Ever since Volkswagen unveiled the production version of the ID. Buzz, the people have been asking for one thing. Alright, two things if we count more range. The rebirth of the microbus, coinciding with an RV boom, resulted in a prime opportunity for a campervan revival that never really happened. After the American-spec ID. Buzz was put in purgatory for the 2026 model year, it looked like we’d never see what we wanted, at least not from the factory. Well, Volkswagen’s starting to correct course. Not only is the ID. Buzz returning stateside for 2027, it’s bringing a new camper trim with it.
In addition to this new trim, the ID. Buzz gets some general updates for its U.S. market return. The big one is Volkswagen’s latest Android-based infotainment system, which adds updated navigation, top-level access to vehicle settings, and an app store while promising faster response. However, this tech update doesn’t seem to come with real buttons on the steering wheel, and early photos don’t show additional physical controls. On the functionality front, we do know that all 2027 ID. Buzz models get a NACS adapter for use at Tesla Supercharger stations, along with one-pedal driving for those who prefer not to pivot their right foot on more than one axis. Oh, and every single 2027 ID. Buzz sold in America will be two-tone, with a new white-over-red option joining the party.
Right, time for the big news. For 2027, America is getting something called the ID. Buzz Tourer. Let’s temper expectations off the bat—this is not your father’s pop-top Volkswagen van. There’s no integrated roof tent, no range hood, no sink. Instead, it’s more akin to camping, building off the European “Good Night Package.”
When it comes to sleeping arrangements, the ID. Buzz Tourer seems modest but suitable. It comes with a fold-out mattress and a bed platform that appears to go atop the folded rear seats for a level surface. While there’s no word on bedding yet, the Volkswagen-branded pillowcases are quite something, and the little stuffed dog plush shown off in the press photos is cutesy. Since it’s hard to sleep with light shining in your eyes, Volkswagen’s also throwing in a full set of solid, fitted window shades that ought to do both comfort and privacy well.
Speaking of comfort, you’re going to want ventilation in any sort of car camper, and Volkswagen seems to have thought of that. The ID. Buzz Tourer comes with louvered snap-in vents for the front window apertures that ought to keep the rain out, but that’s not all. Upon reaching out to Volkswagen, I learned that the ID. Buzz Tourer will also come with Overnight Mode, which allows for the use of the climate control, USB-C and 12-volt ports, lighting, and pretty much all interior functions when this camper is parked up for the night.
Of course, because camping doesn’t just happen inside a vehicle, the ID. Buzz Tourer comes with a table and chairs for use outside the van, and a trailer hitch for pulling whatever you want, provided it weighs 3,500 pounds at most. An electrochromic panoramic roof is a nice touch for stargazing, and a full camera suite ought to make pulling up to the campsite a little easier.
While the ID. Buzz Tourer isn’t the full-on pop-top camper of our dreams, being able to buy a ready-to-go, fully-warrantied car camper from your local Volkswagen showroom sounds interesting. The only real big question mark is price, which should be revealed later this year when it actually goes on sale.
Top graphic image: Volkswagen
The range remains… unchanged? Why bother?
There are two ID Buzzkills sitting at a dealership in Waterville Maine. Why are they up there? Who was the idiot to order up two of them? I stopped in to look at one and it was pretty useless. Middle seats that didn’t fold, the cargo shelf that blocked anything I’d put in back, no tow hitch or roof rails for accessories. I didn’t even bother to have the sales guy power it up since I hated the capacitive controls. Hard pass from someone who thought VW was fun and affordable when I was young.
Must’ve been a base trim since it didn’t have roof rails…
Outr beVW dealer pulled the back row out of theirs, but wouldn’t let me drive it when I stopped by to take a gander, but at least let me look inside.
I probably looked at it for fifteen or twenty minutes the first time and nobody even came out to bug me, which has never happened at a dealer for me. I saw salespeople wandering around, but they avoided me. The time they opened it up, it was right by the front door.
The dealer probably had to order two ID Busts in order to get more of the hot selling VW model…oh….wait….. yeah, weird, I wonder why they did that?
Price is a big deal. If the stats are the same / similar, this is a low performer for EVs. It’s already drastically overpriced (see sales numbers and ‘gap year’), so there’s not room for another $7000 for two sheets of plywood and a big sponge.
I actually don’t think the price is too much of an issue for this car. Any minivan optioned with the correct amenities (included with the ID Buzz) are $50k+ these days.
I think VW would have a lot more success keeping the price as is and significantly increasing range, rather than lowering the price and keeping the same useless range.
A $45k ID Buzz with the same range is still a just as compromised of a vehicle. A $60k ID Buzz with 400 miles of range and decent (200kW+) fast charging, and I think it’s a more interesting selling prop.
