I’ll be honest with you: this is kind of a strange press event. For one thing, there’s a lot of attempted secrecy around a vehicle that’s pretty much already been seen and everyone knows what it looks like. Hell, I’ve even already driven it! Well, almost. That was the short-wheelbase Euro version, and this one is the American market, long-wheelbase one. And, more importantly, this is the 2023 ID.Buzz, the latest incarnation of the legendary Volkswagen Type 2 Microbus, but now all modern and electric and a really, really important vehicle for Volkswagen. Maybe the most important one they’ve introduced in years. That’s why they’re having this big launch event in California. But it’s odd because none of us journalists will get to drive any of the vans, and it’s a strangely short event, an event that VW seems to have invited absolutely everyone to, and there’s barely any time to write about the three-row ID.Buzz before the embargo lifts, at midnight Pacific time. So, We’re going to try something different.
Instead of a usual review – which I can’t do, anyway, since we’re not allowed to drive anything here – I’ll just tell and show you all I was able to find out about the American market version of the bus and, because why not, I’ll do a sort-of-liveblog of the whole damn event, just so you can see all of what’s going on, too. That has to be better than just regurgitating the press release, right? We can find more fun stuff to regurgitate!
The Important Stuff About The Three-Row ID.Buzz
First, let’s get out of the way all of the important facts about the ID.Buzz that you’ll probably want to know. Really, for a lot of this you should just read my review of the two-row version we’re not getting here, because that covers an awful lot about what the ID.Buzz is, and this is mostly just that, just longer and with a number of improvements.
It’s probably worth reminding everyone just how long the gestation of this thing has been; Volkswagen has been playing with the idea of a re-born Microbus since before there were iPhones and when Netflix would physically mail DVDs to your house: 2001. If you were born when VW first started teasing us with concept car versions of a Modern Microbus, you’d be old enough to drink and vote and get drafted by now. The one that we see now, the one that made it to production, is the fifth incarnation of the idea.
Okay, but what we’re sale-abrating today is the three-row version of the ID.Buzz, so let’s go over the differences. First, it’s about 10 inches longer in the wheelbase:
This longer bus has, as you can see, a longer sliding rear door, and now includes a little sliding window-within-a-window set into the side glass there. This is great, as my big complaint about the short bus was the lack of rear ventilation: no windows to open, and no HVAC vents. Both of these issues have been solved in the three-row ID.Buzz.
And, as a three-row vehicle, this can seat up to seven, with options for a middle bench seat that can sit three or a pair of captain’s chairs.
Also note that VW finally illuminated the climate controls and volume slider, an absurd omission from their other ID-series cars, though this particular bit if user-interface madness still lumbers on:
I wrote a whole blog about these window switches. On a hopeful note, I was informed that VW is “aware” of the issues with this window switch setup.
VW’s people also say it looks better, because of the longer proportions, but I think that’s pretty subjective. I like the stubby look of the short one!
There’s also more power on tap, even with the rear-motor/RWD version: 282 vs. 201, and there’s also an AWD version with a front motor as well, and that version should make 330 hp. These are all a very far cry from the old 40-50 hp buses of the ’60s and ’70s.
The battery pack is bigger as well, 91 kWh vs 82 kWh, and I expect range to be improved too, but no numbers have been given yet. If I had to guess, which I don’t but will, I’d say between 250-275 miles seems likely. Maybe 300?
Oh, we also know what colors you can get these in, which is important for this car in particular, which is so well known for its vivid color options:
There’s great, real colors here, a welcome departure from the usual grayscale miasma, but VW did tell us they added some silvers and grays just for the US market. I’ve never been more ashamed to be an American. Why would you get one of these in boring-ass silver? Look at it:
Even with the tent and all the fun camp equipment, that silver de-charms everything by at least 40%. If you’re too chickenshit to get some real colors, maybe you should be looking at a Pacifica or something.
