Apart from some half-baked aspects of the pre-production car he drove, he had positive impressions about it.
Ben Sullins made a reputation on Twitter for talking about Tesla. His channel was formerly known as Teslanomics until Sullins decided to use his own name on it, probably to address a larger audience than just Tesla fans. This is probably why Volkswagen invited him to test drive a pre-production ID.4. Although Sullins was not blown away by it, he was not disappointed, which is remarkable for an EV from a legacy automaker.
We could go even further about that and mention that many just ignore Volkswagen due to Dieselgate. Ironically, it was that scandal that made Volkswagen embrace electric mobility and accidentally kill diesel engines. Had their reputation still be the same, the German company would probably avoid the CO2 emission fine in Europe it will most certainly get.
That said, while some chose to ignore the company out of self-righteousness, Sullins was pragmatic. If Volkswagen is trying to redeem itself and make EVs affordable, why not check what it has to offer? Sullins did that and was especially surprised by the price.
Getting an EV this big by a little more than $30,000 with the federal tax credit can be a major factor in ID.4’s success. And the youtuber does not think it is the only one: Sullins also liked the car styling and the fact that it may attract people who would not consider an EV otherwise.
The car performance is not extraordinary, and the youtuber is fine with that. After all, that’s exactly what one would expect from a family car. Another plus is how roomy the ID.4 is, offering plenty of space for cargo and people.
The half-baked aspects of the car all relate to software issues that Volkswagen said were already fixed. That means that all ID.4 units to be sold in the US will already present all the functions the car was supposed to offer, such as the augmented reality head-up display. This is something that could have impressed Sullins if it already worked.
The youtuber promised to drive the car again when production units hit American soil. It is not unlikely that he gets a completely new impression from that future experience. If EVs can improve with software, why wouldn’t the ID.4? We’ll soon discover more about that.
Source: Ben Sullins
Source: Read Full Article