Every year, we here on Gear Patrol’s Motoring desk test a whole lot of cars, trucks, motorcycles and other vehicles. If you read this site with any regularity, you’re probably aware of that — from our many reviews, our social media posts, and the myriad other ways we inform, educate and ideally entertain you, dear reader.
Still, not every car that passes through our hands makes its way to a standalone story. So, to keep you informed about some of the other vehicles we’re testing, every so often, we bring you a roundup of the other vehicles we’re testing during any given season. Check ’em out below.
Volkswagen ID.4 AWD
Will Sabel CourtneyWhen I first took a spin in the VW ID.4 back in early 2021, I called it “the beta version of Volkswagen’s future.” The brand’s first ground-up EV in an onslaught of them arriving soon, it had plenty going for it: a clean, intriguing design, a reasonable price, a capacious interior, a decent amount of range. It also, however, had its share of flaws: the interior’s ergonomics seem developed for another species, and the decision to launch a crossover only in underpowered rear-wheel-drive form seemed like a missed opportunity
Well, I’m pleased to say that adding an extra motor for the front wheels solves a couple of them. It gives this crossover a nice dose of extra poke, for one thing, courtesy of the added horses: the all-wheel-drive ID.4 makes 295 horsepower, up from the rear-wheel-drive version’s 201. (Oddly, torque is the same for both models, at 229 lb-ft.) Punch the accelerator — sadly now shorn of the fun “play” symbol found on the ID.4 First Edition — and this Vee-Dub takes off with a punchy shove at around-town speeds.
More importantly for most buyers — at least those who live in wintery climes, which is at least half the country — doubling the driven wheels doubles your traction; lob on a good set of winter tires, and the AWD ID.4 should be able to claw its way through all kinds of snowy nastiness until its battery goes dead.