I Think I Know What The Price Will Be
Volkswagen has not officially revealed the pricing of the three-row ID.Buzz, but based on anonymous conversations with people who actually know the answer, it was strongly hinted that the ID.Buzz will start here at about $60,000 to $65,000. We were told that there is no base version of the ID.Buzz, they’re all quite premium, and it’s an expensive car to build, with a big, expensive battery. Okay, true, but it still sucks. The whole ethos of the original Type 2 Bus was that it was an affordable box-on-wheels for everyone, and this new one is a decidedly premium vehicle that isn’t even going to try to be affordable, not really. I understand the reasoning, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.
Time For The Liveblog-Like Stuff
Okay, since we have the basics out of the way, join me, won’t you, on the first half of my barely-24-hour trip to Huntington Beach, California!
First, the LAX bathroom sinks are stupid. Three chrome faucet-like things, and you can’t really tell what does what. From left to right, one is soap, one water, one dries via air. But the soap one doesn’t work and the dryer is barely adequate, so we get duplicated soap and paper towel dispensers on the wall. Confusing and wasteful! I’m impressed!
Alright, time to get picked up in a VW ID.4! I tried to cram my bag into the place where the frunk should be, but they stopped me.
Okay, so this is a little gross, but remember when I screwed up my finger while attempting to chainsaw the batteries out of my Changli? Well, in the car, my fingernail finally fell off. It’s sort of gross, so don’t click here if you don’t want to see it. Seriously, that’s a picture of a fingernail, off a finger, tinged with some blood. You’ve been warned.
Okay, so now here I am, a nine-fingernail’d dipshit, heading to the hotel, and seeing the majestic battleship USS Nathan Lane! I think that’s what it’s named, but I’m not certain. Nobody check. 
There’s a big gathering of old buses set to happen tomorrow (or, today, as it’s just past midnight and I need to get this published!) and I did manage to spot an interesting one being towed in:
That sort of single-cab/box rear is unusual; I should check it out closer tomorrow.
At the hotel, they had a sorta-hippy-ish wrapped Buzz covered with “Love the Earth” in many, many languages. I thought the Earth and I were just friends, but hey, I’m open to more! Call me, Earth!
All of VW’s signage is surfboard-shaped, which is I guess fitting, if a bit on-the-nose.
Check this shit out: VW had custom wooden room keys made! That’s fun, right? I mean, they’re a little hard to fit in your pocket, but beats the hell out of just printing on a plastic credit-card-like key, like most automakers do! Gauntlet’s been thrown, other companies! Your next keys will need to be little marble statuettes of the car to beat this!
Because this is a press event full of hungry, doughy auto journalists, there’s food everywhere and always.
Seeing The Three-Row ID.Buzz Up Close
I was late and technically not on The List, but I managed to get myself into the studio where we could see a three-row ID.Buzz in the metal, finally, up close and personal.
They spun it around on a turntable and I swear it felt just like being inside a giant microwave. I expected it to beep at the end and then discover that the inside was frozen. Then they did it again, with all the doors open:
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Did I mention we had to put on booties to be in the clean, clean studio? We did.
I also asked one of the PR people if there was any consideration of naming this new electric van the e-Routan, and was told no, absolutely not, just in case anyone was wondering. Same goes for ID.Sharan. I was impressed at how well the rep kept himself from slapping me with a clipboard, as he was technically permitted to do.
One disappointment: this one we photographed and saw is pre-production, and has the Euro-spec fantastic sequential amber rear indicators. I was told the US-spec one will have all-red ones, which sucks. Come on, VW! Just make the amber section larger so you can have a universal taillight! Why is this so flapjacking hard?
On the plus side of lighting, those look to be cornering lights in the headlamp units, and I like the DRL signature a lot. Let’s take a look inside:
The instrument binnacle is shared with the rest of the ID line, but the 12.9-inch center stack screen will have an improved UX and have more responsive software, I’m told. There’s also a customizable icon dock, which is a good idea.
The glass roof is huge, and the interior feels very airy and open. It’s nice! Plus, airplane-like rear seat trays.
The second-row bench is comfortable and there’s plenty of legroom. Same goes for the third row:
Look, there’s legs of the person next to me in the back row.
