As I think I’ve made clear, I’m pretty conflicted when it comes to the Volkswagen ID.Buzz, the modern electric reinterpretation of the iconic Type 2 Microbus. When I reviewed it early last year, I found it to be a very appealing and capable family/friends road trip vehicle that was sadly hamstrung by its lack of range. That ham could be unstrung if it were, say, a hybrid instead of a pure battery EV. Well, VW has announced an update to their funky electric van, and I’m delighted to say that this update changes (reads press release) um, none of my main issues.
That’s not to say the update doesn’t change things for the better, because it absolutely does! For starters, it continues VW’s laudable effort to get back to real, non-maddening physical controls. This update replaces the annoying, flat haptic buttons on the steering wheel with physical buttons, though the flat, touch-based controls for audio volume and climate control under the screen are still the same, to, I’d imagine, nobody’s delight.
There is also a nice bump in power for the dual-motor ID.Buzz Pro 4Motion trim level, which now meets the fast GTX variant in power at 335 hp. That’s about 10 times the power of, say, a 1955 Microbus, if you were curious. Towing capacity goes up to 3,968 pounds, but for the long-wheelbase one we got here in the US, that drops to 3,527 pounds. Not that there’s any announcement that we’re getting this updated ID.Buzz in the US, because there isn’t.
The updated Buzz will also have the ability to provide electrical power instead of just consuming it, with a new vehicle-to-load capability that provides up to 2 kW of power, so you can charge or run things like e-bikes or personal massagers or belt sanders or electroplating machines or whatever. That’s handy!
VW’s Level 2 driver assist system now recognizes and properly reacts to traffic lights, and regenerative braking now adds a one-pedal driving feature for those of you too busy or cool to touch a brake pedal.
VW has also updated the infotainment system, and I care so little about that I’m just going to quote the press release here:
Infotainment with new services: The new Innovision infotainment system will also be used in the ID. Buzz. A new app store is integrated into the system, which allows functions and services to be activated or expanded digitally, flexibly and on a vehicle-specific basis. Just like with a smartphone, popular apps are available for download here – covering audio to video streaming, parking, charging and gaming. Operation of the ID. Buzz is further improved by a multifunction steering wheel with newly designed buttons.
Ooh, Innovision! I had friends who had those as a kid! They had good sports games!
Oh wait, that’s Intellivision. Never mind.
It’s unlikely that America will get these somewhat-updated 2026 ID.Buzzes. VW is “to welcome model year 2027 in 2026,” but there won’t be new ID.Buzz buses brought here for the 2026 model year. So, too bad, I guess. But hopefully the ’27 one will really address this interesting but flawed machine. I’d really like to see VW get this right.
I’m too cool to touch an icky brake pedal. I mean, who knows where it’s been?
“We made the updates you asked for and you can’t have them” is fucking wild.
I normally argue that the range is acceptable. However, I can’t make the math, math with this thing.
I do a conservative calculation this way.
Time between stops = 2 hours
Average Speed = 75 miles
Required range between recharges = 150 miles
Assume you stop at 20% and recharge to 80%, this means the range has to be 250 miles.
The ID.Buzz 238 mile range is below my minimum and it gets worse. Because the drag is high because of the shape, real world mileage at highway speed is closer to 200 miles.
If this van had a rated range of 300+ (so 250+ at highway speeds), then it would be an interesting vehicle for American consumers that would use such a vehicle for road-trips… if it was capable of it.
I like the improvements, especially the true one pedal driving. Hopefully they make a few more for the 2027 model year.
I would also like to see a dark royal purple as an option for the lower half.
I still want this as my next car since I find myself wedging between two car seats too often whenever we have five in the car. But I expect that my wife will end up with a Model YL since that’s likely to be a much better value than the ID.Buzz.
Do you still have to dismantle exterior bodywork to change the freakin’ cabin air filter? That would almost annoy me more than the crappy range.
Still needs more range and a cheaper price. Even among EVs, it’s a poor performance/value proposition.
So est nien on das Furherbusen fur Amerika eh?
Let’s see, how many have I seen in the wild here in their last, best and most likely place to find buyers: Calif?
One.
Exactly one. It was red und white und vas driven by, you’ll never guess, an elder gray beard with a flat cap.
And I done saw it just this week!
So the market is really starting to open up for these things, don’t you think?
The bizarre-est thing about VW’s van, is the first “new/retro/modern” concept arrived in TWO THOUSAND ONE. 2001. Then there was another, the Bulli in 2011, AND ANOTHER in 2016, and now it’s still developing, to become truly desirable. I am a 5x van owner. Love them. The Buzz is so oddly incompetent, for how achingly long (25 years!) it’s been in development.
Great description of modern VW.
it’s literally the worst minivan you can buy but it gets a pass because “vw bus / van” nostalgia and EV.
I don’t know that anyone is giving this thing a pass, consumers or journalists. The Buzz has been justly maligned for many, many documented shortcomings.
Hey, Mattel Intellivision! Eons ago, I worked for a company that, among other things, did the programming for turning arcade video games into Intellivision games. Somewhere, sitting rent free in a corner of my brain, is the music and noises for Burger Time.
