Living with a Volkswagen ID Buzz: Style with substance, or just a gimmick?

Van-based MPVs have always been hugely practical, but you could never really call them cool; that is until the Volkswagen ID Buzz came along.

It’s been styled to hark back to the classic VW bus of the 1960s, albeit with a modern twist, and there’s nothing quite like it on the road. The flat nose and swept-back headlights give it the look of one of those trendy French Bulldogs, and the optional two-tone paint pops as well.

The interior, while not quite as funky-looking as the outside, is still a pleasant enough place to spend time. Go for the light plastics on the doors and dashboard and it feels nice and airy, something which is accentuated by the vast amount of glass around you. It’s a shame that some of the materials are a bit scratchy though, especially in a car which starts from nearly £60,000.

Something the ID Buzz offers which no SUV on the market does is a van-like driving position. You sit really high up and have a great view out, making this big bus surprisingly easy to drive in town. What’s not so easy to use is the infotainment system because, like in a lot of Volkswagen’s cars, it’s quite fiddly to use and it can be glitchy at times.

One of this cars main selling points is its vast practicality, and it really is one of the best electric family cars out there in terms of interior space. There is acres of legroom and headroom in the back seats, and the rear bench can slide forwards and backwards to allow passengers plenty of space to stretch out, or to expand the already enormous boot.

At 1,121 litres, you won’t find any SUVs with a boot as big as this. The closest car would be the Tesla Model Y, but that still has “just” 971 litres on offer between its boot and under-bonnet storage area. You can also get the ID Buzz with five, six or seven seats, depending on the size of your brood.

Out on the road it’s immediately apparent that this car is built for comfort. The suspension does a great job of soaking up bumps in the road, and the seats are great over long distances.

There is a sporty GTX model with dual electric motors and 340hp, but this one is best avoided because it’s vastly more expensive than the standard rear-wheel drive model and doesn’t really offer much more than straight-line speed. Go for the 286hp single-motor version and you get plenty of poke, and it has the most range as well at 293 miles.

Let’s talk about range briefly, because the brick-like appearance of the ID Buzz doesn’t lend itself too well to efficiency on the motorway. We found that at a 70mph cruise you can expect the range to drop quite significantly to around 230 miles if you have the largest 86kWh battery.

Range anxiety aside though, the Volkswagen ID Buzz is a great electric family wagon. It may be quite pricey, and some of the tech is frustrating, but the cavernous interior space makes it really versatile and the funky styling brings smiles to the faces of passers by. It really does offer style and substance in one package.

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