There’s the third row, seen over the 60% of folded middle seat.
Significantly, there’s HVAC controls at the rear and dedicated vents for each row. Yay! No asphyxiation for anyone!
There’s a view backwards. Let’s check out the cargo area:
With all three rows up, the rear cargo area isn’t terribly deep, but it is tall, and VW has an optional shelf system (that also forms a flat floor for sleeping/boning/shoving in a full-size marlin, etc) and you can get those VW-branded storage boxes for below the shelf, or, probably just as likely, get some that fit from Ikea or Wal-Mart, depending on what sorts of media you tend to enjoy.
Here’s what it looks like with all rear rows folded and the shelf unit in place: a nice, flat expanse of space, much like Nebraska, but with fewer tumbleweeds and more likely to house a first-rate philharmonic. I kid, I kid! I’m sure Omaha has a fantastic philharmonic. Oh, they do, look! No hard feelings, okay?
Without the platform-thing, it looks like this:
Less flat, but still a massive amount of room in this wheeled box, keeping with the whole raison d’etre of the Type 2. Those rear seats are pretty easily removable, separately:
…and I guess you could use them outside of the car. They’re pretty heavy, though, even if they do have carrying handles on them.
It looks like we have coilovers up front, and it’s hard to see exactly the setup in the rear, as most of the bottom is covered:
One other interesting tech detail down low: the radar transceiver looks like it’d actually be quite easy to remove and replace:
It’s a bit vulnerable in a minor wreck, but so is everyone else’s, and at least this one looks easy to remove and install.
Overall, I do like the ID.Buzz three-row. Sure, it’s maybe less overtly retro than I’d have done, and it definitely is more expensive than I’d like, but it’s a good, striking design, has plenty of room inside, drives well (well, the Euro one did), and aside from a few interface design irritants, seems like it’d be a satisfying and flexible vehicle to own.
Plus, there’s not much on the market that’s like this, and I respect that a lot.
Now scroll back up and click on the link to the fingernail picture. You know you’re curious.
As a man who drives 15-20 over in every state but Virginia and one ticket in 35 years of driving I defend my choice or boring-ass silver/appliance white in my cars.
I’d get one of these in something funky, however :).
You don’t need to go so fast. Slow it down bud.
Imagine choosing boring colors just so you could drive a bit faster. Lame
No power sliding door windows just to keep an old-school style is a very odd choice to me.
Otherwise, I like it!
“and I guess you could use them outside of the car. They’re pretty heavy, though, even if they do have carrying handles on them.”
Dude, that’s awesome! Built in camping/grilling/tailgating couch!
Some times we rode 9 people in our 1965 50hp 11-window bus. With that kind of weight, it took some heavy foot and time getting up to speed, and then you immediately had to start planning your braking (drums and no vacuum boost).
But I still miss that slow noisy rusty thing, especially here in the summer time.
0-60?
Probably
. . . Maybe
. . . . . . Hopefully.
My buddy liked my Westfalia so much he bought a plain bus-with automatic. I’m not sure that one would do 60
The top speed in my ’64 Sunroof deluxe was 54MPH. Bonus points for the 90 degrees of freeplay in the steering! Absolutely reliable made up for those things. I still miss that bus.
$65k for a minivan that maybe gets 300 miles of range? Swing and a miss! Maybe if it had come out 2 years ago…
It’s real weird when you actually buy one, own a house, and realize it never drops below 80% charged. As for road trips, people buy range but drive charging speed.
Someone please show me a white steering wheel after a couple years of use. There’s several good reasons you’ll find very few examples of white soft-touch materials used on hand-held products (my white, soft-touch Samsung remote is now more vanilla than white after two years). I fear this interior might age badly.
I don’t have anything intelligent to say about the van, but I wanted to point out that that’s my absolute favorite hotel to stay in.
Since they picked you up at the airport, I presume you didn’t have a choice, but the next time you’re in the area, make it a point to fly into either John Wayne or Long Beach; LAX is a certified shitshow.
Sit in the third row and enjoy the secure embrace of a battle droid.
I thought it looked like those, too!
