Hard to believe that just a few short years ago, electric vehicles were decidedly a second-tier market. EVs had historically been overpriced, cheaply built, and extremely underpowered. Even after Tesla had come onto the scene, and proven that an EV could actually be desirable – and fast – the big OEMs still spent a number of years convinced that it was the batteries that made EVs desirable, and that a warmed-over golf cart was more than good enough.

But now that Tesla has gone on to become one of world’s most valuable companies, the big OEMs have finally gone all-in on EVs and have begun to craft electrified vehicles that are genuinely compelling, if not outright lust-worthy.

Two of the biggest mainstream brands – Volkswagen and Ford – have recently released EVs that try to straddle that line of being a premium piece of tech, while also being a mass-market vehicle. We sampled VW’s ID.4 and Ford’s Mustang Mach-E, and while they share some obvious similarities, they offer two distinctly different experiences.

Volkswagen ID.4 AWD PRO S

We’re doing our best to avoid hackneyed clichés saying that the ID.4 is the people’s electric vehicle. But just as with the original Beetle, one could say that Volkswagen’s ID.4 offers only what you need, and nothing you don’t.

Photos certainly don’t do a good job of representing the true nature of the ID.4. In pictures, it presents as an SUV. We mean, the splash image for the ID.4 press site shows it towing a dirt bike. Granted, it’s just one dirt bike on a light-duty trailer, but VW is obviously trying to position the ID.4 as “rugged” and “capable.”

But the ID.4 itself is actually kind of small. Its exterior footprint is no larger than a midsize sedan, and it doesn’t really ride any higher than a normal car, either. The ID.4 is as much as an SUV as the Nissan Juke, so do with that information what you will.

Much like Doctor Who’s TARDIS, the ID.4’s small-ish exterior hides a spacious interior. Thanks to that EV packaging putting all the bulky stuff out of the way, there’s plenty of room in all dimensions for all passengers. The dash is extremely minimal, and the greenhouse massive, which only adds to the ID.4’s open and airy feeling.

Power: 201 hp, 229 lb-ft. torque / Range: 249 miles / MSRP: $48,175

Mustang Mach-E

Hopefully by now all that “not-a-real-Mustang” talk has subsided, as Ford’s latest EV is definitely deserving of that “Mustang” name.

Let’s talk about that shape: Ford tried to put modern Mustang design cues onto a Coke-bottle-shaped crossover. It’s not the most photogenic of machines, but looks a hell of a lot better when viewed in person. It’s smaller than you’d think, too, though that skateboard-like EV platform does force the Mach-E to have a tall, CUV-like ride height.

But that “Mustang-ness” comes from its powertrain; you get 290 electric ponies driving the rear wheels. And since this is an EV and all, you get all 317 lb-ft of torque from 0 rpm. Ford claims that the Mustang Mach-E will run from 0-60 in just a hair over 6 seconds. Opt for the GT version, and that 0-60 time drops to an insane 3.5 seconds.

So yeah, save for a couple extra doors and a usable frunk, the Mach-E is as performance-minded as any Mustang gets – at least where straight-line performance is concerned. That it’s actually usable for day-to-day errands just makes it that much more appealing.

Power: 290 hp, 317 lb-ft torque / Range: 305 miles / MSRP: $51,500

So, which one to get?

This one is easy to answer, but let’s first talk about what both vehicles do well.

Both the VW ID.4 and Mustang Mach-E make a strong case for EVs in general. Both vehicles exhibit high levels of refinement in the powertrain, the driving experience, and the overall fit and finish. Both VW and Ford are aggressively going after Tesla’s “premium” market space, and have built vehicles that are worthy of their higher-than-expected (for the brand) prices.

Both vehicles also highlight the performance potential of the EV. They feel like normal cars under normal settings; but switch things over to “sport” (or, uh, “unbridled” in the Mustang), and these cars will smoke just about anything you line up against at the stoplight. Having all that torque immediately available from 0 rpm means that these things launch hard, yet effortlessly. Speed builds quickly, and you’re breaking the speed limit before you realize what’s happening. And both vehicles do well in the twisty stuff thanks to a combination of intelligent torque vectoring and having all that battery weight placed down low. And since it’s all happening so quietly, no one – not even the police – will pay you any mind.

Yeah, but which one to get?

Oh, yeah. Get the Mustang Mach-E.

VW has built a solid EV with the ID.4, but in their attempt to copy the “disruption” model of tech companies, they disrupted the wrong thing.

At the end of the day, both the VW ID.4 and Ford Mustang Mach-E are passenger vehicles. These are two-ton vehicles travelling on public roads at high rates of speed. The weakest link in both cars is the driver, and only VW made their controls practically unusable by said driver.

Looks great. Good luck figuring it all out.

There’s no definitive “off” or “on” modes for the ID.4; just “sleep” and “wake” that leaves you hoping you have things on when you need to drive, and off when you need to leave things parked. All controls are capacitive-touch units that don’t offer any sort of feedback to let you know if you, say, actually turned your headlights off… after the center display tells you repeatedly to do so. Having to press multiple buttons to roll the rear windows up or down isn’t the most convenient. And the fact that the ID.4’s capacitive buttons don’t light up means that, if you want to turn off the heater while driving down the freeway at night, you’re taking your eyes off the road to dig through several menus as you attempt to find the screen that controls the climate.

In practice, this is way more user-friendly.

Granted, the Mustang Mach-E also uses a touchscreen for most features, but the “off” button turns the car off, and the lights are controlled via a physical dial. Even the stuff tied to the touchscreen – like the climate controls – are always on the main screen, easily accessible and, more importantly, easier to access while keeping your eyes on the road.

So really, the “best” car of the two really comes down to who has the better UI, and right now, that’s Ford.

Ford Mustang Mach 1

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