Volkswagen ID.Buzz Review

Practicality & space

You’ll struggle to find a roomier family car than the ID. Buzz, which has huge amounts of legroom for those sat in the rear seats – and it’s easy to get in, too, thanks to the huge sliding doors on both sides, which reveal big door apertures and are great for giving easy access – even in a tight parking space. There’s more headroom than in almost any SUV, too. 

The only thing is that the sliding doors are heavy so, unless you enjoy weight-lifting, you’ll need to specify the Open and Close package that comes in at a hefty £1,055. The other fly in the ointment is that the Buzz really only offers four decently shaped seats. While it can officially carry five, the fifth passenger makes do with the firm, raised seat squab in the middle, which isn’t exactly comfortable on longer drives. 

In terms of boot space, the ID. Buzz offers an incredible 1,121 litres of space with the rear seats in position. Fold the second row down and that figure rises to 2,205 litres – comfortably more than any rival models can muster. What’s more, the rear seats fold to give a completely flat load area – or a 2.2-metre, makeshift bed, if you fancy a bit of spontaneous van-sleeping. It’s annoying that you have to optionally add the ‘multi-flex board’ (known as a variable boot floor, outside of VW boardrooms) that brings the boot floor up to the height of the folded seats – or it’s standard on Style trim. 

When the long wheelbase ID. Buzz arrives with six- or seven-seat layouts, it’ll be an even more compelling prospect. 

Other practicality things to consider? You can tow with the Buzz, which will pull a braked trailer of up to 1000kg (VW offers an electrically retractable tow bar for that, too). Also, don’t worry about car park height restrictions. While the Buzz is taller even than many SUVs, it’s still lower than the 2.0-metre height barriers that are often in place at multi-storeys, or rural car parks. 

Interior & Design

The comfort and perceived quality up front is great, in the Buzz, with the huge glass area and high-set position making for a really lovely driving position that’s just peachy for long drives. 

There are some really nice touches, too, including the ‘Buzz Box’, which is a deep storage compartment that forms a divider in between the front seats, but it can also be removed to leave a completely flat floor. There are even a couple of lidded bins in the big front-door pockets. 

While the driving position is very comfy and has plenty of adjustability even in the ID. Buzz Life, the Style gets armrests on both sides of the driver’s and passenger seats, for that full ‘armchair’ experience. 

Dashboard 

The dashboard stretches out in front of you, when you sit in the ID. Buzz, and despite covering a huge area it’s cleverly detailed and neatly laid-out. Opt for the entry-level Life model and the dash area, steering wheel and infotainment frame is finished in black and grey (colourful upholstery options are available). Move up to the Style version and the whole cabin, including the seats, is colour-matched to the exterior. Style buyers also gain a white steering wheel and a white frame for the infotainment system, which some will love, and others will find themselves constantly cleaning.

Technology & Equipment 

Some may not be too delighted to see the same touchscreen system here that features in the VW ID.3 and ID.4, but VW has made big improvements with the software here. The 10-inch touchscreen comes with an impressive 9-speaker sound system, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, navigation with charger search function and a voice-control system that responds (most of the time…) to natural phrases such as “I’m cold”. It’s got over-the-air software updates, too, so it should get better over time, without you having to take it into the dealer so that someone can plug a laptop in. 

It still takes a long time to boot up, but it now seems less glitchy and various software updates since the Buzz was introduced mean that it now responds quicker. We don’t really mind the menu layouts too much, but it’s annoying that you have to prod about the system too many times to turn off lane-keep assist and the speed limit warning. The touch-sensitive volume and climate control bar along the lower edge of the screen is too easy to hit by accident, too, and then not precise enough when you do want it to do something. 

There are only two trims on the Buzz – Life and Style. Life is well-equipped, with most of the features you want including climate control, keyless entry, LED headlights, reversing camera and more. You’ll want to add the £695 Comfort Package that brings heated seats and the variable boot floor, though. Most will go for Style, though, which gets those features as standard, plus fully adaptive LED lights, more ambient lighting, powered tailgate and lots of style upgrades. Even if you do go for the higher spec model, it’s worth noting that the two-tone paint that we all want on a Buzz, is an eye-wateringly expensive £2,790 option.  

Safety

The ID. Buzz has good safety credentials, and was awarded the full five stars in Euro NCAP crash tests. It gets adaptive cruise control with stop-and-go that, together with the standard lane-keep assist function, creates a semi-autonomous drive mode. It also senses cars, pedestrians or cyclists up ahead, and will brake automatically if it senses an imminent collision.