Can’t wait for them to make it a CUV!
Unless they lowered the price or seriously bumped up the range I don’t see any way a small change could fix the ID Buzz here. It’s just… not good enough.
Well here we go again. They name it the ID Dot Buzz but they call it ID Buzz.
Just drop the dot already.
I’DBuzz
VW probably should never have tried to sell this here. I really like how it looks, but the range was never going to be adequate for US distances and US charging infrastructure. It was bound to be a disappointment to those of us who wanted a modern VW hippy van road trip vehicle and got an expensive commuter car. I think this is probably the most disappointing vehicle released in my lifetime, at least compared to expectations.
This would be incredibly cool as an EREV, though. I know an EREV VW hippy van mini camper is never going to happen, but I want one anyway.
They’ve pretty much solved all of this car’s drawbacks, except the fatal one: range.
I don’t even think the price is that outrageous if the range/charging tech was up to today’s standards (300-350 highway miles and under 15 min 10-80%).
yeah if you don’t need the diminutive 3rd row the ford lightning and silverado EVs are MUCH better and probably cheaper.
“diminutive”… you keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
The 3rd row seats were literally too large for FMVSS! The leg room is also on par with or, depending on seat sliding positions, can exceed the massive 2nd row.
It can comfortably fit 6 humans all above 6′ tall with none of them touching each other or the seatback in front of them, and with their legs and knees at comfortable heights. A Suburban has a more compromised third row than this (though it does get you 3 seats back there, which would be a welcome change). The ridiculous interior volume and 3rd row space is possibly the best thing the Buzz has going for it.
With that said the Silverado EV Extended or Max Range would be a better road trip vehicle, though the 2024 MY would scare the crap out of me for reliability reasons, and it’s at least 2000 lbs heavier than a Buzz.
The Lightning probably isn’t an improvement over the Buzz on most road trips. The charge curve appears to be worse overall and it’s less efficient, so each charging stop is going to be slower and net you less range. The Silverado standard range version also has less favorable charge rates due to its inability to charge at 800V like the ER.
The Koreans are working on versions that will satisfy. They listen better.
I know VW loaned Ford a platform for its benighted attempted to give the UK a new Capri, but did Ford give VW some switchgear as well? That steering wheel looks right out of 10s Ford.
Still just an entirely different vehicle using an iconic name. I think the marketing people don’t get that if use the iconic name people are going to expect at least some connections and if not you ruin the legacy of the old marques and destroy the potential of the new vehicle that may be great but doesn’t follow the narrative
Unless they drastically reduce the price, these updates mean nothing. This thing is WAY too expensive for what it is.
Didn’t you just recently ID a buzz en route to Lemons? Yeah that 2 cylinder 28hp. would probably run a generator, doesn’t take up much space.
As of now, I have seen one of these in the wild. I see it a few times per week since he’s local, but it’s the same van.
I’ll see 3-5 Ineos Grenadiers between sightings of that id.buzz.
I live in Indianapolis and have saw multiple Grenadiers and like you I have only saw one ID.Buzz on the road. I do have a buddy whose parents also have one but I’ve never seen it in person.
I’m just south of you and can confirm…saw an ID.Buzz last week, but I’ve seen three Grenadiers.
I had a stopover in Frankfurt and met up with a friend there. He works peripherally with VW and gets some sort of employee lease deal, so has been driving their cars for years. He has two teenage kids. He told me he was just about to get a new vehicle. I asked him if he was considering the buzz. He said “no, too big”. It’s a different world outside ‘Murica…
NEWSFLASH
Volkswagen tells US: Buzz off.
I don’t think the biggest issue with the ID.Buzz is that it’s an EV. It’s just a sucky car:
Put any motive force you want in that, even vaporware fake AI rockets from Dreame, it’s still going to suck.
And like most EVs, it’s way too expensive for what it is.
I have said from the beginning hybrid is the answer EVs aren’t ready. I was ridiculed and haranger told I didn’t know what I was talking about.
Physics can not be denied. EV battery even with a gasoline generator takes up more room than an ICE motor and transmission
I’ve driven my buzz 12k miles since last June. I also have an Alfa with a built Busso, engine swapped MK1 pickup, manual Alltrack. Love the Buzz
1) you can move the middle and rear seats up if you want more cargo space in the rear
2) you can’t get 7 seats on any AWD models because of GVWR. You can get 7 seats on top trim (we have top trim 7 seater). The AWD GVWR + 7 seats thing is unfortunate result of BEV weight in an ID.4 platform I think
3) we drive 90-120mi a day range has never been an issue. Fast charging is easy. Agree that range isn’t competitive. It’s a huge vehicle
4) you mean in the second row? There’s an accessory but it’s an odd choice by VW. Plenty of cup holders elsewhere
5) what? 2nd row has flush glass on exterior so to keep that the sliding windows make sense. They are full height from inside and half the width. The glass on exterior is mostly for style as the window opening is much smaller
Were you actually in the market for a minivan? We have driven thousands of miles in the competitors and we liked this best
Doesn’t suck at all. What do you drive?
