Volkswagen ID4 Family Pro Performance - long term review

I got my hands on the ID.4 so recently that I have nothing to report on its efficiency, nor how it drives beyond what I said in the original road test. But that was a while ago and since then the model lineup, and the number of rivals, have both expanded. So it's worth running over the specs and prices, and see how they look versus those other runners and riders.

This one is a Family Pro Performance, a name forged in the rather literal English of native Germans. 'Family' is the middle trim level, with rear-seat aircon controls and USB ports. 'Pro' means the bigger battery size, which is a useful 77kWh net. 'Performance' is the more powerful motor, 204bhp. To go above that power in an ID.4 you'll need the two-motor GTX. In a biggish lardy car like the ID.4, the motor I've got means that Performance is a fairly optimistic term.

The styling makes no apparent attempt to disguise the bulk. It's hardly a thing of beauty but I'm happy with its general design strategy, which doesn't impersonate a combustion car. No long flat bonnet, no big grille.

The colour and trim people tend to be the Cinderellas of any design team, but I've got to hand it to them here. We've grumbled often about the cheap, hard grey plastic that predominates inside the smaller ID.3 hatch. The ID.4 gets much better trim, soft and stitched in many places. This particular one comes with 'vegan leather' (why didn't Radiohead think of 'Vegan Leather Trees'?) in a colour called Florence Brown. I might have had a schoolteacher by that name. A dark-grey fuzzy felt makes up the seats' centre panels.

It's much nicer than I make it sound, especially with the metallic blue paint outside. Blue with brown is always my start point when I'm playing fantasy supercar configurator. This metallic paint is a £665 extra in the ID.4, enhanced by the £630 'bicolour style' pack of black roof with metallic grey pillars and roof rails. The wheels are 19s with faired-in black areas to reduce drag.

That cabin material comes with Family trim. So do LED matrix headlights (a biggie for me), keyless entry and go, a big glass roof, lots of driver assist, wireless charging (for the phone not the car) and wireless CarPlay. Family trim also brings heated seats and steering wheel, which matter a lot in an electric car in winter because it means you can use the space heating far less, and that saves significant energy. This particular car also has the heat pump to improve heater efficiency, at £1020. Also a tow bar, and a granny cable.

Those options take it from just over £46,000 to a smidge under £50k. Which is only 10 per cent more than a similarly specced Tiguan diesel auto and I bet you'd get that back on the residuals. It's not that electric cars are expensive, it's that new cars are expensive.

Closest rival is probably the similarly soft, relaxed Hyundai Ioniq 5. The Hyundai's top spec is similar to this VW, but has only a 73kWh battery. A Kia EV6 of very similar battery and power to the VW is about the same money. The Mustang Mach-e RWD with bigger battery, 379 mile range and 294bhp is just £47k.

And the Tesla Model Y is £55k, for similar range as the VW but with two motors and far more right-foot stomp if far less ride comfort. The Volkswagen is looking pretty livable.