If I asked you to name an iconic Volkswagen, chances are one of three models would spring to mind: Beetle, GTI, or Microbus.
After decades of production, the automaker phased out the original Beetle, reviving it for a modern two-generation run from 1998 to 2019. Volkswagen never quit building the GTI (or the Golf on which it is based) after it debuted in the mid-1970s. The original VW Bus departed U.S. shores after the 1979 model year, replaced by the more modern Vanagon, then the EuroVan, then the Routan, which was nothing more than a restyled Dodge Grand Caravan.
Photo: Christian Wardlaw
After more than a decade without a van in its lineup, Volkswagen has introduced the 2025 ID. Buzz. No, it's not the greatest name, but at least Buzz is close to Bus. And yes, that period and space after "ID" is supposed to be there. Why? Who knows. What you need to know is the all-electric Buzz is a worthy, if not faultless, modern reincarnation of the Bus.
For its debut year, the 2025 Volkswagen ID. Buzz is available in Pro S, Pro S Plus, and 1st Edition trim levels with a choice between a single-motor, rear-wheel drive (RWD) and a dual-motor, all-wheel drive (AWD) 4Motion configuration. Prices range from $59,995 to $69,995, not including the destination charge. The Buzz is ineligible for federal rebates or credits.
For this review of the 2025 ID. Buzz, Volkswagen provided a 1st Edition 4Motion test vehicle. It had no options, so the price was $71,545, including the $1,550 destination charge to ship it to your local dealership from the Hanover, Germany, assembly plant.
Photo: Christian Wardlaw
Getting into the tall ID. Buzz is like climbing into a four-wheel-drive pickup truck or off-road-ready SUV, but easier. Low door sills and wide steps are a big help, and nothing beats sliding side doors for loading and unloading passengers in cramped parking spaces. In addition, access to the third row is effortless thanks to a wide pass-through and the Buzz's high roof.
Up to seven people can come along for the fun, and everyone will be exceptionally comfortable. My test vehicle had captain's chairs in the first and second rows, and the third row was roomier than any SUV or minivan I recall. Even the full-size passenger vans I've ridden in offered less room back there.
Adding to comfort levels are 12-way power-adjustable front seats with heating, ventilation, and massage. They're standard in every ID. Buzz, along with a heated steering wheel and heated outboard second-row seating positions. The 1st Edition also has a standard panoramic sunroof, but the control to transform it from transparent to opaque is inconveniently located within the infotainment system.
The interior is thoroughly modern but with a strong retro vibe. The windshield is mounted far away, making it hard to see overhead traffic lights. Otherwise, the view forward is panoramic, thanks partly to the front quarter windows. The side mirrors are a little small, though, making the blind-spot warning system especially helpful.
Drivers have a configurable 5.3-inch digital display affixed to the top of the steering column, and most other features and functions are accessible through the center infotainment touchscreen. Existing switchgear is reductive, mainly touch-sensing, and frequently confusing and aggravating. In addition, the ID. Buzz automatically turns itself on and off, adding to the consternation.
Hard plastic is the rule within the cabin, but the test vehicle's interior color scheme resisted a glossy appearance, and uniform textures throughout imparted a sense of quality. Volkswagen's V-Tex artificial leather covers the seats, and the sisal-style floor mats are a surprise-and-delight detail.
Storage space is generous, and the console between the front seats is removable. You can take it out and store it or reposition it for use by second-row passengers. Dedicated smartphone pockets exist on the front seatbacks, representing another thoughtful touch.
Photo: Christian Wardlaw
Volkswagen equips the ID. Buzz with a Discover Pro Max infotainment system. It provides access to most of the van's features and functions, including the climate system.
Highlights include:
You can configure the ID. Buzz to seemingly endless personal preferences, so it's worth the time to go through each menu and choose your settings. Doing so makes living with the Buzz more rewarding and less confusing.
However, without an active subscription to Car-Net and the add-on Plus Nav EV and Plus Speech with AI plans, the Buzz's digital voice assistant (named IDA) is of limited use. Those plans are complimentary for three years but were seemingly unavailable in my test vehicle. As such, IDA's responsiveness and effectiveness were hit-and-miss.
In cases where it could not respond (typically when asking for directions to a point of interest, like a Starbucks), a message showed on the touchscreen to tell me some IDA functions were limited and to check my internet connection. However, when I urgently said I needed to go to a hospital, a list of hospitals with emergency rooms appeared, in order of their distance from my location, exactly as I would expect in such a situation.
