volkswagen id-buzz Full Overview
Sequels are hard. The list of failed attempts at a follow up is probably double that of successes. For every C2 Chevrolet Corvette out there, there's a Ford Mustang II or 21st century Pontiac GTO—vehicles that failed to capture that special something that made their predecessors so loved. Volkswagen is going to have a similar needle to thread with the new 2024 Volkswagen ID Buzz, the electric follow-up to the iconic Volkswagen Microbus, colloquially known to most Americans simply as the "Bus." Although we've still got another year to wait for the U.S.-spec ID Buzz, VW, ahead of the Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance, let us loose for a brief drive in the Euro-spec ID Buzz and a pristine 21-window 1967 Microbus. Here are some ways the new ID Buzz lives up to the vintage Bus, and some ways it doesn't.
Living It Up
Packaging: The original Volkswagen buses were a masterclass in packaging. With little more than a modified Beetle platform to work with, VW engineers and designers managed to squeeze a surprisingly spacious 8-seat package onto the frame. With its small 1.5-liter flat-4 underneath the cargo area and front seats forward of the front wheels in a distinctive "cab-over" design, the Bus features an adult-friendly second and third row, with a spacious cargo area. In fact, the tightest seat in the whole cabin is the driver's, simply due to all the pedals, levers, and columns sprouting up by your feet.
The new ID Buzz captures much of the essence of the Bus in that regard. Thanks to VW's MEB platform, designers and engineers were able to move the front seats forwards relative to where they'd be in a more conventionally-styled minivan, making the ID Buzz feel much like a cab-over van, even if it isn't. Although the Euro-spec Buzz we drove is one of the two-row short wheelbase examples (Americans will get a yet-to-be-revealed long-wheelbase three-row version), the second row and cargo areas are similarly roomy, making it a compelling minivan alternative.
It's Easy to Drive: Maybe it's because its reputation precedes it, but we went into our drive of the vintage '67 Bus expecting it, like many cars of the era, to be finicky and difficult to drive. That couldn't be further from the truth. What the burbley little flat-four lacks in top-end, it makes up in low-end torque. The 53-hp engine pulls off the line smoothly with just a hint of clutch feathering, and blasts through first gear by the time you're at a jogging pace.
Grab second gear, flat-foot the throttle, wait for the revs to build, and shift up to third (surprisingly easy to find—never a guarantee from this era of automobile), and the Bus will happily hum along with Amelia Island traffic. When it's time to slow down, the peppy engine is easy to rev-match downshift by ear, making up for the brake pedal's general lack of urgency when asking it to slow things down. The Bus, unsurprisingly, also is maneuverable in tight spaces thanks to its size, though its steering tends to wander as you approach 45 mph.
The ID Buzz might lack the engagement of the Bus, but it's also easy to drive. The single rear-mounted 201-hp electric motor accelerates off the line well and on our brief drive, it never felt short of torque. Similarly mobile at low speeds, the electric Volkswagen steers far better than the Bus, and thanks to its low center of gravity is surprisingly stable through bends.
Ways the ID Buzz Doesn't Live Up to the Original
Styling: Despite the temptation to wax philosophical about how the ID Buzz might be better if it were an objectively worse vehicle, truthfully there's only one major way that the ID Buzz doesn't live up to the Bus, and that is in its styling.
The more time we spend with the ID Buzz, the less Bus-like it looks. While sure, the general shape is similar, the ID Buzz doesn't quite have the same charming happy-go-lucky snout of the Bus, or its soft rounded lines. As we put it in our First Drive of the Euro-spec model, the ID Buzz's two-tone paint is doing a lot of the heavy lifting in linking the new model to the old. And similarly, while modern crash safety regulations would likely stand in the way of a 21-window ID Buzz, we wish the cabin felt as open as it looks. Roll down windows in the second row, and pop-out windows in the eventual third row could go a long way towards addressing that.
It's the same story with the ID Buzz's interior design. With modern concessions such as the handy in-dash shelves, moveable center console, and screens borrowed from the ID4, the ID Buzz lacks the boho chic style of the original Bus. We'd love to see VW attempt to address this with more adventurous interior material choices, and, weirdly, software. With Ford offering a throwback Fox Body digital instrument cluster skin on the new 2024 Mustang, and Kia offering a fake "tube" radio skin on its vehicles, we'd love to see VW develop a software skin for the Buzz that harkens back to the heyday of the Bus. Even a round digital display ahead of the driver that matched the original's analog speedometer would be cool, right?
The ID Buzz is arguably the most compelling vehicle that Volkswagen has unleashed on American roads in decades. While the most charming ID product we've driven yet, it isn't quite as charming as the original—we suspect some of the changes we suggested above could go a long way towards addressing that, and we'll wait and see what's planned for the American market to make a final call.
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March 06, 2023 at 10:10PM
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The 2024 Volkswagen ID Buzz Lives Up to the Original Bus in All Ways But One - MotorTrend
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