VW ID. Buzz First Drive Review: Instantly recognizable (and likable)
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — One fascinating side of attending a launch occasion is that the parents who stay and work alongside the drive route see the automotive for the primary time. Some fashions fly below the radar. The one one who just lately observed the refreshed Volkswagen Polo was an Austrian girl whose garden I by accident parked it on to take photographs. Others draw crowds in every single place they go. Lamborghinis, in fact, however I additionally unexpectedly spent nearly as a lot time explaining the Citroën C4 Cactus as I did driving it. Unveiled in 2022, the Volkswagen ID. Buzz falls within the latter class.
“It is the brand new …” I began to elucidate to the middle-aged, bike-riding couple.
“Ja, ja, we all know — it’s the brand new Volkswagen Bulli!”
Even in Denmark, which isn’t the mecca of automotive tradition, the heritage-inspired van turned head after head. The distinction between the Buzz and different head-turners is that almost everybody knew what they had been . They’d spent years ready see it within the steel. The response was extra “lastly, it’s right here!” than “what the hell is that this UFO?”
The final time Volkswagen created such a buzz was when it launched the New Beetle in 1997. That’s becoming as a result of, in a method, the Buzz fills the hole left by the modern-day Beetle when it was discontinued after 2019 and stands proud because the model’s new type icon. On a secondary stage, it concludes a challenge that Volkswagen has tinkered with on and off for longer than 20 years. The Buzz could also be new, however Volkswagen has been toying with resurrecting the emblematic Bus since unveiling the V6-powered Microbus Idea on the 2001 Detroit auto present.
Volkswagen confirmed a pair of Bus-inspired ideas referred to as Bulli and BUDD-e, respectively, within the 2010s however neither obtained the proverbial inexperienced gentle for manufacturing. Why? Nicely, it is dependent upon who you ask, however the basic consensus is that points associated to security laws and that market demand prevented each design research from transferring past the idea stage. It wasn’t till the ID.Buzz made its debut on the 2017 Detroit auto present that Volkswagen shifted the challenge into excessive gear. Within the Fifties, when the primary Bus roamed the world’s roads, excessive gear meant fourth. Within the 2020s, it’s first — the Buzz is electrical.
When it comes to design, not quite a bit has modified over the previous 5 years. Designers toned down a number of the idea’s extra futuristic-looking styling cues, just like the entrance and tail lamps, and the Buzz obtained exterior door cameras in addition to door mirrors as a substitute of cameras. It additionally gained an area: Volkswagen expanded the identify from ID.Buzz to ID. Buzz. To the consternation of copy editors in every single place, the names ID.3 and ID.4 will stay spaceless. The remaining is just about what we had been promised in 2017: the Buzz’s general proportions are as boxy and previous Bus-like as Volkswagen might make them whereas nonetheless passing a crash take a look at; the “you’re the crumple zone” resolution of the Fifties doesn’t fly within the 2020s. The Buzz isn’t as retro as, say, the New Beetle however it stays recognizable because the split-window van’s inheritor.
This is the place the water will get murky: whereas the Buzz is headed to North America by 2024, what you see in our gallery isn’t precisely what you’ll see at your native Volkswagen supplier. We’ll get a long-wheelbase van that hasn’t been unveiled but, and Volkswagen harassed it’s too early to supply particulars about it. For context, the European-spec, short-wheelbase Buzz that I drove in Denmark stretches 185.5 inches lengthy (together with a 117.6-inch-long wheelbase), 78.1 inches extensive, and about 75.8 inches tall — it’s roughly 18 inches shorter and 5 inches taller than a 2022 Toyota Sienna and nearly precisely as extensive. It weighs a Ford F-150-like 5,447 kilos due largely to the battery pack that’s below the passenger compartment.
Trying past the retro-inspired swimsuit, the Buzz represents Volkswagen’s return to America’s minivan phase. The cabin actually feels the half: it’s spacious, well-lit, and cleverly laid out. Sitting excessive, the motive force faces a three-spoke steering wheel, a 5.3-inch digital instrument cluster borrowed from the ID.4, and an enormous dashboard with horizontal trim that augments the sense of width. The acquainted, typically disliked infotainment system is displayed on both a 10- or a 12-inch touchscreen relying on the configuration and the floating middle console clears up area between the middle stack and the entrance seats. You possibly can slide from the motive force’s seat to the passenger’s seat even when you don’t have the pliability of an Olympic gymnast. The construct high quality is fairly good general however it doesn’t take a lot poking and prodding to seek out exhausting plastics.
Sliding doorways present entry to the sliding rear seats, although the rear home windows are puzzlingly fastened, and the Buzz presents the cavernous inside you’d anticipate from a car formed like a toaster. There are some cool options, like folding tray tables with cupholders built-in into the entrance seatbacks. As for the retro-ness, it’s there if you realize the place to seek out it: the seize handles look similar to the models Volkswagen fitted to a few of its air-cooled fashions. Preserve trying and also you’ll spot a number of the Easter eggs hidden within the cabin. The Buzz’s silhouette seems on the plastic trim that covers the underside a part of the rear seats and the middle console’s two dividers double as a bottle opener and an ice scraper, respectively. There are a number of extra eggs, together with one which’s hidden in plain sight within the gallery. Can you see it?