When asking for directions to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington D.C., the correct address showed on the touchscreen, proving the voice recognition heard me. But the voice assistant kept prompting me to "Please say an address in the United States." Trying the street address of a local business near home, IDA quickly calculated a route. Notably, you can program the navigation system to include charging stops.
The only consistently successful voice commands the system responded to related to the climate system. I could change the temperature, turn on the heated seats, or activate the seat ventilation by voice without any trouble.
Pairing my iPhone 16 to the Discover Pro Max system and using Apple CarPlay proved easy, though it takes a while for CarPlay to start. That eliminated most of the hit-and-miss interaction with IDA, and streaming music via Pandora through the 14-speaker Harman Kardon premium sound system produced a rewarding listening experience.
Photo: Christian Wardlaw
Driving the ID. Buzz is fun. It's electric, so that's different. You enjoy a towering view of traffic ahead and the surrounding landscape from the driver's seat. And it's easy to make new friends who aren't shy about introducing themselves to talk all things Microbus. Others point, smile, and even wave. The experience is quite something.
In practical terms, the Buzz has a stiff and choppy ride, unremarkable handling, limited driving range, and unimpressive efficiency ratings. Also, more than once, I twisted the transmission shifter stalk the wrong way, resulting in movement in a direction other than intended. Add that to the pile of confusing control complaints about this electric van.
Choose the single-motor RWD ID. Buzz and the van accelerates to 60 mph in 7.4 seconds thanks to its 282 horsepower and 413 pound-feet of torque. That's quick enough but a decidedly leisurely pace among EVs. According to VW, the dual-motor AWD version scoots to 60 mph in six seconds flat. It boasts a combined 335 hp, 99 lb-ft of torque from the front electric motor, and 413 lb-ft from the rear motor.
A 91-kilowatt-hour (kWh) battery provides electricity to the motor(s). Official driving range estimates are 234 miles for the single-motor RWD Buzz and 231 miles for the dual-motor AWD 4Motion model. The single-motor Buzz is slightly more efficient, at 41 kWh per 100 miles traveled compared to 42 kWh/100 mi. On the evaluation loop, it averaged 2.5 miles per kWh, or 40 kWh/100 mi, beating the EPA estimate.
When recharging, the Buzz is compatible with DC fast chargers and can accept a flow rate of up to 200 kilowatts (kW). Volkswagen says it takes 26 minutes to bring the battery up from 10% to 80%.
I visited my local Electrify America station and enjoyed a flawless charging experience. Undoubtedly, it was because I arrived at 6:20 on a Sunday morning. I used a 350-kW ultra-fast charger, and it took 23 minutes to get from 32% and 68 miles of remaining range to 80% and 175 miles.
Charging rates slowed from 80% to 100%, but the Buzz reached a full charge 17 minutes later. On a 44-degree morning, fully charged, the Buzz 4Motion indicated it had a maximum of 221 miles of range. The cost for the 62.85 kWh of energy was $40.19 at 64 cents per kWh.
Some quick back-of-the-napkin math suggests one of the least efficient minivan models, the Honda Odyssey, would cost less to "fuel." My numbers indicate that the Honda would require 6.95 gallons to add the same 153 miles of range as the Buzz. At the most expensive gas station near my house, where regular costs $4.99 per gallon as I write this, the bill would be $34.68, and it sure wouldn't take 40 minutes at dawn on a Sunday to add the fuel. Get a Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid, Kia Carnival Hybrid, or a Toyota Sienna (hybrid power is standard), and you could save even more.
My experience recharging the Buzz underscores the importance of getting a 240-volt home charging station if you buy an electric vehicle. That way, you can plug it in overnight when rates are cheaper. You can buy a home charger supplying between 7.2 and 11 kW, and recharging from 0% to 100% takes 9 to 15 hours.
Getting back to the driving experience, with all that electric motor torque available the moment you press the accelerator pedal, the ID. Buzz launches quickly, has no trouble accelerating to freeway speeds, and can effortlessly cruise at 75 mph with a full load of passengers. It even has enough oomph for passing slower vehicles on two-lane roads. When it comes to speed, the Buzz is no Bus.
Twist the transmission stalk a second time after engaging Drive, and you'll add regenerative braking. But it doesn't have a one-pedal drive system. That's okay because, at lower speeds, it comes nearly to a stop anyway. Occasionally, the brake pedal felt a little unnatural underfoot, but most of the time, I didn't notice it. Frankly, that could just as easily have been due to VW's use of rear drum brakes instead of discs on the ID. Buzz.
