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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).
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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?
Steve Huntingford
Updated: 20 May 2021
Car reviews
Volkswagen ID 4
Ford Mustang Mach-E
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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.
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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.
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