It’s no secret that people have been clamoring for a reborn Volkswagen bus for decades, and it’s finally about to happen in America. However, pricing has always been a lingering concern in the backs of everyone’s minds. Would Volkswagen aim to cash in on cultural appeal, or will the brand keep things competitive? It turns out the reality is somewhere in the middle, with Volkswagen pricing the ID. Buzz from $61,545 including a $1,550 freight charge. That’s not terrible for a dedicated three-row EV, even if the Volkswagen ID. Buzz will likely be a cult product rather than a mainstream thing.
So what do you get for $61,545? Well, you get pretty much everything you’d really want in an electric family hauler. We’re talking heated and ventilated front seats with lumbar massage, power sliding doors, 20-inch wheels, three-zone climate control, eight USB ports, a 12.9-inch touchscreen infotainment system, a nine-speaker stereo, and a slightly disappointing yet entirely reasonable-for-a-flying-brick EPA range of 234 miles.
However, you cannot get all-wheel-drive on the base Pro S trim, or paint that isn’t greyscale, meaning you’d need to step up to the Pro S Plus to even gain the option of spinning all four wheels. For $65,045 including freight, the Pro S Plus adds an easy opening function for the sliding doors and liftgate, a 14-speaker Harman/Kardon sound system, a tow hitch, a heads-up display, a movable false floor for the cargo area, and panoramic camera system. That seems like decent feature content for a $3,500 upcharge, but if you want to pay even more, options open up.
For instance, two-tone paint will run you $995, while captain’s chairs in the second row run an additional $695 on the rear-wheel-drive model, and come standard on the Pro S Plus AWD, which adds a front motor, a heated windshield, the captain’s chairs, and a whopping $4,500 over the rear-wheel-drive model for a grand total of $69,545 including freight, with the caveat of reducing range by a mere three miles to 231. Want to tip the scales over $70,000? Add either a panoramic glass roof for $1,495, the aforementioned two-tone paint, or both, why not? Even at just over $70,000, a fully loaded three-row EV with massaging front seats for that sort of money doesn’t seem exorbitant.
Oh, and if exclusivity’s on your mind, Volkswagen’s also offering an ID. Buzz 1st Edition, stickering for $67,045 for the rear-wheel-drive model and $71,545 for the all-wheel-drive model. It gets a weird mix of equipment, ditching the tow hitch, available heated windshield, and heads-up display offered on the Pro S Plus model but getting an electrochromic electronically-tintable panoramic moonroof, a roof rack, the two-tone paint, special wheels, special floor mats, special badging, and what Volkswagen refers to as “Special owner’s gifts.” If you’re a fan of Cheech and Chong, you can refer to them as paraphernalia. It’s all love.
Alright, so the Volkswagen ID. Buzz is expensive for a family hauler, but considering the three-row Kia EV9 starts at $56,395, it’s not a bad value if you truly need three rows, want an EV, and are feature-driven. Hell, even a loaded Toyota Sienna stickers for $54,595 including freight, so on feature content and practicality, the ID. Buzz actually seems well-positioned. Do we wish it was cheaper? Absolutely, but we knew this was a premium product from the start. Expect the first examples to finally roll into American showrooms before the year is through.
(Photo credits: Volkswagen)
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With the ludicrous base options like massaging seats, it seems like they might be planning to de-content it over time to offer lower trims as the economies of scale catch up and the platform becomes cheaper to manufacture. Probably just wishful thinking on my part, but one can hope. Still incredibly depressing to see colors as a paid extra.
I don’t know VW’s plans for this in the US, but lower trims would probably be plain white cargo versions.
The Type 2 was affordable transportation for everyone. The ID.Buzzkill is a trendy plaything at that price.
They’re asking Audi Q7 money for this and the door bins aren’t even lined with felt.
The price of nostalgia is steep. I’ll just flip through my high school year book and watch Iron Eagle on VHS instead.
70 is the new 30. sigh.
As a guy who grew up on 15 cent hamburgers and 10 cent fries, I totally agree.
It’s like that 5 dollar Big Mac.
$5 Big Mac? Are they on sale somewhere?
$4.79 is the “usual” price here in central Indiana. Although the diameter of the meat seems about 30% smaller than it was back in the day. It’s approaching White Castle patty size and now referred to on Reddit as a “salad sandwich”.
Get it used next year for 30.
This is a huge miss. They’ve prioritized features which drives up the cost all in the hope that it will mask the abysmal range. Its a van that can’t road trip despite the image of “get in and cross the county”. This would’ve made way mores sense to be devoid of most features, fun colors as no-cost options, and as low of a starting price as possible– all the features at a premium.
This !
It would be nice if it were stripped and accessories / options could be added at the dealer. That’s not the dealership model we deal with. Everything sells complete and from pre-ordered inventory. You’ll get the option to add floor mats and wheel locks and your choice of three very nice shades of gray.
The typical argument is that people upgrade trim levels anyway. I suspect it has more to do with desirable trim levels or features not being available. If your choices are one stripped-down fleet version without AC and a lot full of XLT deluxe whatever, you get talked into the more expensive model, even though you only wanted a heated steering wheel.
The ID Buzz has a market, if small, and I’m surprised VW didn’t think of a way to make it into a people’s car. I think a lot of families would consider a new type of minivan over another giant SUV, but not at luxury prices. Massaging seats? How about floormats you can hose off?
I feel like trim levels are carefully planned to force people to upgrade.
I don’t even know of the manufacturers save any money in some cases. You’d think if the top three versions of a car have a 9″ screen and the base model has a 7″ screen in the same place, the mfr would be able to get a better deal on the 9″ by combining the volumes of the cheap and upgraded trims. That also simplifies ordering, service, parts, user manuals, etc. which also saves money.