The ride is firm and choppy at all times. Encounter a whoop or a dip in the middle of a curve, and your head will toss laterally along with the Buzz's weight. Round curves and corners with enthusiasm, and the Continental ProContact TX1 all-season tires feel squishy as they scrub over onto their sidewalls. Between that and the relatively slow, lifeless steering, the Buzz won't inspire you to drive it with wild abandon.
So, slap on the peace sign stickers, stream some Bob Marley or Stick Figure to the Harman Kardon speakers, open the windows, and cruise a coastline secure in the knowledge that your Buzz won't become a rolling traffic hazard the moment the road heads toward higher elevations.
Photo: Christian Wardlaw
Volkswagen equips every Buzz with IQ.Drive, which is a generous collection of advanced driving assistance systems (ADAS). They include:
During testing, most of the IQ.Drive features operated as expected and with reasonable refinement and operation. That included Travel Assist, the Buzz's hands-on semi-autonomous driving aid combining the adaptive cruise control with lane-centering assistance. The exceptions were the lane-departure warning and lane-keeping assistance systems, which regularly issued inaccurate alerts and took unwarranted and unwanted actions.
For example, a long, straight freeway exit ramp near my house widens from one to four lanes as it approaches the traffic light. The Buzz simply did not know what to make of that situation, requiring me to forcefully steer it into the lane I wanted to use. Turning the lane-keeping assistance off requires a three-step process using the touchscreen infotainment system, and that's if you remember to choose the Car icon and not the Menu icon from the display's shortcuts.
In addition, the Buzz has front and rear parking sensors and a surround-view camera with front and rear views. These came in handy, but again, it's a three-step process to manually activate the front camera, which you'll perform often because it's hard to tell where the front corners and bumper of the Buzz are relative to the surroundings.
Photo: Christian Wardlaw
When using the third-row seat to carry passengers, the ID. Buzz doesn't have much cargo room at 18.6 cubic feet. That sounds like a lot, but to use it, you would need to pack vertically and risk items falling out when opening the liftgate. The test vehicle had a shelf and storage bins to add practicality to this area.
That shelf also helps create a flat load floor if you fold the third-row seats down. Alternatively, you can remove those seats, the shelf, and the storage bins, and the ID. Buzz will hold 75.5 cu-ft of cargo behind the second-row seat. That's as much as many compact and midsize SUVs can carry, but with those, you'd also need to kick everyone out except for the driver and front passenger.
Next, for maximum volume, fold the second-row seats down. You can't take them out of the Buzz, but you can pack around them to fill this VW with 145.5 cu-ft of cargo. That's a little bit more than a Chevy Suburban can handle.
No, it doesn't. The maximum range is 231 to 234 miles, depending on your electric drive configuration. So, you'll want to get a home charging station for daily driving convenience and rent a gas-powered vehicle for road trips.
As of this writing, neither the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) nor the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has performed crash tests on the Buzz. Therefore, I cannot answer this question definitively. However, there are plenty of standard ADAS designed to prevent a collision from occurring in the first place.
Prices for the VW ID. Buzz range from $59,995 to $69,995, not including the $1,550 destination charge.
In the JD Power 2024 Initial Quality Study (IQS) and the JD Power 2024 Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout (APEAL) Study, the Kia Carnival ranks highest in the Minivan segment. Other minivan competitors include the Chrysler Pacifica, Honda Odyssey, and Toyota Sienna.
Among electric vehicles, the Kia EV9 is a midsize three-row crossover SUV and the most likely alternative to the ID. Buzz. Soon, the Hyundai Ioniq 9 will arrive, another potential rival for the electric VW van.
Photo: Christian Wardlaw
While it is sometimes hard to live with the Volkswagen ID. Buzz, it is easy to love this reincarnated Bus. As with that original model, which had an unusual air-cooled four-cylinder engine mounted at the back and numerous other idiosyncrasies, the Buzz is quirky. But it's never boring. And if you're wondering, yes, camper conversions are already available.
Christian Wardlaw is a veteran automotive journalist with 30 years of experience in the field and has held automotive editorial leadership positions at Edmunds, JD Power, and The New York Daily News. Today, Chris owns a content agency called Speedy Daddy Media, and in addition to JDPower.com, his work appears on Capital One Auto Navigator, CarGurus, and Edmunds.
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