Roger roger
I think VW has missed the bus on this. It took too long to get the ID Buzz to market and the “buzz” has abated. Plus, the waning US interest in small vans coupled with serious competition for the same buyers from multiple 2 and 3 row EV SUVs is going to limit how many of these they’ll sell.
If the intent was to capitalize on the affection so many have for the original Type 2, the Buzz will be a huge fail. The original bus was cheap to own, cheap to operate, and infinitely customizable by virtually anyone. The Buzz is none of these things. It’s not affordable by even today’s inflated standards. And no one is going buy and use a $60k plus vehicle to haul surfboards no matter how many ads try to force this association. No Deadheads will be selling tie-dye t-shirts out of the back, either.
The Buzz design lacks all of the affable charm of the original. It’s not a bad looking vehicle, but there is nothing about it that inspires or sets it apart from the Pacificas, Odysseys, Carnivals (awful name) and Siennas out there, all of which are significantly cheaper.
I predict this will become the upmarket version of the first gen Prius adopted by wealthier people vying for green cred but who wouldn’t be caught dead in a Prius. That’s a small market slice.
Lastly, it’s past time for VW to officially change its name to RVW for Reiche Volkswagen -rich peoples car- as they have virtually abandoned the economy segment of the automotive market.
I feel like that name would be…. problematic
“Don’t mention the war!”
VW abandoned the economy segment of the automotive market decades ago. The issue is that in Europe they own other brands that took over that role (Skoda mostly, SEAT for some time) while in the US it was just them trying to go upmarket.
But it’s also true that there’s pretty much no downmarket brands left in the US and those that might still be perceived as such are doing their utmost to leave the market, one way or another.
I think it’s nice, I like the LWB proportions a bit more than the SWBs. Shame I’ll be priced out of it ????????.
The horizontal light bar trend with CUVs and vans needs to end. A vehicle as tall as the ID.Buzz needed to have vertically stacked taillights but it seems designers are afraid of doing so because it’s considered too “truck like” from its history as the standard configuration for trucks and vans for decades.
Also, it feels like VW missed an opportunity to design unique headlights for the Buzz which would’ve given it a friendlier and funkier face instead of looking like it was pasted from an ID.4. Not every vehicle needs to have the same corporate face.
Unfortunately the front is still horizontal but the rear lights on the Hyundai Staria are so cool! I do love to see a cool rear light on a work van going around compared to the the normal dual cab utes.
But if they did that it might resemble the old Type 2 in some way. This way they have a nostalgia vehicle with virtually none of the attributes of the original. I guess they wanted that?
I am very pro EV and want one cheep to be a 3rd car and want one cheap (not a used one I do not have Davis’s luck with used vehicles, my luck is far worse) but
Right now how is this better than a pacifica hybrid?
Jason’s live(ish)blogging has gifted the world with the hilariously suggestive and ambiguous phrase: “sleeping/boning/shoving in a full-size marlin.”
I stand by the interpretation that Torch is suggesting one may do all four activities with a full-size marlin. Wait, only three things were listed, you say? Oh, you know he means both kinds of boning with that big fish. Maybe two kinds of shoving, too. So, five things.
Left Shark approves of doing things in an animal costume.
If it is a shark costume, are you still a furry?
Looks like there’s plenty of room for customization. I hope people take these and just go buck wild.
Personally, I think it would look better with coach/suicide doors. That’s my only real complaint for now.
Electric only windows are not a good idea, especially for the sliding second row windows.
For as long as people have been waiting for this thing to be revealed for the US market they should at least have a working configurer on their website.
I still hate those stupid massive blindspot creating A pillars.
My first vehicle was a 72 Westfalia. Yes, it was a slow, noisy, agricultural shitbox, but it was simple, cheap, and it just worked. 4 bolts, 3(I think) wires, and a fuel line, and the motor was out. I had a VW around for some 20 years, transitioning from air- to water-cooled. The difference was marked: I broke 1 window crank in a Beetle, but replaced some 6 or 7 cable&pulley window actuators in 90s VWs for other people(they paid 1/2 what a shop charged, and I made $35/hour in the early 2000s on these).
