Volkswagen ID Buzz 2024 Review

2024 Volkswagen ID Buzz Review -  Is the Id Buzz a new Volkswagen Electric van that is nothing like anything else out there right now. And it's Excellent! I'm going to tell you all about it in this review.

 G'day my name's  Joy this website is called the Right Car and the Volkswagen Id Buzz could be right for you. If you're after a fully electric family vehicle and you're gonna have a pretty sizable budget to play with, Well we'll get to the pricing details in this review.

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Volkswagen ID Buzz price

2025 Volkswagen ID.Buzz Pricing. We expect the Volkswagen ID. Buzz to start at around $50,000.

Volkswagen Australia hasn't confirmed anything in terms of pricing and specifications for this model only to say that it will be about the equivalent of what you might expect to pay for a very highly spec multivan. well maybe a bit more than that. So up to about a hundred thousand bucks there's going to be a five-seat version which is this one here and a long wheelbase one as well with three rows of seats and it's going to have a fair amount of standard specification, lots of safety technology and look I reckon it's going to come really really well equipped. things like full Led lighting, big 21 inch alloy wheels there's a 12 inch touchscreen media system with Apple carplay, Android Auto Sat Nav The version that we're driving here has heated seats and there's plenty of other really great spec as well. It does seem to stack up although it is going to be a little bit pricey so just be aware of that.

What are the best alternatives?

There is no other Ev5 seat van on sale in Australia, so that makes this pretty unique. but there are some really good Alternatives that are very practical. So let me tell you the three that I would recommend you check out.

First one it's pretty obvious One Tesla Model Y it is an Suv, not like a van like this. It is very very practical because it's got a massive boot it's got plenty of space inside it's also got a front boot a front which does make it even more practical. 

Good spot to store your cables and stuff like that. This car doesn't have that but also it's uh well a bit more common so it might not be right for you if you want something that is going to stand out just a little bit more like this car does. Now there's going to be a three row version of this as well a long wheelbase one but if you are interested in a big Suv that's electric, check out the Kia Ev9, it's interesting looking it's not going to be to everyone's taste but it's got some really clever practicality tricks on the inside three rows of seats and it really does seem like a very interesting option if that does appeal to you.

Okay so what else is there? Well if you do need an electric van then you should be checking out the Ldv Mifa 9 it's A fully electric three-row van with plenty of nice stuff on the inside. I drove the petrol one and it was pretty good. The Ev I haven't driven but it's more than a hundred thousand bucks. So it's not going to suit everyone's budget Tell me which you would pick in the comments section below.

Is it the right size?

This car is smaller than it looks. I mean it is quite tall I'm 182 centimeters or six foot and it's taller than me. You will have issues with really low car Parks so keep that in mind. It's also quite broad but not too wide. The big thing about it is that it's only 4.7 or so meters long. So it's smaller nose to tail than a Model Y, which is surprising right. The long wheelbase one is obviously a bit longer so I can pack in an extra row of seats.

 But let's check out the boot, see what it's like before I show you in the boot, I just want to call out that this car doesn't have one of the clever features that one of its Rivals does. The Mercedes V-class has an opening glass section on the tailgate which you don't get here and it means that if you do have a lot of stuff in the boot, you're gonna have to actually open the boot. Uh not just reach in through the glass to get stuff off the top. That means if you're a bad Packer, you could end up with your stuff all over the ground.

Now it is a big tailgate so just let me show you inside it's big tail okay because it's a big boot there's more than a thousand liters of cargo capacity in here which is heaps if you can't fit all your stuff in here you've got too much stuff. Just keep in mind though that it doesn't. have a spare wheel of any type although you could fit one there's Plenty of room in here so if you want one then you could probably get one now there's also some pretty clever features. you've got a little hook for your shopping bags you've got a 12 volt Port you've got as I said no false floor there's no spare wheel but you do get tie down hooks down the bottom here and also These Arm rests and cup holders because this has basically been readied to have three rows of seats but it doesn't which is weird but that's a huge boot.

Volkswagen ID Buzz Interior

I really like the interior of the Id Buzz I think it's a practical and smart space and looks fantastic too. There's some really nice materials although some of them are a bit more cost cutting there's lots of sort of hard bits here and there there's no sort of real wood or anything it's a plasticky wood finish but it is very practical it's got a bunch of really smart storage you've got this shelf in front of the passenger there's a little wireless phone charger here with a couple of Usbc ports. another little caddy there as well and Hiking back to the old golf there's even a little bottle opener in there as well which is nice to see.

