New Ford Mustang Mach-E vs new Volkswagen ID 4: costs
One’s a large electric SUV with a £40k price tag and a long range... and so’s the other one. But which is the first among equals?...
Buying and owning
Costs, equipment, reliability, safety and security
There’s less than £500 between their brochure prices, you can’t get discounts (yet) and both are too expensive to qualify for the Governments £2500 electric car grant. And because they’re also predicted to depreciate at roughly the same rate, they’ll cost cash buyers a very similar amount to own over three years. If you’re a PCP finance buyer, the Mach-E will cost you just £8 a month less, so there’s not a lot of difference there either (based on a 48-month deal, up to 15,000 miles per year and a £4500 deposit).
How about company car drivers? Well, it’s the same story. As with all electric cars, the benefit-in-kind tax is tiny in comparison with that of petrol and diesel rivals, and they’ll both cost 40% taxpayers less than £500 in company car tax until April 2023. How good is that?
The ID 4’s maximum charging rate is slightly faster, but its bigger battery means that, in theory, both take just under 40 minutes to go from 10-80% charged. We’re not sure why, but our Mach-E took a lot longer to rapid charge than the ID.4. The Mach-E takes about 11 hours to charge from 0-100% using a 7kW home wallbox and the ID 4 a bit over 12 hours.
What about equipment? Well, for a start, you’ll need to add a Type 2 charging cable to the Mach-E (£168). If you don’t, you’ll just get a domestic three-pin plug. Use that and you’ll be waiting days for a full charge. It’s the other way around with the ID 4: you get the Type 2 cable, but a plug costs £219.
They’re evenly matched on luxury kit, with dual-zone climate control, privacy glass, adaptive cruise control, heated front seats and a heated steering wheel fitted as standard in both. There are differences, though: the ID 4 also includes metallic paint, bigger wheels and power-folding door mirrors, while the Mach-E compensates you with its faux leather (rather than faux suede) seats and keyless entry.
As for safety kit, each has automatic emergency braking, lane-keeping assistance and traffic sign recognition, but only the Mach-E has blindspot monitoring. Neither car has yet been appraised for safety by Euro NCAP.
The Ford and Volkswagen brands ended up mid-table in the 2020 What Car? Reliability Survey, far below rival electric SUV manufacturers Hyundai and Kia.