Shit just broke on later VWs. Drains stopped up. CVs were almost disposables. I don’t even want to talk about vacuum lines.
I wanted a New Beetle when they came out, but couldn’t see the value proposition. That was confirmed when my aunt’s spent considerable time at the dealer in the first year. For me, the cheerful simplicity of VWs was gone by the 90s. They rode & drove well, but the headaches were too severe. My parent’s last VW-an 87 Golf-had weird electrical gremlins that came & went: I remember driving as dusk was falling and having only brake lights & hazards. And on&on.
I don’t hate VWs, but I can’t see buying a modern one with all the stuff that can go wrong-especially not at what they want for them.
tl;dr: I’ve had, loved, and wrenched on VWs. Now I just don’t feel the experience is worth the cost & problems
LSD-48 is the USS Ashland.
LSD….seems appropriate for an article on the VW bus.
Why so angry VW? If there was ever a vehicle to reverse the ’I’ll fight you’ headlight trend, this was it.
This is a practical, good-looking electric minivan. It should have a charming face that makes you forget your troubles and want to go surfing with kittens. This just looks like it’s been doomscrolling for days and wants you to just to get the hell out of its way.
Please get this van off the internet and on to some SSRIs!
Seriously – how much better would we all feel if we didn’t have 1000’’s of constipated angry robots staring at us every time we went to Target?
It’s following the same corporate styling zeitgeist dujour of all of its other cars in the lineup and of its competitors. And it lost a lot of charm because of it. The earlier ID Buzz concept without that obnoxious grille rework that the production version got was much more fitting, IMO. It also would have benefitted from rounded headlamps.
…. how joyful it could have been (if only…). https://youtu.be/bUEFHS-g1uU
I just noticed the xbus has motorcycle headlights (the happy retro ones, not those angry panigale types)
The XBus IS IS IS the real spiritual successor to thr original VW Bus.
It is smaller, lighter, slower, cheaper and with less features.
It is designed to be affordable transport with maximizing its carrying capacity
Unlike this 21 years late loaded & bloated minivan with a VW BUS exterior wrapper
https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipOTtX_rP05t2afII_P9fbJwBW8g8-VGq7HeKbXTGd7NnrLZZLcvjDnPfUU7qyuR1w?key=bjMxUG5CQVlvektiN3FzZ1hUcXk1Y01MZ0Mtejd3
I think it would look much better in LWB in this configuration (extended rear overhang, same wheelbase). and yes, i used MSPaint to mock this up!
Looks good, but then you probably can’t fit the larger battery. BEVs are always pushing for a longer wheelbase to squeeze more battery capacity in.
i hadn’t considered that… and that makes sense! but still, from an aesthetic perspective, i prefer my version 😉
I like it! Make mine Mahi Green with a cream roof, please. And AWD. Sadly that configuration will likely be $70k, which puts it firmly outside my price range. If they could somehow make that about $15k cheaper, with the eventual tax credits I’d be talking to the no-haggle VW dealer up the road.
I’m liking Mahi Green too! But ye gods, starting price of $60k is well outside my price range. Hopefully these hold up ok so I can try my luck on the used market.
Use Kansas for flatness. #useless but fun factoid ahead#
Awhile back, some professor & a bunch of grad students did a transect of Kansas, taking very precise gps measurements every(iirc) 100 yards. Maybe meters. So we know exactly just how flat it is. A couple years later, some drunk grad students at MIT were sitting around a lab with a very expensive machine which could measure with extreme accuracy and at very small intervals the height of an object. Sure enough, the flatness of pancakes comes up. Someone runs out for a box of Aunt Jemima mix, while someone did the math on intervals needed….
Kansas is definitively flatter than a pancake
Yes; I’ve been waiting awhile to tell this (wry smile emoji)
Kansas is so flat you can watch your dog run away for a week.
As much as I like glass roofs, do they come with an option for adding a screen? those things get really hot, really fast.
