- In U.S. type, ID.Buzz is bigger, extra highly effective, with worth over $60,000
- As much as 234 miles of EPA vary, from 10-80% in as little as 26 min.
- No bidirectional charging or campervan as of but
The Volkswagen ID.Buzz is among the most head-turning, attention-getting new autos accessible at any worth. And that’s even earlier than some individuals know or care that it’s electrical. That alone is one among a number of the reason why it’s one among Inexperienced Automotive Experiences’ Greatest Automotive To Purchase 2025 finalists—however its attraction and its significance to the market go a lot deeper than that.
VW struck a wise stability between retro and trendy for the ID.Buzz. It’s a smile-maker and nostalgia machine from first take, however spend extra time inside and round and also you’ll discover a deeper appreciation for it. Not solely is it quiet, pleasant-riding, and fairly nimble for a van; it additionally received’t drive you loopy with compromises for the sake of cuteness, in the way in which VW did with its New Beetle. The Buzz, as a substitute, serves up simply the correct quantity of retro-fun on the skin—particularly borrowing the face of the unique ‘50s and ‘60s air-cooled vans, and their two-tone appears to be like—whereas its facet profile and bundle itself says pragmatic Eurovan evolution and inside it’s completely trendy.
However what a lengthy, unusual journey it’s been. VW formally introduced in 2017, at that yr’s Monterey Automotive Week actions in California, that it might be bringing the I.D. Buzz to manufacturing, and we took that, on the time, that this is able to be a mannequin catching onto the waves of California VW Bus nostalgia. Seven years later it’s simply reaching that market after being accessible in Europe for almost two and a half years, and three and a half years after the U.S. arrival of the intently associated ID.4 crossover. How was it not a precedence?
2025 Volkswagen ID.Buzz
For the U.S., the 2025 Volkswagen ID.Buzz has developed, and it solely is available in a three-row type, measuring 195.4 inches lengthy general and driving on a notably lengthy 127.5-inch wheelbase—about a 10-inch stretch versus the two-row model that Europe bought beginning greater than two years in the past. An general top of 76.2 inches will clear most garages, and Its 6.1 inches of floor clearance must be simply sufficient for unpaved trails on the way in which to mountaineering or tenting, however there’s no air-suspension adjustability right here or critical off-road claims.
With that, the ID.Buzz has extra energy within the type arriving to the U.S.—282 hp in single-motor rear-wheel-drive type, or 335 hp mixed in AWD type with twin motors—and it will get a bigger 91-kwh (86-kwh usable) battery pack, good for as much as 234 miles of EPA vary. Highway-trip charging stops shouldn’t preserve you ready very lengthy, with a 10-80% cost in as little as 26 minutes (though there’s no bidirectional charging as of but). The infotainment system is much-improved and comes with a reasonably well-integrated journey planner that may roll with adjustments of plans or new waypoints and well preconditions the battery pack for the quickest cost when wanted.
2025 Volkswagen ID.Buzz
2025 Volkswagen ID.Buzz
2025 Volkswagen ID.Buzz
Our preliminary real-world driving outcomes counsel that the ID.Buzz can outdo these EPA rankings with a light-weight load and gentle climate. Don’t count on it to maintain up with all of right now’s sporty electrical crossovers; it drives heavy (AWD variations weigh almost 6,200 kilos). However with a quiet, well-damped heft, and in dual-motor type its 6.0-second 0-60 mph time is in no way sluggish.
Inside, there may be a variety of flexibility and a few nice seats sized and contoured for adults. However an in depth examination begins to disclose some cracks within the packaging. Its tall console between the entrance seats can carry totally out of the car, and a just-right seat top, loads of bin storage, and an ace electrochromic glass roof in high variations helps the ID.Buzz hit all the best notes for being an incredible different to SUVs. However these within the again seat lack storage for odds and ends, and the ID.Buzz might fail the Individuals’ Cupholder 101 course. Additional, with an uneven ground and a scarcity of true fold-flat third-row seats of the kind you’ll discover in gasoline minivans—or the Lucid Gravity, to indicate it’s attainable in a three-row EV—it’s a combined bag.
2025 Volkswagen ID.Buzz
2025 Volkswagen ID.Buzz
2025 Volkswagen ID.Buzz
2025 Volkswagen ID.Buzz
The opposite query close to and expensive to us is that this: Why is it so costly, and why did it need to be this fashion? The ID.Buzz begins at $61,545, together with the $1,550 vacation spot payment, and it ranges as much as $71,545 in AWD type for the highest 1st Version.
The Buzz relies on the identical Modular Electrical Toolkit (MEB) structure because the ID.4 initially destined for 1,000,000 EVs a yr by 2025. Seeing that VW has likened its transition to EVs to when it needed to shift from air-cooled to water-cooled autos, it looks like a missed alternative of the grandest scale. Right here it’s, some of the iconic shoestring, frame-and-canvas mass-market autos in automotive historical past, and VW is advertising and marketing the fashionable iteration as a luxurious area of interest car, versus the likes of the Rivian R1S or loaded Kia EV9—when it might have been fairly the $45,000 mannequin pushed by a mom lode of VW equipment and conversions for dealerships to please over.
2025 Volkswagen ID.Buzz
To that, there could also be many extra electrical vans on the way in which that enable such flexibility. The extra we ponder the place of the ID.Buzz within the EV market, the extra it looks like a turning level—one during which, very like the counterculture the unique Bus got here to represent, it challenges the form of the longer term.
Does the VW ID.Buzz outshine the opposite 4 Greatest Automotive To Purchase 2025 Finalists? Test again Jan. 6.
