2025 Volkswagen ID. Buzz Electrifies the Minivan Segment

• Volkswagen brings back the bus with the all-new ID. Buzz electric minivan.

• It seats seven comfortably, the seats fold flat, and it has all the infotainment you’ll ever want. But it’ll only go 234 miles on a charge, which isn’t as competitive as some EV crossovers.

• Pricing ranges from just over $60,000 to over $70,000. On sale soon.

You may remember the 1960s. You might even remember (though you are trying to forget) the 1970s. But you surely have been around as recently as 2003 and therefore still remember the Volkswagen van being for sale in the US market, and that includes almost everyone reading this.

Almost everyone has fond memories of it, too, from the split-window original model to the bay-window Type 2 to the slab-sided Vanagon and on to the Eurovan. They were, at least at first, cheap, ubiquitous, and you could “sleep” in them.

You might have owned one in college, camped in one when your family was young, or bought one used and kept fixing it up so it would start again, just one more time, to take you on an adventure.

Well, the Volkswagen van is back, baby, and VW has brought it into the future. The new model, the awkwardly named ID. Buzz, is all-electric, with your choice of one or two motors driving the rear or all four wheels, both powered by a 91-kWh lithium-ion battery stowed flat under the floor.

The RWD version makes 282 hp, the AWD 4Motion version 335. Range is a disappointing 234 miles for the RWD model and an even more disappointing 231 miles with AWD.

Assuming you can find a working DC fast charger somewhere that puts out 200 kW, you can recharge from 10% to 80% in just 26 minutes, Volkswagen says. But good luck finding a working charger if you’re not hooked into the Tesla Supercharger network, which Volkswagen so far is not.

Drawbacks? Apart from the aforementioned wimpy range, it is hard to see the corners of the thing while you are driving it, especially the front corners. They disappear and fall away somewhere out over the horizon of that carrier-deck dashboard.

When the two rows of rear seats fold flat, they leave a gaping chasm between them, thus eliminating what could be a very easy and natural camping bed.

The VW design geniuses did away with the cool trademarked V-shaped feature that was on the leading end of the original microbus in favor of the plastic-surgery-disaster flappy lip on front, very conspicuous on the two-tone paint jobs, the latter which come in eight choices, from Cherry Red to Energetic Orange to the Pomelo Yellow you see in the gallery.

And then there’s the price. Used to be people bought VW vans because they were cheap. While these aren’t extravagantly expensive, they’re just above competitors like the Kia EV9 in cost.

The entry-level Pro S model starts at $61,545 including destination and is available in RWD only. The Pro S Plus, with a better stereo, more cameras, and captain’s chairs in the second row of the 4Motion, starts at $65,045 for RWD and $69,545 for AWD. The range-topping 1st Edition stickers for $67,045 RWD and $71,545 AWD.

But you’ll find pretty much everything you’ll want on the base model, from 12-way heated front seats to three-zone climate control, 12.9-inch center display, nine-speaker audio, USB ports galore, and that semi-remarkable Park Assist Plus with Memory Parking.

We got to drive a couple of them last week. Our very first drive was down San Francisco’s famous Lombard Street, which winds back and forth down a steep section of brick-covered avenue overlooking the bay.

First thing you notice getting into the driver’s seat is the weirdo shift lever, which requires you twist the end of it clockwise for Drive and counterclockwise for Reverse. Complete two clockwise twists and you get increased regenerative braking, but not one-pedal driving (why not, Volkswagen?).

But behind the wheel it is a smooth and effortless experience. My first drive was in a single-motor RWD model. The Buzz’s 413 lb-ft of torque got us up the steepest streets San Francisco threw at us. Unlike those original microbuses, you don’t have to worry about having enough power with an ID. Buzz.

The 4Motion, with a 99-lb-ft front motor that kicks in when the Buzz detects slip, has 512 lb-ft or torque overall. Volkswagen didn’t list a 0-60 mph time. But given a curb weight of 5,986 pounds for RWD models and 6,197 pounds with AWD, you cold assume something between six and seven seconds for the more powerful 4Motion powertrains.

In fact, that 413 lb-ft of rear-motor torque and 99 lb-ft from the front motor provide a towing capacity of up to 3,500 pounds if the trailer has brakes on it. The tow hitch itself can be hidden behind the rear bumper, just like James Bond might want on his ID. Buzz.

Driving over the Golden Gate Bridge, the van felt perfectly at ease, blending into traffic smoothly while eliciting thumbs up and smiles from a surprising number of San Franciscans, who were perhaps remembering good times in The Haight.

Pulling off Hwy. 101 and heading to the coast and Hwy 1, the ID. Buzz felt equally at home winding through curvy, hilly roads. The ride of the Buzz is a little firm, perhaps necessary to control the car’s portly curb weight, but it’s by no means harsh. It’s refined.

There was very little roll as we wended our way to the coast, and the steering felt just about right, nothing at all like my 1964 model split-window from college, which was downright dangerous in almost any environment.

Likewise, the van felt at ease on the long drive back from Northern California over higher-speed highway. That drive was in the 4Motion model. Unless you really push these things in corners and on an autocross course, you’re not going to notice a difference in handling between RWD and AWD.

If you live in a snowy clime, you’ll want the 4Motion, of course. But for almost everywhere else the RWD would be more than enough. You could pack a large family in here with all their luggage and no one would complain.

Which brings us to the larger point here. Generations ago, youth rebelled against their parents by refusing to buy station wagons when they started families of their own. That generation bought minivans.

Then, the next generation refused to buy minivans for the same reason, buying instead SUVs so people would think they “needed them to go skiing.” Now, hopefully, a new generation will see the total practicality of the ID. Buzz and embrace it as the new vehicle that is both roomy for families and yet still cool. Maybe people will think you surf. Who knows?

In any case, welcome back microbus. May your sales be successful enough that one day the used car prices will be low enough for me to get one. I’ll even sell my 2003 Eurovan camper. Deal?

Will the VW ID. Buzz be the coolest EV on the road, or will it carry too much minivan baggage to be a hit? Please comment below.