From a packaging viewpoint, one of many downsides to the Buzz’s air-cooled predecessors was the engine placement. It was rear-mounted and consequently took up a substantial amount of area within the cabin. Within the Buzz, the loading flooring is totally flat and 87.8 inches lengthy with the second-row seats folded; that’s sufficiently big to sleep in. Don’t search for a frunk, although: the panel that the massive Volkswagen brand is mounted on flips all the way down to reveal an enormous piece of Styrofoam, varied cables, and the washer fluid filler. Volkswagen defined including a frunk was doable however it could have made the entrance overhang longer.
At launch, Volkswagen will provide the European-spec Buzz with a single drivetrain choice. Energy comes from a rear-mounted permanent-magnet synchronous electrical motor that attracts electrical energy from an 82-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack to zap the again wheels with 204 horsepower and 229 pound-feet of instantaneous torque. The 100 km/h (62 mph) dash from a cease takes 10.2 seconds and the Buzz retains accelerating till it reaches 90 mph. Volkswagen notes that’s above the pace restrict in a overwhelming majority of nations.
The 204-horsepower ranking is ample in case your imaginative and prescient of the right #vanlife is cruising down Freeway 1 and stopping for scenic picnics, however it’s a bit brief when you want a van that’s simply one other merchandise in your arsenal of instruments. Volkswagen quotes a 2,200-pound towing capability and a payload of 1,166 kilos, and neither determine is stellar. The turbodiesel-powered Volkswagen Transporter van can tow about 5,500 kilos. Hell, even the last-generation Golf hatchback was rated to tow almost 4,000 kilos (!) when correctly geared up.
Will different powertrains be part of the portfolio? Whereas that is pure hypothesis, my crystal ball says sure. The versatile MEB platform underpins the Buzz, so it stands to cause that what’s doable within the ID.4 (like dual-motor all-wheel-drive) is possible right here as effectively. Don’t maintain your breath for a de-tuned model of the Porsche 718 Boxster’s flat-four to essentially drive the “modern-day Bus” level dwelling; Volkswagen developed the MEB platform solely for battery-powered automobiles so the ID. Buzz is all-electric, on a regular basis.
Utilizing a car-derived platform makes the Buzz much less van-like to drive than you’d anticipate contemplating it seems just like the field it got here in. Volkswagen Industrial Automobiles developed the mannequin however it feels extra just like the ID.4 than just like the Transporter offered in plenty of international markets. It’s simple to drive even in crowded cities: the steering is easy and the Buzz presents roughly the identical turning radius because the a lot smaller Golf. Visibility is general wonderful, although the {hardware} that powers the digital driving aids (like adaptive cruise management) is oddly and distractingly built-in into the underside a part of the dashboard.
Volkswagen determined to not add a pretend engine sound so the Buzz is sort of utterly silent on the open highway; solely wind noise and the electrical motor’s faint whirrrr permeate the cabin. It accelerates from a cease easily because of the moment torque and the single-speed transmission however it’s not fast by any means. It’s not speculated to be: it was developed to haul folks and their stuff, to not win races.
Integrating the battery pack (which is the heaviest a part of the drivetrain by a large margin) into the platform lowers the middle of gravity and makes the Buzz much less top-heavy than a comparable gasoline-powered van. There’s some physique roll however lower than in a Mercedes-Benz Metris, for instance. The experience is, in true Volkswagen vogue, pegged on the comfy facet of agency. You’re in for a shock when you’re anticipating the Buzz to drift down the highway and bounce over bumps like its air-cooled predecessors.
Entrance discs and — look, one other retro characteristic! — rear drums deal with braking, although the regenerative braking system can almost carry the Buzz to an entire cease when the motive force selects the “B” profile. Leaving it in “D” lets the Buzz coast like a gasoline-powered automotive, and there are not any in-between modes. The brake pedal feels just a little synthetic whatever the driving mode chosen, a typical trait within the EV cosmos, however the system slows down the Buzz predictably and confidently. Volkswagen additionally programmed Eco, Consolation, Sport, and Particular person modes. Eco neuters the powertrain to save lots of vary, Consolation is the default profile, Sport sharpens the throttle response, and Particular person lets drivers create their very own profile.
I didn’t spend sufficient time behind the wheel to place the Buzz’s driving vary or charging capability to the take a look at. Volkswagen quotes about 263 miles of vary on the European testing cycle, which tends to lean in direction of the optimistic facet of the size, and it notes charging the battery from 5% to 80% takes round half-hour when the Buzz attracts electrical energy from a 170-kilowatt fast charger. On the different finish of the spectrum, a full cost requires about seven and a half hours when utilizing an 11-kilowatt dwelling charger.
The ID. Buzz’s enchantment goes past the head-turning, heritage-inspired exterior design. It’s a classy tackle some of the recognizable automobiles ever constructed, as a number of vacationers identified in Copenhagen, however it’s additionally comfy, laid-back to drive, and spacious sufficient to rival crossovers. There isn’t any cause to doubt that the longer, American-spec mannequin will likely be any completely different, although figures comparable to pricing and driving vary will dictate whether or not it lands as a robust contender within the EV phase or as an outlier.