Yes, we were in the market for a minivan as we were hoping to get something more reliable than our Pacifica PHEV. Ended up going down a size and getting an Escape PHEV.
The floor is not above the lip of the hatch. There is a removable shelf to split the cargo area in two. You can put stuff below it in the bins they provide.
The window isn’t style over substance. They engineered a window opening size and that’s what you get. The fact that they added extra glass for style is immaterial
Ford Escape PHEV is a very compromised family car compared to a Buzz. You could have bought a Buzz and removed the rear seats and had a much larger and more convenient car. It sort of makes me doubt that you were seriously considering a Buzz given your sour grapes comment, but maybe you were
Too bad the Pacifica wasn’t reliable. We had two Pacifica PHEVs and zero issues on either. The Buzz is a lot better for a large family, but I miss our Pacifica!
Will second all this. We have 11k on ours and the glitches/infotainment quirks haven’t really been any worse than most other new cars I’ve used… it’s on par with the UConnect 5 system in our Ram, and the built-in nav is actually pretty solid, aside from still showing a restaurant in our town that closed ~20 years ago. Plus CarPlay! suck on that GM!
Ours is the base RWD model and the only higher end trim features I really want are the flip-up tow hitch (for bike rack) and the two-tone paint job (well really just my kids want that last one… I like the solid black look). The AWD seems like a bad choice for most since it loses the RWD version’s great turning radius (helpful given the long wheelbase) and adds weight but if you live up a steep dirt road or are constantly getting stuck in snowbanks then go for it. It’s still PLENTY fast for a brick.
The range thing is something everyone has to figure out for themselves, if you’re new to EVs it’s a little scary and not up to par with some smaller EV offerings, but in practice it really hasn’t posed any issues. If you’re taking multiple 600+ mile trips every year it may not be the right vehicle for you (especially if they’re in cold weather), but having done a couple in that range since buying it, it’s actually fine. The max charging rate isn’t flashy, but it has a really solid charge curve so on a good fast charger it gets the job done by the time our kids and dog have finished snacking and relieving themselves.
MSRP was also way too high, but at the $10-15k discount the remaining new stock gets, I’d say it’s just right.
The whole “make it an EREV” thing is a great idea, but I think everyone needs to be realistic about the fact that they’re probably going to be more expensive than the comparable EV versions. I see so many comments here about every EV that say “make it an EREV, and $20k less expensive” which is a little silly… if they could have done that profitably, I’m pretty sure they would have! Big EVs just have shitty economics for automakers at the moment, though hopefully EREVs can offer a good compromise… we just haven’t seen any evidence in the US that it can be done affordably.
Oh also, regarding the windows, I’ll say the rear windows are fine, kinda cute, we don’t let our kids use their rear windows much since they’re stupid and will throw stuff out them, so I can’t say I understand the interest in a bigger window, but I’m sure people have reasons! Also I think it’s maybe due to the size of the cabin, but any open windows are likely to lead to the WOMWOMWOM air pulsation effect, and if the rears are opened you definitely need the front open above 30 mph. I’m not sure bigger rear glass would have helped there.
Base RWD is the way to go in my opinion. We went first edition RWD with some money off MSRP.
The window buffeting is really bad haha. Haven’t quite figured it out yet. Also would argue that your kids are smart and throwing stuff out but that’s exactly why ours stay closed lol.
I totally get Jason’s criticism but it’s sort of a niche vehicle (which to his point is against the ethos of a people’s car). The things buzz owners complain about are the charge door locking, the squeaky brakes, the window noise, and little stuff like that
VW missed the bus on it by not localizing production in Chattanooga. They were a little too literal in recreating the Bus down to importing it. Localizing probably would have knocked off $5k or so. No ocean shipping plus cheaper American labor. Plus likely opening it up for buyers to claim the old tax credit when it launched. The lease loophole might not have been known widely to customers. All of a sudden a $65k car becomes a $52.5k car. That would have been firmly in the middle of the EV prices. And VW would have probably sold more than a dozen. I wanted one but when they delayed it and it wasn’t eligible for the tax credit I ended up with a different vehicle.
There has to be a reason they didn’t. Maybe they had empty production lines outside the US but all US lines were full. Or maybe thsy didn’t want to piss off the works council. I don’t know but surely VW thought this through right?
VW made a self-fulfilling prophecy about the Buzz here. They dipped their toes into the market with an expensive and mediocre product. It didn’t sell here because it was expensive and mediocre. Then they pulled it due to lack of sales. If they had committed to making it here and made more than ten, dealers wouldn’t have been able to mark them up because the dealers would have had to compete.
VW named their infotainment after Frozen Chinese food? Oh wait, that’s InnovAsian. Now I want some Orange chicken. Nothing to see here, move along. These aren’t the busses you’re looking for.
Sorry, Orange Chicken move to White House.
You can call him Orange and you would be right but chicken is not even 1% applicable.
TACO word salad. Nobody’s ever seen anything like it.
I like innovasian but the general tsaos and a box of chicken fried rice microwave both at the same time for 10 minutes and you got 2 good meals for $8 a piece