The Volkswagen ID.4 vs Kia EV6

The Volkswagen ID.4 and the Kia EV6 are nice midsize SUVs, both making a strong claim to be excellent crossover electric SUVs. They’re each in the mid-$40,000 range and are available in either rear-wheel drive or all-wheel drive. These similarities would seem to make choosing between them quite a challenging task. So, we’ve thrown this article together to give you some pointers, highlight some key differences, and see which vehicle would fit your Orange County lifestyle and budget best. 

Engine and Performance 

The Kia EV6 is a state-of-the-art electric vehicle that combines both the features of a hatchback and a crossover SUV. The electric engine is particularly noteworthy for its range, offering up to 310 miles between each charge. This distance beats out many other contenders, including the ID.4, which only manages 275 miles of range. 

The results of this advantage are that you’ll spend much less on fuel than you would for a gasoline vehicle and even less compared to a similarly priced electric vehicle. The basic electric engine gives you 167 horsepower, which is perfectly adequate for most purposes, but you can upgrade to higher engine specs for a maximum of 576 horsepower. This inevitably reduces the range, but it’s nice to know that you can have the power when you need it. 

The ID.4 gives you slightly more muscle from its engine, with 201 horsepower compared to the EV6’s 167, making it the stronger choice. The maximum towing capacity for the ID.4 comes at 2,700 pounds, which is enough for most purposes. It also has a quiet cabin and a smooth ride, so it’s a good performer. It’s not particularly snappy, but the EV6 is still a little slower. 

InteriorDesign

The Kia offers you an impressive and defined interior. The driver’s instrument panel and the touch screen mold together seamlessly. The aluminum pedals, suede seats, and other qualities offered wouldn’t be out of place on a luxury car. However, getting up to this level requires investing in the upper trims, and the basic interior has perhaps a little too much plastic to look really great. 

The EV6’s interior pales into insignificance when it’s placed against the ID.4’s interior. A particularly striking element is a thin lighting strip mounted where the windshield meets the dashboard and pulses from side to side. This gives you navigation cues, shows the charge state of the battery, and generally gives you some vital information in an unobtrusive way. The retractable steering wheel and the cloth seats with built-in heating and 12-way adjustable power front seats are all excellent options, giving you that little bit of extra comfort. 

The ID.4 comes with a 12-inch infotainment touch screen and wireless versions of Apple CarPlay  and Android Auto, which give you the connectivity you need. A 5.3-inch digital display and voice-recognition capability are all aspects that add to the futurism of this model. In the EV6, the infotainment is comparable,  but the 14 speakers give you that extra boom in the audio fidelity department. 

Cargo space is an area where the ID.4 wins the prize. The overall size is smaller than the Kia, but because it’s made use of various efficiencies of scale, there’s a little more room inside. The Volkswagen provides 30.3 cubic feet with the rear seats up or 64.2 cubic feet when they’re collapsed. This compares with, but still beats, the statistics of 24.4 and 50.2 feet for the EV6. Overall, this kind of spec depends on your needs. With greater efficiency, a more comfortable interior, and better cargo space, the ID.4 is the car you’ll most enjoy driving. 

Trim Levels 

There are five trims with the ID.4, with the Standard, Pro, Standard S, Pro S, and Pro S all vying for attention. The MSRPs range from $40,290 to $52,740. Of these, the Pro S trim offers a slightly lower mileage of 208 than the 275 miles you can usually get from the other trims. It’s also important to note that the ID.4 can come in both all-wheel drive and front-wheel drive modes, although these options might affect the overall cost in terms of making it less efficient. 

The Kia EV6 comes in five trims, ranging from Wind at an MSRP of $50,025 to the GT at $62,925. Overall, the EV6 is more expensive than the ID.4, but it’s worth checking the availability of federal grants and state tax breaks to make sure that you’ll end up paying these amounts. One trim worth checking out if you go for the EV6 might be the Wind, which, at $53,695, gives you 19-inch wheels and a good range of 282 miles per charge. 

The safety technology is good on both vehicles, with standard automated emergency braking with pedestrian detection, lane-departure warning and lane-keeping assist, and standard adaptive cruise control. Both cars offer the advantage of providing an excellent and robust range of safety features without having you pay more to add these at higher levels, showing that the manufacturers’ priorities are all about looking after you. 

In terms of exterior design, there are some improvements as you cycle through the trims regarding wheel size and basic designs, but overall, the look is relatively unchanged. The ID.4 offers you more advances in some trims, such as the Pro S, which comes with illuminated Volkswagen logos on the front and the back. 

Choosing Between the EV6 and the ID.4

It takes a close look at the details to tease out the differences between these two vehicles. Of course, it depends on which version suits you best and has the details that fit what you’re looking for. The ID.4 has slightly more efficient use of space, a more comfortable interior, and what seems to be better options in each trim, but the EV6 gives you slightly more miles per charge.

The best thing to do is to see one for yourself and see how they feel to drive. If you need any help taking your search to the next stage, contact us at Capistrano Volkswagen, and we’ll be delighted to help you out.