It baffles me that singles and/or childless couples want to driver crossover suvs, which scream to me “Parent Mobile.”

I think they’ll put this tech into a Caddy to compete with the Range Rover people. This isn’t aimed at Beverley Hills housewives- it’s aimed at the three people who will use its capability and a bunch of people who want to be brash and show off. This is a Cybertruck competitor, not a Range Rover competitor (although I…

Re the CarPlay functionality- it may be that the chip was implemented in the hardware from the getgo, but the software wasn’t ready when the earliest cars were built. VW did the exact same thing with the ID.3- early cars came without CarPlay, which has now been enabled through a software update.

They have, it’s called Ionity in Europe, and Electrify America. It’s just not something that can appear overnight. 

Well, the Polestar 2 is a close competitor (less range/efficiency, but prettier and much better interior). And then there’s the new BMW i4, which is basically an electric 4-series Gran Coupe.

And VW know it. Their internal marketing stuff given to dealers is comparing the ID.4 to things like the Rav4 and CR-V.

No, those touch controls aren’t lit. It’s the same across the new Golf 8, the ID.3, and the new Seat Leon too. 

I’ve not been in an ID.4, but had a good poke around an ID.3 in January 2020 when I was in Berlin. There’s a lot more interior space than a Golf, as the packaging is better with the MEB platform.

The back of the ID.3 is 4 litres more than the Golf 8, 10 litres more than a Focus, and 15 litres more than the Astra...

That’s insane! My first car was a VW Polo which didn’t even have power locks.

Very definitely Android Auto (or Apple CarPlay, if you have an iPhone). First had it on my previous Skoda in 2016. It was standard fit on the car, and I didn’t really care about it when I first got it. Was quite happy with just an aux-in or Bluetooth.

That’s not a bad idea. Although I’m >< this close to ordering a VW ID.3, where they have the new key design which doesn’t have this issue!

Me neither.

My last two cars have had indirect, I don’t think I’ve ever had a false alert in 5 years and about 60k miles. Maybe VW’s system is less finicky than Hondas?

This is why I’m actually kind of liking the current trend of the main lights being where the fogs should be, and the ‘headlights’ actually just being a DRL strip and the indicator. Way less blinding for those of us in lower cars. 

This is what I’m finding in my Seat. It’s also clever enough in the cold to not try blowing in loads of air before the engine has warmed up the coolant. I might change it a couple of degrees different depending on what I’m wearing, but I barely touch the climate controls other than the ‘max defrost’ button. 

And also tied in to the wipers. If you do anything with the wipers other than just a quick single wipe or a clean, then the lights should be on.

Not just the dash cluster. A number of Fords here in the UK have the entire cabin lit up the entire time- things like the radio buttons, climate control, etc.

Same. Drives me nuts. What’s particularly annoying is that some cars on the Mk.7 platform with keyless entry have keys that don’t flip. It’s all the same electrical systems. No idea why they don’t give all KESSY cars the nicer key!

Yeah, they’re reversed in the manual cars. Definitely couldn’t work without that switch.