2025 Volkswagen ID Buzz Yearlong Review Update: Why Its Setup Experience Stands Out

In 35 years of car-scribbling, your faithful scribe here has chaperoned a fair number of long-term test cars. As with any new phone or laptop (or new car purchase), each one has involved an “onboarding process,” setting preferred radio stations, saving seat and mirror position memories, and subscribing to Wi-Fi or satellite radio. The pain level varies with every car, and in my long experience Volkswagen’s effort to smooth this process with our new 2025 Volkswagen ID Buzz stands out.

Such systems reflect a global trend among automakers generally, EVs and software-defined vehicles more specifically, and (apparently) Volkswagen ID products in particular. As the global customer base becomes accustomed to “moving in” to a new phone every two or three years, while appreciating some phone providers’ efforts to smooth that process, carmakers it seems are striving to do the same.

Our long-term cars rarely get a dealer handover, and some dealers obviously are better about walking a new customer through the process, but with my recent long-termers it’s been up to me to think of all the things that need setting up, which I’m pretty good at by now. But the ID Buzz welcomed me with a screen inviting me to step through my choice of a quick or detailed setup procedure. I chose the latter.

Screen one of five allowed me to customize things like the clock (24-hour or a.m./p.m.), date format, language, units, time zone, etc. One slight miss—the graphics on this page indicate a generic hatchback (an ID 2?), not my Buzz.

Next up was charging preferences, with the strong suggestion of turning on Battery Care mode, which limits charging to 80 percent for daily around-town driving. This screen also handles things like charging locations, preferred charging behavior (like unlocking the cable when finished charging), and charging schedules.

Next up were sliders to allow or disallow various audio sources to declutter the source options of any service you don’t plan to use. This screen also managed sound profiles for notifications and voice volumes, speed volume control, and default balance/fade.

The last two screens handled driver assistance preferences (lane assist settings, speed warnings, parking aids, etc.) and comfort/personalization items (ambient lighting, locking behavior, welcome functions, and the like). Now it’s all set to my preference, and when other staffers drive the car, they can change what they like in a Guest profile.

Next up was setting up onboard Wi-Fi and SiriusXM. The MyVW app made it easy to initiate the 30-day/1-gigabyte Verizon free trial of Wi-Fi. And in contrast to my experience with other recent long-termers, when the trial period ended, it was trivially easy to reup via the app, making a single $139 annual payment. It was also a cinch to change the default password from alphanumeric gobbledygook to Orange-id.buzz1.

Internet wisdom suggests there is a growing trend toward guided new car setup with 70 to 80 percent of new vehicles providing some sort of guidance, with maybe half of new cars offering an obvious first-use page like the one we saw and perhaps a quarter offering a step-by-step system similar to ours. Other automakers gaining praise for their easy onboarding include Tesla, Rivian, and GM’s Ultify/Google-based EVs.

The Buzz’s nostalgic appeal may attract more buyers who are less tech-focused, so VW is wise to ease this setup procedure rather than simply hoping they discover all the features eventually.

With everything set up, my app invited me to download special ID Buzz wallpapers and Giphy stickers to fill my social feeds with hippy love. Don’t judge, but I may have done just that. An enjoyable onboarding experience and fun touches like these are great ways to ensure your electric minivan connects with owners as more than simply the sum of its unimpressive range and charging stats.

More On Our Long-Term 2025 Volkswagen ID Buzz Pro S Plus:

• Arrival: Weighing Charm Against Range​