I can’t see how you squeeze 400 mi of range out of something that brick shaped until maybe 2030. I agree some more range would be beneficial though.
Tiny range extender engine in the back?
I agree that adding range while holding the price would be ideal, but I do think price matters. I’m not intimately aware of what these ID Buzz sell for, but we are entering a period where EVs can no longer rely on incentives and optimism, they must legitimately compete.
If your budget is $45,000, it is essentially irrelevant how much better a $60,000 version is- You simply can’t afford it.
VW doesn’t really sell to the demographic that takes out 84month loans to purchase a do-everything vehicle outside their means. Their customers have money and ‘refined taste’ but they are judicious and have a ceiling to how much they will spend on a minivan from what is ultimately a non-luxury brand.
The Buzz is already quite an expensive vehicle. It needs to remain price competitive vs. other higher end minivans for it to even be a legitimate ‘choice’.
This is the one thing Toyota is getting right with their EVs. They may not be the best, but they are the “best EV” Toyota can currently offer at that price point with all the other features their traditional customers want.
The original microbus was for the masses. This at the price point they were before you find many people making that kind of money who want to sleep in their van down by the river.
Have you seen what upfitted Sprinter vans were going for a couple years ago? #vanlife
Makes sense to offer this with a mattress, since I fall asleep every time I see an automotive site fawning over these things.
No kidding. I checked one out in person, and I really wanted one, until I saw how actually bad it was. Then Motor Trend had a minivan comparison test and placed the Sienna and Odyssey both behind the 70k rwd VW.
The hype must have been REAL.
Or the bribes.
Motor Trend has been a PR shill since before I started reading it in the 80s.
Love them for the exclusive first looks and photos though.
Glad that they identified the problem was a lack of a mattress and window shades.
Wouldn’t an automatic-blow-up, um, unblow-down (vacuum-powered) mattress work better? Folds into a tiny box when not in use, could even be taken out of the buzz when not needed for several months at a time.
Someone will make an interlocked plywood kit for this at 25% of whatever VW will charge.
Someone will offer for free the plans you could take to a local maker shop and have your own kit for time+materials.
If this had an old VW camper interior I’d be a lot more interested. This seems like a platform and windowshades, which are both easily DIY-able or commerically available.
SA-WING!
and a miss…
Is it still $70k?
Because nobody is going to buy these at $70k just because it has pillows, curtains, and a plush doggie.
They added more features, plus another year or so of inflation, and, I think, we’re doing the tariff thing again? So, no, it’s not going to still be $70k, but the price isn’t going in the direction you wanted it to
What we really want is a T6 California. Though I’m sure if VW did bother to certify that it would slap a six-figure price tag on it.
My guess is that VW wants to see if the buzz can be a modest success here if it waits out things like tariffs and a downturn in demand for EVs. They sold over 60K of these in Europe last year so it’s not like the id.buzz is a failure. It’s doing quite well in regional markets, which is true of a lot of other EVs.
But it will never truly succeed in the U.S. until VW sorts out its battery selection. The new buzz will get a slightly larger pack, but a vehicle like this, with a huge frontal area, needs a lot more juice. The aerodynamic id.7 gets ~400 miles range with about the same 86kwh battery, but the buzz only gets ~250. This needs the sort of battery pack being used in full-size pickups.
Sorry American buddies, but I’m going to have to say this. It’s just too damn big. If it was 6-8 inches narrower (I’m using freedum units for yer consumption) and 16-18 inches shorter, it would be a pretty practical urban/suburban family vehicle. That and clean up the stupid ergonomics for the driver. Nobody asked for that crap ever. Ever.
The shorter European version already exists, they could have just brought that one here and offered two lengths. But I’m sure it would have sold even fewer units than the regular mega-sized one.
…Unless you mean the shorter version is the one that’s too big, in which case I can only shrug. Europe is teeming with vans of all sizes (unlike the USA). I guess if there is a market for a smaller EV passenger van, then someone will make one.
Personally, as a US resident I would like to see someone, anyone, offer a van that’s smaller than the Sienna/Pacifica. I’m crushed that the 2027 ProMaster City will be longer than those.
You misspelled freedumb.
My buddy just flew to denver from seattle to get the RWD one at 17K off sticker. None of the local dealers would budge on their price.
Sorry but this is stupid. I live in what is surely ground zero ( SF Bay Area ) where scads of rich old hippies should have jumped all over this thing. I’ve seen 2 total. Because the things are overpriced, have a remarkably unremarkable interior and costs $70k. Its a bad product. And “bringing it back” when it flopped so badly isn’t going to solve anything.
There’s gotta be at least seven or eight people to whom this van appeals at that price point and driving range.
