appears to be something of a winner.
And if you prefer your electric mid-size Volkswagen SUV with a coupe-esque tone, there’s also the ID.5 GTX from launch ($72,990), which brings dual-motor AWD, 522km of WLTP range and significantly punchier performance among its cache of enhancements.
Should you prefer things the other way around – a rear-drive ID.5 or an AWD ID.4 GTX, for example – those additional variants will be introduced in the coming months.
The mid-cycle update that VGA waited patiently for focuses predominantly on greater torque for the RWD Pro (up 76 percent, from 310Nm to 545Nm) and an extensive rethink of the panned multimedia interface, now measuring 12.9 inches and offering shortcut widgets across the top edge and permanent HVAC buttons on the bottom, plus illuminated temperature controls.
In reality, the ID.4 Pro is a strong offering that favours logic and intelligence over superficial flashiness.
Some may not warm to its rather thick-set styling, however Volkswagen’s approach to embellishing the ID.4’s shape is subtly effective – particularly the full-width light bands across the front and rear ends – and the brand faithful will likely appreciate its functional, pragmatic form. If you want sex and a raised pulse, there’s always the closely related Cupra Tavascan.
Riding on the same MEB dedicated electric platform as so many VAG products, the ID.4’s 2771mm wheelbase is near-identical to that underpinning the Cupra Tavascan, Skoda Enyaq and Audi Q4 e-tron, delivering a roomy, flat-floored interior with ample front and rear legroom, and useful storage, as well as a voluminous 543-litre boot.
The ID.4’s trump (ahem) card, however, is its seats. The front pair are excellent ‘ErgoActive’ fully electric buckets upholstered in plush Microfleece cloth with leatherette outers.
They also score two-position memory, three-setting heating, electric lumbar, seatback phone holders and a built-in massage function – both of them! And the rear bench complements that comfort with decent under-thigh support and superb vision, enhanced by the all-glass roof with proper electric sunblind.
On the move, the ID.4 maintains this comprehensive attention to detail. Australia’s rear-drive Pro sensibly sticks to 19-inch alloys with reasonably chubby tyres (235/55R19 front, 255/50R19 rear) and features adaptive dampers as standard – gifting it a level of ride quality the non-adaptive ID.Buzz can only dream of.
Our ID.4 Pro also gets progressive steering that sharpens turn-in while offering just 2.5 turns lock-to-lock, so the by-product of the ID.4’s sophisticated damping, relatively high-profile tyres and rear-wheel drive transferring 210kW/545Nm to the ground is a polished suaveness to its dynamics.
The ID.4 doesn’t blow you away with the way it drives, though in an era where so many EVs seem to be overpowered and undercalibrated, the unobtrusive ID.4 just lopes along calmly and painlessly.
It rides better than its slightly firmer ID.5 GTX sibling on 20-inch wheels, and if you really want the cushiest waft available, there are three positions beyond the fixed ‘Comfort’ setting to explore. And for the most part, it works.
The ’Sport’ drive mode is arguably a step too far – making accelerator response too sensitive and the damping too firm for the majority of Aussie roads – but in Individual, you can access the entire damping range at any time on the 12.9-inch screen, as well as adjust the steering weighting (Comfort or Sport), and introduce ESC Sport if you want some directional adjustment from the rear end.
The ID.4’s handling is balanced and fluent, and blends well with its ‘progressive’ steering, which isn’t as sharp as you’d think, making cornering natural, effortless and quietly satisfying.
You can also leave the ID.4’s active-safety electronics in play because they aren’t too intrusive, though disabling the lane-assist allows for completely uncorrupted steering.
If only there was some actual feel being transmitted to the driver’s fingertips. Volkswagen has nailed the weighting consistency but there isn’t a whole lot of feedback from the ID.4’s steering, meaning you drive it via its chassis.
That said, given some of the dreadful electric-steering systems we’ve experienced in recent times, the fact that the ID.4’s is so effortlessly calming must be viewed as a positive.
Its powertrain performance is similarly effective, offering smoothly urgent acceleration that complements its ride and handling well.
Few people will need anything faster than 6.7sec from 0-100km/h, though there is a dual-motor ID.4 GTX coming, with a 5.4sec-to-100km/h claim, as well as rear-biased AWD – as demonstrated by the coupe-like ID.5 GTX launching alongside this rear-drive ID.4.
In short, the 250kW/679Nm GTX brings sportier seats and bolstering, a slightly firmer chassis, a modest rear spoiler, two extra speakers for its name-brand Harman Kardon audio system, and an 80-percent drive bias to its rear axle – meaning AWD traction and thrust with plenty of safe rear-drive fun waiting in the wings.
During our extensive launch drive of the ID.4 Pro across some hilly, challenging roads in country New South Wales, we averaged 18.7kWh/100km while punting this VW EV with enthusiasm.
That translates to a real-world range of 412km, with no urban driving and minimal regen’ braking bolstering its battery charge. Given the combined WLTP claim is 544km, it should be relatively easy to extract 500km from an ID.4 in mixed-use situations.
Volkswagen includes both charging-cord types in the asking price, and the first 500 ID.4/ID.5 buyers in Australia will also get an AmpCharge 7kW home charging kit valued at $1899 (its price going forward). That wall-mounted set-up will take the ID.4 Pro and ID.5 GTX from 10-80 percent battery charge in 8.5 hours.
The mid-cycle update for these models also improved battery cooling and efficiency, with a newfound ability to handle up to 175kW DC charge.
Volkswagen’s claimed 10-80 percent charging time puts the ID.4/5 towards the upper end of the medium EV SUV class – beating the Countryman SE (29mins), Sealion 7 (32mins), Mustang Mach-E (36mins) and EV5 (38mins), but falling considerably behind the 800-volt Ioniq 5 and EV6 benchmarks (18mins each).
So the ID.4 Pro is an unexpectedly good thing then – achieved via its persuasive combination of intelligent product planning, generous equipment and competitive price.
Its ageing design is only really evident in the decontenting of some of its cabin materials, all of which are a hangover from Volkswagen’s cost-cutting in the latter half of last decade, however there’s tangible quality in the stuff that matters – seating and upholstery, interior switchgear, body construction and powertrain capability.
It isn’t a sexy EV or even a sporting one. But the ID.4 Pro’s consistency of approach and combination of abilities make it quintessentially a Volkswagen. It’s a good car for a good price, and happens to be really good in a few areas that really count.