Also I am sure if the Buzz is really popular, accessories like boxes etc will be flooding Amazon, Aliexpress etc. Just look at Tesla Model 3 / Y, you get all types of accessories on those sites AND usually at the dollar store prices.
I assume drum brakes for the rear as the norm of MEB?
Supposedly it will have electrochromic dimming
For how long?
Radar transceiver? What for is that?
Automatic emergency braking
Radar Love
https://youtu.be/aRlSHG5hRY4 you forgot to link the music video for radar love.
Can the middle seats be removed also? And for the third row can they be individually removed?
Yes, they can!
Phew. This is the answer I was looking for. In our Odyssey, we often roll with the 2nd row removed and the 3rd row used for seating. Creates a nice, massive interior space. Incredibly useful as our ski season base camp for changing, eating, etc. Do wish the ID.Buzz 3rd row was a little easier to manage, but I guess that’s the price you pay for skateboard architecture?
I like it, but I am definitely concerned about the price VW is going to put on it, and then the markups their dealers will put on top of that.
It’s going to be priced to put the upper-middle-class yuppies who can “afford” it into debt for the next 8 years. A far cry from the original VW mission statement of affordable individual transportation for the masses. Hitler would be rolling in his grave.
Oh, geez, not the tired old trope of invoking Hitler’s name whenever the original VW comes up (not to mention that the way you did so implies an actual admiration for that person, good grief.) The Beetle was an idea whose time had come and would absolutely have happened no matter what and resolutely regardless of whatever genocidal fascists did…
That old trope is hilarious. Nazis are totally ridiculous and look ludicrous marching in goose step, like little wind up toys. The VW Beetle was the car to match the aesthetic. Nothing like a funky little Bug that looks and drives like all the other funky little Bugs out there. A plague of Bugs! Unlike Nazis though, Bugs are actually fun. Although, no one likes a “fun Nazi” either it seems.
Geez. Reminiscient of how some people (usually comfortably privileged white men) say the KKK looks ridiculous in their robes and dunce-cap hoods.
This doesn’t get enough play: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0fFKNCKIhE
Pretty sure he didn’t say he likes Hitler, and it’s not a problem at all to mention him when you’re talking about the origin of VW.
Kind of weird that you take such issue.
Ah, when using the expression “rolling in one’s grave” it’s in the context of bemoaning something that some late figure (usually an object of admiration) would have objected to, hence it being disconcerting to see someone using that expression for Hitler as if that person was lamenting that poor Hitler would be upset.
Having air-cooled VWs in my fleet it gets old mighty fast when people keep bringing up Hitler whenever I drive my VWs. To be sure, Hitler is part of the history of VW and it’s fine to reference that in discussions of the origins of VW but when people keep saying things like how Hitler invented the Beetle such misinformation gets more than a little annoying, to say the least.
Hitler is not someone whom I admire. I was poking fun at him with that comment.
Look out!
The internet is happening.
Everybody!
Let’s get outa here!
Hitler was mentioned. Run for the exits! It’s every man for himself!
Never mind the context!
Be afraid!
Be quick to judge!
How dare someone bring up that particular historical figure?!
Just reading his name is like squirting Sriracha directly into my eyes!
History isn’t meant to be remembered!
We should all just pretend that bad things never happened, ever, and blindly hope for the best future imaginable.
Or..
Maybe, just maybe.. we should accept histories sometimes torturous moments, wether global or personal, and learn from them.
Hitler Hitler Hitler.
Aahhh!
The mere mention of him should not invoke the feelings of a boogeyman under your bed.
It should make you a better neighbor, partner, parent, internet commenter.
Because we can all recognize the inherent flaws in his beliefs.
Hitler is not a historical figure that should be chased away because of his bad vibes. He needs to be remembered wether we like it or not.
(NOT, definitely don’t like it)
Humanities past wasn’t written in chalk,
it’s not meant to be wiped away.
Don’t be scared and defensive about it.
Learn from it and move on.
Use the terrible to be better.
If I had to bet, it will start quite expensive to catch the early adopters and then get cheaper a few years later as the cool kid demand tapers off.