2023 Volkswagen ID.4 vs 2022 Toyota 4Runner

Family-hauling, kid-toting three-row SUVs have become the de facto vehicle in most suburban towns. Just look in any mall parking lot, and you’re bound to see countless Honda Pilots and Toyota Highlanders. So ubiquitous are these vehicles, you might forget that the definition of “Sport Utility Vehicle” is actually quite vast, and there are still new examples that have some connection to the segment’s rugged origins.

The model year 2022 Toyota 4Runner is one such example. It may not be optimized for soccer practice or pizza-party duties, but it can certainly handle them. Just as crucially, it can also venture out where these mall-dwelling SUVs dare not go. If two years of a pandemic have taught us anything about ourselves, it's that the ability to get out on an adventure is more relevant than ever, and the 4Runner is one vehicle so-equipped to do it.

The Volkswagen ID.4 electric car is still relatively new to the marketplace (it debuted for the 2021 model year) but VW is already making some important updates to keep it competitive and fulfil goals set when this compact electric SUV first launched.

The 2023 Volkswagen ID.4 adds a new base model and a smaller 62-kilowatt-hour battery pack alongside the carryover 82-kWh to increase affordability. VW will also begin sourcing cars for its North American dealerships from the same Chattanooga, Tennessee, factory that builds the gasoline-powered Atlas and Atlas Cross Sport. The automaker has been discussing this since the ID.4 was unveiled, but at first cars for our market came from Zwickau, Germany.

The 2023 ID.4 retains single-motor rear-wheel drive (RWD) and dual-motor all-wheel drive (AWD) powertrain options, but gets revised exterior and interior styling, some software changes, and a few more standard tech features and driver aids.

The new-for-2023 base model is dubbed simply ID.4, slotting below the ID.4 Pro and ID.4 Pro AWD. We recently spent a day on a test drive with the U.S. equivalent of the ID.4 Pro AWD model, along with a shorter drive in a base ID.4 model.