The biggest problem wasn’t that the range sucked. The biggest problem was that it was electric and had an inflated price. And what did VW do? Add an even more expensive version to the mix. NO ONE WILL BUY AN ELECTRIC OVERLANDER. Good luck VW.
You can if you are like my parents. They just camped at the Thousand Trails 20 minutes from their house lol.
I was going to go camping 20 minutes from my home, but then I remembered that the house has functioning plumbing, a nice bed, and air conditioning. Also, I have a fire pit in the back yard, so s’mores all around.
I know right? No jerks firing up a Jenny at 2AM either.
Backyard camping scratches a lot of that itch to be outside. Camp till it’s not fun anymore then your own bed is but a few seconds away.
Er, unless the definition has shifted far faster than I can believe, no one would possibly consider the Buzz as an “overlander.” It’s a paved roads camper, and I’ve never seen anything from VW that could reasonably be interpreted as even shrugging in the overlanding direction.
A lot of peoples definition of overlanding is visiting places on paved roads. Didn’t say it was mine, but a lot of peoples.
Being able to use the climate control at night sounds really cool, but the price before all these features was already a wee bit verrückt! You could buy a really nice Westfalia with a subaru conversion and still have like 30k for hotels for when your partner remembers how fun van camping is.
-proud (when it starts) westy owner
They bombed this launch so badly its not even funny. 300 mile range and a $50-60k price would have killed it.
I like VW but man they are screwed. Tariffs, rising labor costs, lackluster products, and increasing competition from China on EVs. And to answer all these issues (and more) what exciting new product comes out? A boutique mini camper (sort of) built on a struggling platform saddled with minimal range and an (almost guaranteed) boutique price tag. Yeah, this was the right answer. They will probably sell about 30 of these.
VW dealers just all over the world just collectively reached for their TUMS.
They messed this one up and nothing will save it save for a 50% slash in price.
Good enough is good enough. I only want space to lay down flat and not have to ball up to fit. I will go look at one and then walk away when I see the wild price.
Too expensive, EV only with crap range and too expensive.
And assuming still lackluster range and power? If this was either quick (which it isn’t) or had better range it would be cool but yeah it is neither.
Still ID.Buzz? I thought VW was jettisoning that clunky convention. Why not something like VanEgon instead?
Brand recognition, obviously…
At least then they would have a built-in audience of Ghostbusters fans.
They’ll sell dozens of them!
That may actually be optimistic…..
This is gonna become the “Teenage Fuckmobile”, cause given the range, it’s never getting “slept in” any meaningful distance from home.
Haha, I had a non-zero number of friends in high school who achieved intermediate teenaged independence by being allowed to sleep in a conversion van or RV somewhere on their parents’ property.
Every single one of them was having sex in said vehicle.
my mom traded the conversion van for a corolla when I was 15, I was sad. Luckily the 69 Galaxie 500 had a big back seat.
Look, if my parents didn’t want me having sex in their cars, they should’ve drove something other than a minivan and an SUV.
I also may or may not have done the deed on the hood of a roommate’s car (we all hated him).
The Nash for the 21st century
Though, I guess, conversion vans have also been around all along
If the VeeDubs a rockin…
I mean, VW themselves have encouraged that sort of tomfoolery
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYDrq24Xnbc
Hahaha, I totally missed this ad
1969 Ford Ranger with a canopy. Single cab with an 8 foot bed. Went camping, too,,
So close yet so far (probably literally given the short range… I couldn’t even drive this damn thing halfway across my state, much less the country).
If this was a hybrid, EREV, or ICE I would be very interested. I might even be interested if it had a legit 300-mile 70 mph highway range. I wouldn’t even complain about a $75k+ price tag.
VW is killing me. This is close to my dream car, if it weren’t for the Leaf-esque range. It feels like VW is taunting me at this point.
All that and no third row with 3 seats. This thing is almost there.
I can’t imagine that most people need to carry 8 people.
If you’re shopping for vans, I’m sure a decent-sized third row is a requirement a majority of the time.
I don’t think it’s so much the total capacity as it is the arrangement. The 2-3-2 layout for 7 is pretty Euro in vans while 2-2-3 layout has long been preferred by US buyers. A 3-across 3rd row would still give it seating for 7 with the 2nd row captain’s chairs, even if that 7th seat is tighter.
I’d be fine with the bench, but I know a lot of families prefer buckets to separate kids + allow the pass through to the 3rd row.
tbh, it feels like for my whole life VW has been on the verge of greatness, but is held back by a single foolish failure point or design decision.
They would closer to greatness if they started making products that didn’t have problems before the 50k mark.
They and Audi are the poster child for brands you’d like to lease but hate to own.
Yes I would consider getting an EREV version of one. Hell they will have a Scout EREV power plant they can use by that point.