It wasn’t long into the test drives of the new VW ID.4 electric SUV at a private track in the north of Sydney before the inevitable smell of burning rubber entered our nostrils.
The auto journalist crew were giving the German car maker’s first electric offering in Australia a thorough work out: Just as well then that the track had been closed to the learner drivers that usually use the facility.
But you did wonder why they would bother laying rubber with VW’s first electric offering. Yes, the ID.4 did claim a 2021 “world car of the year” award, and yes it has done very well for the company since its launch, along with the ID.5 coupe version and the earlier small electric offering, the ID.3.
But the ID.4 is no Tesla, or even a Kia EV.6 or a Polestar 2, the EVs that claim to be the performance leaders in the $60,000 to $90,000 price range. VW has struck success because it has stuck to what it does best – present a reliable, functional, practical car to its largely cautious customer base.
And it’s not really aiming to do much more than that with the ID.4. If you really want to know why this car is successful, you need to drive it to the shopping centre, or the school, or on a weekend break. But you can’t do that yet in Australia because it is yet to get permission to be driven on our roads. Might as well burn some rubber on a private circuit, then.
VW’s electric cars were everywhere to be seen during our recent trip through Europe – Sweden, Norway, Germany, France and the UK. But they are yet to make an appearance in Australia, a market the car maker snubbed for its electric offerings because of the lack of vehicle emission standards, or so it said.
That particular policy failure is about to be rectified under the new federal Labor government, so VW has changed course.
First the Born, then the ID.4
First, the group has launched its electric Cupra Born, an EV made out of Spain. And now it is drumming up interesting in the ID.4, which is still a year away from being seen on Australian roads.
VW has brought two models out to Australia to generate interest from the media and to encourage an early order book from customers, but they are not even the specifications that will finally be offered to Australian buyers.
We got to do three laps each with two different models – the ID.4 Pro and ID.4 Pure. It’s barely more time than we had when driving an ID.5 in the UK last month, but it does give a taste of what this car is about.
For a start, the ID electric series is being built on a new electric platform, which VW calls the Modular Electric Body system. The ID.4 and ID.5 are virtually the same car, with one a more boxy SUV and the latter a sleeker, coupe styling.
What the electric platform does is offer the opportunity to push the wheels forward and out. That’s because the electric motor now sits across the top of the rear axle, so there’s no need for a big bonnet. It is frustrating to see, however, that the ID.4 has no frunk, because the space under the bonnet is filled with stuff for the air-con units. Something to work on next time round.
But there is definitely more space on the inside. VW hasn’t gone to the lengths that Hyundai did with its Ioniq 5, but it is less cluttered than, say, a Tiguan with which it will be most compared, and doesn’t need the transmission tunnel in the back.
Half a million ID sales
The ID.4 offers a bigger central console, but otherwise VW seems intent on making this an easy transition for its customers. It seems to be working, with ID sales now totalling more than half a million.
The ID.4 doesn’t look particularly aerodynamic, but as a point of contrast, VW says it has a co-efficient of 0.28, which is far better than the 0.48 of the iconic Beetle.
That helps it claim a range of more than 500kms on the bigger 85kWh battery that was included in the Pro Performance version, as opposed to the 350km and something range of the 55kWh battery in the Pure version.
But there is still uncertainty about what will be presented to Australian consumers at the end of 2023. The Pure is, apparently, not an option, at least in the early release, but the final specs of the Pro (it may have another name by then) have not yet been decided.
That will test just how closely it matches the price of the fossil-fuelled Tiguan. VW says it will be more or less price parity with the higher specced Tiguan R series, but that remains to be seen and will be tested by what is included and what is not.
No land speed records
If the final offering looks anything like an ID.4 Pro, it will come with a 10” screen, options for sport seats, a heads up display, panoramic glass roof, and semi autonomous level 2 travel assist and parking aids.
It will get from 0-100 in just under nine seconds, which won’t break any land speed records but will deliver a lot more torque and response than VW customers are used to with the Tiguan. I find that in the few laps I did it handled well, but then there was still plenty of rubber on the tyres after I had completed my three laps in each.
VW says that the market – even in Australia – is at the tipping point for the electric revolution. It will likely have tipped already if it had been possible to actually buy an EV at all, let alone one at a sub $50,000 price, but let’s not quibble.
It does seem clear, however, that the car makers have decided that the majority of customers have made up their mind and want to go electric. The significance of the VW ID.4 offering is that some car makers don’t believe that means you have to re-invent the wheel. You just need a different, cleaner drive train. The rest will follow.
See  also: First drive of Volkswagen ID.Buzz: Urban cool and tight turning circles
And:Â ID.4 and ID.5 first look and drive: VW’s practical solution to electric driving
Giles Parkinson is founder and editor of The Driven, and also edits and founded the Renew Economy and One Step Off The Grid web sites. He has been a journalist for nearly 40 years, is a former business and deputy editor of the Australian Financial Review, and owns a Tesla Model 3.