Volkswagen ID Buzz AWD Review: The Future Needs a Longer Cord
Retro looks, modern character, and a battery pack that can’t keep pace with its charm.
If you’re even passingly familiar with the original Microbus, the VW ID Buzz will stop you in your tracks. Just ask the grinning, waving, hooting, hollering, and peace-sign-throwing folks we saw while driving this silver and red two-tone box. The Buzz is a vibe machine, a pure hit of nostalgia for Boomers and Gen Xers, and a stylish flex for Millennials and beyond. It’s straight serotonin, served up hot and fresh.
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But as you spend time with it, some big problems emerge: The range can’t keep up with the emotion it generates, the price is crazy high, and it whiffs on some minivan basics. Are these flaws enough to keep it from becoming an icon?
Looks and Feels Like Freedom—Until You Check the Range
The VW ID Buzz already finished second in our most recent minivan comparison test, so it gets plenty of stuff right. Personality, for one. The original Bus was all about freedom and the possibilities of the open road, and the modern Buzz exudes that same spirit right down to its smiling face and (optional) two-tone paint. But reality doesn’t quite match the optics.
In AWD form, the ID Buzz’s range still lingers way down at 231 miles, according to the EPA, meaning open-road adventure comes with a heavy dose of range anxiety. It’s the conflict at the heart of the Buzz: It represents endless freedom but still asks you to plan every long-distance journey around charging stations.
And doubly so if those trips involve freeway driving. In our 70-mph Road-Trip Range test, the Buzz managed 205 miles of total range, about 11 percent below the EPA rating. At least it charges reasonably quickly. With a 200-kW peak, our fast-charging test showed it can add 94 miles of range in 15 minutes, or 163 miles in 30.
Still, this van gets attention—we’ve driven Ferraris that drew less interest. Everyone wants to talk about it. A marijuana enthusiast charging his Chevy Bolt next to us took a look and declared, “OH, DAMN. THAT. IS. LIT.” Another bystander wanted to tell us about his grandfather’s 1960s bus. Others just wanted to peer inside. In constantly generating attention, the ID Buzz is the anti-minivan minivan. Full brood-hauling without the minivan stigma? That might be its biggest accomplishment.
Comfort and Interior: Roomy, but Some Head-Scratchers
Once inside, you’re greeted with excellent visibility, comfortable seats, and a commanding driving position. It’s bright, airy, and surprisingly roomy. The flat floor and big windows make it feel more like you’re in a rolling furniture showroom than a car.
But ingress is weirdly awkward. Thanks to the floor-mounted battery pack, there’s a shallow set of “steps” to climb, and you must perform a little hop-step maneuver to get in; even after a week with this VW, it never felt natural. Once inside, some design decisions are baffling. One example: Where are the second-row cupholders? They don’t exist. To get some, you can move the front center console to the back if you have second-row captain’s chairs (or buy a second console from VW for $570), or you can purchase VW’s accessory cupholders for $98 a pair. At least these work with the bench seat. Further, the seatbelt anchors aren’t mounted on the seats themselves, which makes car-seat installation trickier and leaves adult passengers with belts that cut across their necks.
The overall design is cheerful and retro-cool, but for a vehicle that starts near $70,000 (RWD models start at $60,000), there are too many hard plastics in plain sight. The removable center console is a neat idea—it can mount in three places within the cabin and has an ice scraper and bottle opener built in—but for this much money, why not include two?
Win Some, Lose Some
Volkswagen’s latest infotainment system is much improved—finally fast (except when it oddly isn’t), intuitive, and responsive. Among the quirks, SiriusXM doesn’t let you direct-tune; instead, you must wait several seconds for the channel list to load. And the power button still says, “Engine Stop/Start.” For this much coin, VW could’ve sprung for an EV-specific label.
Once rolling, the Buzz drives beautifully. The steering offers little feel, but it’s light and accurate, and the chassis tuning is exactly what you want from a family hauler: confident, composed, and even a little fun in Sport mode.
The all-wheel-drive setup (4Motion in VW-speak) adds welcome stability and traction for those who live where inclement weather is a frequent worry. The ride is supple, the cabin is quiet, and the throttle response is immediate. The Buzz AWD is quick enough to surprise people at stoplights, too, which makes the whole thing even more ridiculously great.
The regenerative braking system requires a bit of manual intervention, though. Unless you select “B” mode, you won’t get true one-pedal driving. Once you do, it feels natural and predictable, although we wish that setting carried over between drives instead of resetting every time.
The Verdict: The Math Doesn’t Math
The 2025 Volkswagen ID Buzz AWD is the rare EV that makes people feel something. It’s charming, comfortable, and genuinely fun to drive. The limited range doesn't matter a whit if you're using it as a local family shuttle. And if it’s not the best-looking three-row family vehicle you can buy, it’s certainly the most interesting. It successfully lays the framework for what a successful electric minivan can be, and we genuinely love the ID Buzz.
But for all the smiles, nostalgia, and inherent goodness, it’s hard to ignore math. At the ID Buzz’s price and with its range, this van’s limitations seriously tarnish its shine. It's hard to stomach this much money for what should be—but simply can't be—the primary vehicle for most families. Until the Buzz goes 300 miles on a single full charge and costs a few thousand dollars less, any road trips with friends and surfboards may need to stick a little closer to home, or be taken in a different vehicle altogether.
Erik Johnson fell in love with cars before he could talk, carrying that passion through graduation from the University of Michigan. He's led digital content for Automobile and Car and Driver, and now oversees print and digital content for MotorTrend. He still pinches himself every day.
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