Five star scores awarded but incomplete driver assist suite also noted.

LACK of speed sign recognition software for New Zealand market editions of the Volkswagen ID.4 and ID.5 has affected their scores from the national safety auditor, but hasn’t kept them from achieving the maximum star count.

The five star rating from the Australasian New Car Assessment Programme (ANCAP) for the fully electric cars -  the first here behind the VW badge with the MEB platform that also underpins Skoda Enyaq, Cupra Born and Audi Q4 fare - is also specific to our market, for another reason.

Whether the five-seaters also earn five stars from ANCAP in their Australia market format might well depend on whether the examples selling on the other side of the Tasman pick up a top centre rear seat tether point. 

This feature being absent from the NZ product is why ANCAP’s result announced today as being specific to us.

 The NZ ratings apply to the incoming Pro and Pro Plus variants that are signalled on the VW New Zealand website as being available for delivery from this month. That’s ahead of the original schedule, which cited September as being probable.

The ID range comprises two editions of each, the ID.4 being an SUV with a taller roofline than the Coupe-inspired ID.5. 

Pro and Pro Plus specifications across both body lines are common and all have a 150kW single motor fed by a 77kWh battery. 

The rating spans both derivatives because they are considered similar enough to share a rating.

Initially, ID.5 held a premium over ID.4, but now the price plan has changed, with the Pro editions of each positioning for launch at $79,990, to earn the Government’s now $7015 Clean Car rebate. There’s talk this was VW NZ’s response to Skoda having repositioned the Enyaq, slicing $13,000 from originally cited prices.

The Pro Plus ID.4 and ID.5 are above the $80,000 cut-off for that assistance and retain distance, with the first at $89,990 and other at $94,490.

The scores were assessed under the 2020-2022 protocol, which has since ramped up. Sister organisation Euro NCAP crash tested the cars in that period and it seems ANCAP has made it determinations from having assessed the outcomes of those episodes rather than repeat the tests.

The Volkswagens scored highly in adult occupant protection (93 per cent) and child occupant protection (89 per cent) tests. In Europe, the cars have a speed limit information function that lends ability to read speed signs, but that requires a camera absent from the NZ specification.

ANCAP has altered its scoring to reflect this, with NZ-market cars getting a 76 percent safety score. The cars in Europe achieve 85 percent.

An Adequate level of performance was recorded for the cars’ ability to automatically detect and respond to pedestrians and cyclists. An Adequate level of performance was recorded for active emergency lane-keeping (ELK) functionality, with a Good score recorded for active lane keep assist (LKA).

Nonetheless, Melbourne-based ANCAP has saluted the NZ specification, with chief executive Carla Hoorweg saying it is good to see VW’s new ID models arrive into New Zealand with five-star ANCAP safety ratings.

ANCAP would “encourage Volkswagen to consider including speed limit information functionality in future upgrades, to ensure all buyers are provided with the same level of safety specification as offered in the European market”.

VW New Zealand has not offered any comment about the scores.