This Sub-$20,000 Volkswagen ID.4 Proves Used EVs Are The Ultimate Bargain

“It has been an incredible vehicle for the money,” the new owner said after putting 10,000 miles in five months. But there was one problem.

Photo by: Out of Spec Bits (YouTube)

Iulian Dnistran

By: Iulian Dnistran

May 30, at 12:10pm ET

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Getting a used EV might be a good solution to combat rising gas prices.
This 2023 Volkswagen ID.4 was bought five months ago for less than $20,000.
It had around 46,000 miles back then, making for an “incredible used value.”

With gas prices as high as they are right now, going for a lightly used electric car could be a great decision, as long as the new owner has access to cheap charging at home.

Wes from the Out of Spec Bits YouTube channel found a fantastic deal for a 2023 Volkswagen ID.4 AWD Pro crossover, and now—five months and 10,000 miles later—he made a little update on his ownership experience.

Last December, he paid just $19,300 for this American-made EV, which had roughly 46,000 miles on the odometer. It was a great price for an all-wheel-drive car that has enough room for a family, and an EPA-estimated range of 255 miles—more on this in a bit.

Since then, he has put around 10,000 miles on the car, during which time he discovered a few annoyances. The biggest issue with the car has been related to the GPS antenna module, which fails to locate the car precisely. That can be very frustrating when he tries to use the built-in navigation system. The fix, so far, has been to remove a fuse, which restores normal service for a few days. Forcing Android Auto to use the smartphone’s GPS signal instead of the car’s has also helped.

A small rattle can be heard on the front passenger side, and the rear tires will need to be changed soon, as the ID.4 is notorious for chewing through rear tires. Even though this is an all-wheel drive model, it’s still predominantly rear-biased, so rear tires suffer the most.

When it comes to battery degradation, it’s a bit of a mixed bag. When the new owner bought the car, it came with a report that indicated 6% degradation. Now, though, data pulled from the vehicle’s OBD port suggests that the usable capacity is around 65 kilowatt-hours, resulting in about 15% degradation. In other words, if the car could go 255 miles on a full charge when it was new, it could theoretically go roughly 217 miles now.

Furthermore, this particular ID.4 was part of a battery recall that affects North American models powered by SK On cells. According to the recall report, affected vehicles should only be charged to 80% state of charge, and owners should avoid using DC fast chargers until the issue is fixed.

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Four battery fires have been reported, and Volkswagen’s solution is to install a self-discharge detection (SDD) software that can detect issues and prevent potential fires. If the software finds defective modules within a battery pack, they will be replaced for free.

Despite all of this, the ID.4’s owner is clear: the car has been “incredible for the money.” The combination of German engineering, good production quality, and low price has made the purchase a no-brainer.