VW ID.4

Where do you get the phone number for the “helpline” ?

Lol and fixed in two months 😉

I think you got lucky. My experience with VW is 4 week wait time for a diagnostics and then another 4 week wait time for repair at least.

If you ring VW assist and they agree that the car needs to be brought in on a pickup you’ll be 1st on the cancellation list, that is if any cancellations arise.

Fix times for me have been ridiculously slow.

No. Mostly on 7kw or 11kw chargers

On the upside I was chatting to guy I know who just hit 260000kms on his ID.4 and it’s still going strong. No battery, drive motor, suspension, breaks issues yet but he is experiencing 40% battery degradation.

He is now getting around 330kms max on a full charge but is using Michelin Defender tyres which he thinks isn’t doing him any favors.

Great to know the ID.4 can last 260k all the same.

I think that’ll be the general view of all ID owners once the warranty runs out. Saying that even the back street mechanics are out the door at the moment and a lot currently know little or nothing about the ID.4

Must be a Dublin thing. I’ve been dealing with Western motors in Galway for years and waiting more than a week or so would be unusual in my experience. I’d recommend them to anyone in the West.
However, I’ve also had that annoyance where car goes in for “diagnosis” first and then you need to go back a 2nd time for the parts required - it’s frustrating when it seems the solution to the problem is obvious in the first place but I think the dealers have to play by the VW rules on this stuff. VW won’t pay out on the warranty claim if they don’t tick the boxes.

I’d be disappointed if / when everything moves to an agency model. Personal relationships with a dealer matter a lot imo, I’d hate to have an ongoing problem with a car and be ringing some 1800 number trying to get help over the phone.

He was getting 550km on a full charge at one point?

The Dublin dealerships are definitely bad. As I've said before, they've a lot of guys in suits with BS titles like "service manager" or "senior sales manager" but don't seem to have enough people doing actual work

Western Motors do seem to have a good reputation, I'd be tempted to talk to them the next time I've an issue

I get they don't want to keep parts in stock because it's money tied up, but this practice of needing to order everything from Germany is ridiculous. I asked the guys and they said typically they order from the UK and it takes a day or two, but if they have to go to Germany it takes several weeks

It seems the UK doesn't have any parts because I've always been waiting weeks for parts. It really bugs me the way they refuse to use OEM parts as well. Again, I understand not wanting to swap a motor for a non VW one, but I was waiting 2 weeks for a door seal when you could get some generic sealing strip from an online shop in a few days

I'm actually looking forward to the agency model because I have no interest in the sale side. I'm hoping with a vastly decreased focus on sales then dealerships will be forced to focus on their service side to stay relevant

Even still, that's an average consumption of 13.5kwh/100km approx. He must never have taken it over 50km/h and only drove it in the summer.

Possible but exceptional in the Irish context. I don't think it's accurate to say you have 40% degredation though if you are comparing the best summer range with Irish winter or spring range. One would at a minimum need to be comparing ranges at the same driving efficiency.

Theres no way anyone was getting 550kms from a charge over long term...

In certain situations, yes, in Ireland doing 80k kms a year or thereabouts, no

That id4 doesn't have anywhere near 40% degradation at all, I can't make the sums work on that

No, not really. 260k KMs is pretty niche mileage even most ICE at that age are rendered worthless and many are end of life, there are exceptions of course but very few want anything with that much on the clock

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The guy who owns the ID.4 lives in the states, warm weather most of the year with short winters

Fact:

Range up to 550kms new.

Range up to 330km 260k kms later.

I suspect the range is less than 330kms in winter time.

There are many variables that effect range but he’s telling me that’s what he’s getting now and no he doesn’t drive the nuts out of the car either.

Problem is in the real world there’s not many people out there with evs close to 300k kms on the clock to compare these figures with.

The math cannot be 100% correct, there’s too many variables.

Personally, living in Ireland I’d be hoping for around 30% battery degradation at 260k kms but 40% wouldn’t surprise me.

There’s a reason VW only guarantee 70% battery usage after 160k kms.

In my experience a car approaching 300k kms or more will not be able for continuous high mileage unless your willing to pump money into it.

Maybe it’ll serve as a school runner or for pottering around the town or the odd long run but not continuous driving.

I bought a new diesel Toyota Avensis before and sold it for 5k with 515k kms on the clock. She was still fit for driving but I knew I couldn’t push her any more.

Over its life I spent around 10k on repairs and that’s not including servicing.