Volkswagen ID Buzz Car Review

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…the Volkswagen ID Buzz is the manufacturer’s all-electric successor to the Transporter with styling that harks back to the early VW campers. As with the Transporter, the Buzz can be specified as either a van or as an MPV with five seats and a huge boot. There’s a longer wheelbase version coming that will also offer a seven-seat option. The ID Buzz uses the same electrical underpinnings that most of its other EVs use; that’s a 204hp motor linked to a battery with a usable capacity of 77kWh.

The people carrying version we’ve tested comes in two trim levels:

Life
Style

Standard equipment on the Life includes 19-inch alloys, heated front seats, heated multi-function steering wheel, cloth interior, 60-40 split-folding rear seats, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, satnav, wireless charging, seven USB sockets, removable central storage box, heated washer nozzles, heated windscreen, auto wipers and lights, two-zone climate control, adaptive cruise control, keyless entry and start, lane assist, parking assist, parking sensors, rear view camera and 10-inch infotainment touchscreen.

Style trim adds front seat arm rests, uprated interior trim, luggage net, 20-inch alloys, boot divider system, powered tailgate, LED matrix headlights and auto high-beam assist.

Is The Volkswagen ID Buzz Suitable For My Fleet

With the demise of the humble MPV as buyers flock to SUVs, the ID Buzz reintroduces a way of carrying five adults and all their luggage in an attractive package. With three proper rear seats it’s even possible to fit three child seats. The boot is a huge 1,121 litres which is plenty for holidays (read about our charging experience here). Thee split floor divider that’s standard on the Style is really useful, even though it’s bolted in and can’t easily be removed.

What’s less useful is the real-world range of the ID Buzz. The official range of 258 miles is optimistic, especially if you’re travelling at 70mph. In dry, warm (20degC) conditions we saw 2.8 m/kWh, but when it was raining and slightly cooler (14degC) this dropped back to 2.1m/kWh. As a result we averaged 2.5m/kWh which on the 77kWh battery would give a real-world range of 193 miles. Not great for a car that is designed for road-trips.

Leasing A Volkswagen ID Buzz

Intelligent Car Leasing is offering the ID Buzz in Style trim on a 3+36 contract with 20,000 miles a year for £897 a month. As with most electric cars, the running costs are lower than petrol or diesel cars and Gensen Reports predicts £60 a month for the ID Buzz. Class 1A NIC is also an attractive £13 a month.

Driving A Volkswagen ID Buzz

While styling is always subjective, the look of the ID Buzz didn’t draw any criticism for the week we had the car on test. Still being quite rare on Britain’s roads it attracted a lot of attention and several people simply wondered over to look at the car when it was parked up.

The interior too is worthy of praise. The design is clean, uncluttered and the materials used are more interesting and varied than most cars today. However, our car was showing signs of wear on some of the lighter dashboard materials.

One design failure is the lack of ventilation for rear-seat passengers. The side windows don’t open and there’s no vents for the aircon either. An odd omission in a car that’s designed to carry people with ease.

Updates to the VW Group infotainment software have made it more useable than it was initially, but not perfect. We also had a few connection issues with Apple CarPlay and a temporary failure of the automatic wipers.

On the road the ID Buzz has great visibility thanks to a high driving position and a very short front bonnet. This aspect also helped manoeuvrability.

There are driving modes, but you’re mostly likely to just stick with Comfort as there’s not much difference (in either efficiency or performance) when you switch to Sport or Eco.

The VW ID Buzz doesn’t have full one-pedal driving, but the regeneration level at maximum comes close.

Overall the driving experience and suspension set up has been judged just right for a large MPV. Body roll is very well controlled yet the car’s still comfortable.

If we’d improve anything it would be the brake pedal initial ‘bite’ and feel, which could offer more confidence.

On the motorway the Buzz is refined and stable and, again, that high driving position give great forward visibility.

One other aspect to consider with the ID Buzz for those using public charging is the top-hinged bootlid. We’re in favour of charge ports being at the back of cars – so you plug-in after reversing up to a charger – but if you do this at a public charge station, you can’t then open the boot. However, we’re not sure of a solution other than longer charge cables or side-on charging.

FleetandLeasing.com Verdict On The Volkswagen ID Buzz

Likeable, stylish and voluminous five-seat MPV. If it was more efficient and had a greater range we’d like it even more.