 Now if you do have bottles of drink on the road, make sure they're not alcoholic but you can have them placed down here there's a nice big set of cup holders or bottle holders there a storage section in front of that when that's open and also you do get bottle holders in the doors. they're not massive but there are some tricks to the doors including a couple of shelves so you've got a little shelf next to your knee on this side. well it's the driver's side you get an electric boot right least trigger but on the passenger side there's a Usbc Port so you could put your phone in there which is cool

Now let's talk about smartphone connectivity and this screen more generally it's not fantastic. I'm hoping that it will be upgraded by the time we see it in Australia. It's happened already for the Id3, They've done a bit of a change to the interactivity with that screen so hopefully that comes across to the model that we see in the fourth quarter of 2024 when this car arrives in Australia, but there are some elements that are still going to be probably a little bit tricky to deal with including the fact that you've got well it's not the smartest or most intuitive way to control things. so you do have this little row of buttons down below and you can go to say climber which is your climate control settings and then you have to adjust the fan speed on the screen or if you want to put the seat heaters on that's through the screen as well.

 Likewise, if you want to turn off your active Lane keeping assistance, you have to go to the assist menu and also there's other menus down here It's got gesture control which is kind of nice but it isn't the most usable thing. There is voice control as well so you can use that if you wish. but look there's Also these little haptic controllers down the bottom here. So you've got climate control so you can adjust the temperature just using your finger like that volume goes up and down using that same sort of gesture it's okay but it's just not that good when you're driving so just keep that in mind.

Now there's other buttons down below here for your rear doors so you can actually electrically open them from the front which is nice to see and this seat is excellent. I love the fact that you've got arm rests on both seats and on both sides of both seats. So when you're charging your car up, you can basically lounge around and chill out for a little bit. Or if you're having lunch and you're in the rain, that's another nice thing to see so you can just sort of chill out relax. 

These seats are beautiful. I love the embossed sort of Insignia up here at the top the Id emblem so it does really feel quite cool. One other thing, the gear selector is up here it's a stalk selector so you press park at the end of the stalk and you twist it to go either forwards to drive or backwards to reverse. 

Takes a little bit of getting used to, but you will trust me. Other things I think are quite cool there's. a play button for the accelerator, a pause button for the brake, and while you can start the car simply by sitting in the driver's seat, putting on your seat belt and twisting the gear selector, you can also press the button here if that doesn't work for whatever reason.

So yeah it's kind of nice. I like the materials, I like the feel of the place and it does have this really sort of interesting cabin Ambience to it. Let's check out if the back row does as well. Yes, electric sliding doors do make a nice difference to a people mover van like this. Now let me show you some of the great elements of this back seat experience there's. 

a button here so you can close that door yourself which is nice to see. and also um, it's got the Usb port in the back doors as well so that is really cool. If you've got youngsters they're going to love that they can charge up their phone by just keeping a plug in the door. That's Nice! Another thing that youngsters might love are these tray tables so you can fold them up if you've got a little kid in a child seat. 

They're going to love it because they'll have a little play area there's a cup holder there as well which is really nice. I've also got these pockets on both of the seats they're really really practical and also one thing that isn't as practical is the fact that you can't wind down the back windows so if you have a kid who might be prone to car sickness that could be a real problem for you because I always find that a bit more airflow always helps.

Speaking of airflow, where are the vents? Well there aren't any it's a bit of an issue if you ask me. uh because you know a car like this? uh sure it's got lots of glass but it is a family car and it doesn't have any rear seat directional air vents. hmm bit of an issue. it also doesn't have any flip down armrest with cup holders. so again not as good as it could be. but let me tell you, I still think that it does have some really nice features back here in terms of space like I'm 182 centimeters or six foot, this is set for my driving position. 

I've got heaps of room and you'll fit three adults across here really comfortably there's Iso fixed points in the window, seats and top tethers as well. So yep, it's Practical enough, you can slide the seats forward I believe as well. Yep, just like so. So if you need more boot space than it already has then that will be helpful for you. but honestly, this is pretty good apart from some of the missing things that you might wish you did have.

Under the bonnet

Let's take a look under the Bonnet of the Id Buzz um there's not all that much to see here people because the electric motor is at the back. It's 150 kilowatts and 310 newton meters of torque. a single speed auto transmission and rear wheel drive and that's not huge and it's not all-wheel drive and those two things might improve at some point in the future. I don't necessarily think that it needs much more power and torque, but hey I wouldn't say no.

Range and charging

The Id Buzz comes with a 77 kilowatt hour lithium-ion battery pack and it has Ac and Dc charging. The maximum Ac rate is 11 kilowatts. so if you have three-phase power at home, that should mean a recharge time from empty to full in about eight hours, which is not too bad. Obviously if you don't have three phase it's going to take a fair bit longer than that there's also a Dc charge port. so it's the type 2 combination plug. As you would expect you'll see the rate for the maximum Dc charging rate on your screen now and Volkswagen says that means it should take about half an hour to do five to eighty percent It's pretty good.

