Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
When I first got to see Volkswagen’s new ID 4 electric SUV at an eerily empty launch event in Brooklyn last month, the company’s executives warned me not to make the obvious comparisons to other electric vehicles, namely Tesla. That was because Volkswagen’s real targets are popular gas-powered compact SUVs, like the Ford Escape, Honda CR-V, and Toyota RAV4. VW has its eyes on a higher prize.
A couple weeks later, as I climbed into the front seat of the ID 4 for a brief test drive across Manhattan, my main objective was to see how this car stacked up against those other popular players. Compact SUVs are one of the most popular segments in the American car market, and as a compact SUV owner myself (2010 Subaru Outback, what what?), I…