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Live Pics: VW ID. Life Looks Like a German Reinterpretation of the Honda E

The Honda E was never going to be a sales success and not because it's not a good car, but simply because it was severely overpriced. Honda knew it couldn't come up with a competitive EV in terms of range and price, so it very cleverly decided to offer something that was desirable for completely different reasons.
Volkswagen ID. Life concept live at the IAA Mobility 2021 65 photos
Photo: Stefan Baldauf / Guido ten Brink
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Well, the ID. Life takes that same recipe, runs through a bit of sauerkrout, takes advantage of Volkswagen advancement compared to Honda in the field of EVs, and promises to turn it into a slightly larger urban crossover with decent characteristics and, more importantly, a starting price of €20,000 (about $23,700).

By this point, especially if you live in Europe, you might be getting a bit overexcited. And that's precisely what Volkswagen wants. There are, however, a few things to consider. First, the fact the ID. Life is only just a concept. Remember how the concept that previewed the ID.3 looked and what the production version ended up like? Pretty similar, yes, and yet a lot tamer and more mundane at the same time.

Applying the same filter for the ID. Life means you should only be looking at the shape and proportions. Still like what you see? Then you've cleared hurdle number one. Let's move on to number two, so to speak.

The 20,000-euro price tag only refers to an entry-level version whose specs and performance we don't know yet. However, we do know that one fitted with a 57 kWh battery pack will have a maximum range of 250 miles (kind of underwhelming) and a 0-62 mph acceleration of 6.9 seconds (not bad, but ultimately irrelevant for what is supposed to be a city dweller). The only way for the specs of the base version is obviously down, which is hardly encouraging.

Unlike the other EVs Volkswagen made on its MEB platform so far, the ID. Life will have its motor mounted at the front. That translates into a larger trunk, but also the likelihood that we will never see a dual-motor version to go with its slightly rugged crossover looks. But if we said acceleration performance wasn't relevant, the same should be said about an all-wheel-drive feature.

The real good news about the ID. Life is that it looks pretty much production ready. Ignore the few flamboyant bits and you can clearly see an affordable Volkswagen EV in there. As for the yoke... let's just hope the Musk-Diess friendship doesn't start to spawn any monsters.
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About the author: Vlad Mitrache
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"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie)
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