Driving

So what is this big family bus like to drive? Well it's kind of like a big family bus to drive but it's also very very different to a traditional people mover style van look. Obviously this one does have five seats, not seven or eight. so it is a little bit smaller than some other big Vans but it does have a very Bluff front end and a lot of glass which is great. but it does mean that the front end is having to push a lot of weight through air and that means that it's maybe not as efficient as it could be. 

I'll tell you more about that shortly. but let's talk about the drive experience more generally. So the electric motor 150 kilowatts, 310 newton meters rear wheel drive. That means fun right? But just don't go thinking that well it's electric. So it's going to have as much grunt as a Tesla Model 3 Performance. it doesn't it's just not that fast and I don't think that's a problem because of what this car is trying to be and what this car actually is which is a really consummate family mover with electric power.

Now I really like the way that it drives because it is vanlike in a lot of ways, but also passenger car like and Suv-like too because you do have this really high ride height it's a very commanding position. you get a great view out. even though these pillars are quite thick, you can still see a lot in front of the car but not the Bonnet because well, it dips away quite dramatically at the front of the glass there. but it really is pretty easy to park. My big issue with it for a family buyer is that in this spec that we're driving here, at least there is no surround View Camera. and I think that a car of this size for the intended purpose of this type of car should come with a standard surround View Camera.

So what about the ease of driving around town sort of stuff. Well it is pretty good. It's got nice light steering and like I said it does have van attributes in that way because I've driven a lot of the commercial Vans out there and they have that really easy to drive I guess Mana to them. 

So the steering it's really light it's very accurate it's very dirty even and because it's rear wheel drive it has a real nice balance to it. Look it's heavy Yes and it's not ridiculously fast I almost said but it is really really quite good in the way that it balances what it's trying to do here. I'm also not in love with the brake pedal feel just like the other Id models that I've driven there's a bit of a squishiness at the top of the pedal. 

and also this Regen braking system isn't like some other one pedal driving modes so there is a B mode so you can get as much energy back that you might have potentially lost otherwise through the braking system.

the Regen brakes, but it is still pretty good in terms of the way that it pulls up. Remember, this is like two and a half tons this vehicle so it does pull up pretty well considering that I would say though I reckon the brake pedal feel could do with some work and when it comes to the passenger car side of things, I said that because of the ride it's really comfortable. I'm sick of saying really? because this is really really bloody good guys. I love this car. I think I'm gonna have to buy one. Seriously.

Efficiency

Okay so the official combined cycle figure the Wltp figure which is what you should be able to achieve across a mix of driving is on your screen now and that is well, relatively high for a rear wheel drive single motor electric car. In fact, it's about the same as what most dual motors do or actually even worse than what most dual motors do. 

That's because it's big it's not as aerodynamic as it could be, it weighs a lot. All of those things play into the official number and if you're wondering what I've seen across this mixed of driving that I've been doing here in Austria which included the grosh Glockner Pass. 

If you are aware of what that is, you'll know that that is a big bloody steep hill and those sorts of things are not ideal when you're driving an Ev. But we did regen braking all the way down the hill and managed to get quite a bit back and at the end of a few hundred kilometers of driving this car, you'll see the figure on your screen.

Now look, I think that's Okay, it could be better and I think it will be better if you do a lot of urban sort of driving.

Is it safe?

The Id Buzz comes with the maximum five-star Euro End Cap safety rating based on 2022 testing. so it does have pretty good safety credentials including autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian cyclist and Junction detection there's active Lane keeping assistance which is a bit annoying but you can turn it off, you just have to go through the screen every single time you drive the car there's blind spot monitoring, rear cross traffic alert and front and rear parking sensors plus a reversing camera. Annoyingly, this car at this point in time doesn't come with a surround View Camera and I think it should because well it's pretty good to see out of, but any extra safety for driveway stuff is always welcome if you ask me. And when it comes to airbag coverage there's Plenty! You've got front front side, a front center and full length curtain airbags.

Ownership

In Australia, Volkswagen offers a five-year unlimited kilometer warranty and Evs are going to be covered with an 8 year 160 000 K warranty for the battery pack as well. and it's likely that you'll see a couple of different service packs available. Three years and five years are the most likely options. Probably around 300 350 dollars per service but we'll just have to wait and see the details aren't confirmed just yet. but you can expect to get roadside assist and it should be refreshed every time you do a service with Volkswagen.

Verdict

To me, the Id Buzz is one of the most interesting, amazing and really really wantable cars that I've ever driven. I want one I think it's fantastic and it would suit my family lifestyle really really well. I've got a little girl, two dogs and that big boot would come in handy and the fact that it's fully electric with decent driving range would too.