Volkswagen ID.Buzz Review

​Pricing

It’s not cheap. Let’s face it, by the time you’ve added a few options and even that two-tone paint, you could easily be looking at more than £65,000 for the Buzz of your dreams. There are alternatives out there that go further to a charge and – in the case of the Kia EV9 – offer seven-seat versatility, too, so you can get more for your money if you judge the Buzz on list price alone.

However, PCP finance deals on the Buzz are good, with monthly prices starting from under £400, and contract hire from under £450 per month with a low initial rental, which is extremely competitive with the monthly costs of its key rivals; it’s vastly cheaper than the Kia EV9’s monthly finance costs, for instance. 

Running costs

The Buzz isn’t that efficient – you’ll get more miles per kWh from the Tesla Model Y or BMW iX3, for instance, while the Kia EV9 is no more efficient but does have a much bigger battery. If you average 2.8m/kWh over the year, in the ID. Buzz, and charge mostly on a standard home electricity tariff, you’ll be paying around 9p per mile to ‘fuel’ the big VW, where more efficient rivals will probably be costing more like 7p per mile.

However, you can cut that electricity cost by more than half by using an off-peak tariff - and even if you don’t, the Buzz costs roughly half of what a petrol or diesel car costs to fuel. 

Public rapid charging is much more expensive, and can see electricity costs go up to over 30p per mile.

Three years of roadside assistance is thrown in with the Buzz, as is a three-year, 60,000 mile warranty. The high voltage battery is covered for eight years or 100,000 miles.

Insurance

Volkswagen throws in the first year’s insurance for free, which is nice. After that you’re looking at a fairly affordable family car that falls into insurance groups 31- to 33 so will cost a similar amount to most electric family cars, and substantially less than the Kia EV9, BMW iX3 and Tesla Model Y. Always get a personalised quote, as insurance costs can vary wildly depending on the driver’s details, address, penalties, whether they prefer cats or dogs, their favourite biscuit, that sort of thing...  

Servicing costs

Three years of free servicing is included with the Buzz, as is the first MOT, which is a nice sweetener as most alternatives will cost £400- to £700 for the same period of servicing. It’ll need a service every two years, regardless of mileage, and the car will bing a message on your dash to warn you when it’s due some attention.