Volkswagen recently launched their all-electric crossover, the ID.4. The electric crossover segment is currently booming with new launches. While Tesla Model Y remains at the top, there are others like Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Ford Mustang Mach-E coming to the fight. Among all these heavyweights, the ID.4 seems a bit dull. In the comparison between these four vehicles, ID.4 was comfortably at the bottom of the table in almost all respects.
But we shouldn’t forget that Volkswagen is one of the most prominent automobile brands in the industry. So it’s not like everything about the ID.4 is about average. You just need to look at some finer details and not focus on the usual specs such as power, torque and range. YouTuber Bjørn Nyland did just that.
Turn Test between Volkswagen ID.4 and e-Up
The e-Up is an all-electric version of the Volkswagen Up, a small city car. In comparison, the ID.4 is significantly larger in dimensions, being a family car. Hence, you would think that the e-Up would be much easier to handle in small spaces such as parking lots and garages. However, the difference between the turn circles for these two Volkswagen cars isn’t as much as it would seem.
Let’s compare the dimensions of the two cars first. The e-Up is 3540 mm long and 1645 mm wide, with a wheelbase of 2417 mm. On the other hand, the ID.4 has a length of 4585 mm, a width of 1852 mm and a wheelbase of 2765 mm. The turn circle radius of the two cars, however, doesn’t have that much of a difference. The e-Up can turn within a circle of 9.7 metres, while for the ID.4, it is 10.2 metres. For a vehicle that is almost one metre longer and has a wheelbase 300 mm longer, the difference of half a metre in turn radius seems quite small.
Funnily enough, when compared practically, this difference seems even smaller. You can view the practical turn test between the ID.4 and e-Up here:
Turn Test between Volkswagen ID.4 and Tesla Model 3
The video also shows a similar comparison between Tesla Model 3 and the ID.4. Before discussing those results, let’s check the dimensions of the Tesla Model 3.
The wheelbase of the Tesla Model 3 is 2875 mm, while the length is 4694 mm. Both are more than one metre longer than the ID.4. The width is almost identical. The theoretical turn radius is 11.8 metres. So you would obviously expect the Model 3 to turn through a greater radius than ID.4.
The difference is quite surprising though. Now, the number of parking spots isn’t an internationally recognized unit of measurement, but it’s good enough for comparison. You can see that the Model 3 requires almost up to 3 parking spots to turn. On the other hand, the ID.4 takes just a little more than 2 spots to complete its turn.
Given that Model Y is slightly larger than Model 3, the ID.4 will comfortably come up trumps against its segment leader in this respect.
Our Opinion
This was an interesting test carried out by Bjørn Nyland. It has shown that the ID.4 is incredibly nimble and will definitely find it better to get out of tight spaces. Manoeuvrability may not be the most important feature in a crossover, but it is definitely a bonus. If Volkswagen is able to step up in terms of its powertrain in the near future, the ID.4 can definitely challenge some, if not all, vehicles in its segment. Till then, ID.4 owners have to be content with better slow-speed handling only.
