My criteria:
-No fake leather seats (this is surprisingly hard to avoid in most mainstream EVs on the market. You either get the stripper model w/ cloth seats or you are forced to get vinyl (ok "vegan leather" if you prefer)
-No 4 cylinders. Prefer EV or a 6. Goes without saying, but no CVTs.
-Net price under 50k to leave room in my budget for an eventual used Porsche.
-Hatchback (could be an actual hatchback, wagon or crossover)
-adaptive cruise contorl
-adustable lumbar support (missing on all the stripper EVs with cloth interiors)
With tax credits, it seems like I could get the higher powered AWD version of the Q4 with all the options I'd want in the mid 40s. It's still slow by modern EV standards (0-60 in 5.8), but realistically that's totally fine. Most reviews seem favorable in terms of ride/handling balance and comfort.
Pros:
-Looks are fine. Not my favorite, but not terrible either. I actually think the ID4 looks a little better, but that car has mandatory fake leather (as do the Mach E and Ioniq 5)
-Good amount of room/practicality given the relatively small exterior footprint.
-Able to stay under 50k net.
-Actual climate controls (not screen or capacative touch based)
-Seems to have reasonable ergonomics, storage, etc.
-Can get it with an actual opening sunroof with a shade. I'm not a fan of the "put a big piece of glass in the roof with no shade" trend that seems to be prevalent amongst most EVs
Cons:
-I dont love compact crossovers as a genre... but I'm kind of getting over that.
-Somewhat lackluster peak fast charging rate ( Think it's like 125 kw or something). Realistically, we probably only do about 1k a year worth of longer distance driving though.
-I've kind of grown to like cooled seats-- can't get those on the q4. To be fair, I dont think any of the mainstream EVs offer those either.
If I could get over the grille, the i4 40i might be a better choice (prefer the hatchback/wagon form to a crossover if possible). Looks like that could squeak in at just over 50k net if I was careful with options. But...I probably can't get over the grille.
The only upcoming EVs that seem potentially more interesting to me are VW group's "PPE" models (Macan EV, A6 etron, possibly an A5 EV eventually)... but those will all be well over 50k and years away. Of course a Taycan CT would be the ulimate choice but it'll be quite some time before they depreciate down to 50k. And I'm still tempted enough by that car to possibly say "screw it" and spend my entire car budget on one.
I'm sure i'm overlooking something though...