I do wish we could order the cars we want, how we want them.
It may work out that everyone wants a gray mid-size crossover.
It could also turn out that there is a significant demand for brown diesel manual wagons.
there is a good chance VW is losing money on this even at the 61k asking price. 91kwh battery is likely close to 30 grand.
Not sure where you got $30k…. last I checked costs were about $130/kwh, which puts the battery under $12k. Not cheap, but certainly not the cost of a new Honda Accord as you’re suggesting.
Yes least I knew the market avg. price for lithium ion batteries was at or below $120 per kwh and dropping rapidly, which is supported by this article from PC Mag.
https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2024/03/06/battery-prices-collapsing-grid-tied-energy-storage-expanding/
Tesla’s lithium ion cell manufacturing prices are supposed to already be below $100 per kwh.
And of course prices for LPF per kwh (while not as energy dense) are even lower.
So 120 × 91 = 10,900
+ let’s assume another $2-3k for the battery pack + cooling = $11,900 – 12,900
VW is wildly inefficient at making cars compared to Tesla. W/VW needing +30 hrs. to manufacture 1 single car vs. Tesla which takes just over 10 hrs per unit. Pointing out this reality to VWs notoriously political amd conservatibe board is in fact what got VWs old CEO fired
Much like GM and Ford I expect VW will survive the tech. shift to EV only bc all 3 will be significantly financially bailed out by their respective governments.
Holy crap. They’re only getting ~200 miles out of a 91kwh battery?
This will cause Toecutter physical pain.
it weighs as much as the ford lightning and it has the same size battery so not sure why everyone is surprised lol
Okay, so I’ve been a bus enthusiast since I was old enough to know what they were (and I came home from the hospital on the seat of my parents’ ’73 transporter). I currently have three in the stable — My semi-daily ’79 Westy, a ’75 Westy, and a ’64 Deluxe. I’ve had more buses and Vanagons (but never a Eurovan!) over the years than I can count.
VW’s “new transporter” has been on my radar for the nearly 20 years since they first debuted the concept. If I had a nickel for every time someone has posted “new VW bus news” to my socials over the years maybe I could afford the ID.Buzz.
All that said, I’d like to think that I’m literally the target market for this car. Not only am I a “brand champion,” (we also own a ’19 Alltrack), I’m a middle-aged dude with a corporate management job in a dual-income household with three kids. I like the look of the product. I need three rows. What I decidedly don’t need is the range anxiety that will inevitably result from that 230mi range, when we’re over an hour away from the closest family in a state that’s heavily served by 80mph turnpikes. I also don’t need the payment attached to a $70k price tag.
After all those years of anticipation, I really hoped we’d be in a position to bring one of these home, but it’s just not for us. Bummer.
I agree. By making a number of poor choices on how they equip and price this thing they have lopped away a pretty good portion of the market that might have bough this.
Even a depreciated used one only solves the payment issue. The range problem remains.
Totally irrelevant and useless to boot in most of our country where EV charging is iffy. Twice the price of my E85 powered Transit Connect and if you can find chargers, no less GHG emissions. Another VW failure- Guys, just give me a Caddy and I’ll be happy!
How did this headline get past Tracy and Torch? “Ain’t too bad” is completely off base for a $70k electric VW with only 230 miles of range, doesn’t matter how nice the styling is.
Caddilac lyriq is about the same size and price and you get 300 miles in range out of a 100kwh battery pack.
Exactly, though the Lyric won’t work if you absolutely MUST have 3 rows.
Did we though? I thought this was supposed to be a fairly modest and utilitarian vehicle bringing some added styling flair to the high-$40k to low-$50k minivan market. I didn’t expect it to cost Range Rover money, and for 230miles of range, massaging seats for long road trips seems pretty pointless.
A fully loaded Sienna with AWD, reclining captain’s chairs with ottomans, and a 3500lb towing capacity is $57k.
The EV9 will curb stomp the ID.Buzz at this price point.
It’s no longer premium. It’s a niche play thing for monied people.
Too expensive, no range extender ICE, and s****y capacitive controls. Not for me.
Give me the short wheelbase, smaller battery PHEV with actual switches. And 2 or 3” less wheel / more tire while you’re at it. Give me a modernized Honda Element, original length or a bit longer.
You know, it looks awesome and all, but I just can’t with the price tag.
Way, way too expensive. This is just gonna help KIA sell even more EV9s.
The baby boomers that bought over priced new beetles can now buy overpriced VW buses.
Orr, for $79k, you can get a 8 passenger eSprinter with a 206 mile range, and arguably better capability. (only 110kw charging tho :c )
I wasn’t expecting it to be 30 grand, but I definitely wasn’t expecting it to be 70k after tax for the cheapest AWD version.
Not too bad?
When new, the 1973 Type 2 that my family used to have cost the 2024 equivalent of slightly less than $25,000.
So… you’re right. It’s not “too bad.” It absolutely sucks.
No. Way. Count me out.
I’ve been waiting for the Buzz since it was announced seven years ago. An electric minivan is basically perfect for us. I could even overlook the fact that the range is somehow worse than the EU version despite the upgraded supersize-me battery.
But with a price tag like that, I’m no closer to getting one now than I was back then.
…Welp.
Agree on your point here. I’ve been a VW/Audi guy most of my life and always wanted a VW van due to my nostalgia for the original bus despite not being a minivan guy. Looks like leasing may be the only viable option on these, but the range to cost ratio here is extremely disappointing. At least the interior looks nice. :-/
I was all about it too, even laying the groundwork for the wife with our 2 kiddos and dog last year. They waited too long and we went with a used Ioniq 5 for sub $25k tax credit instead. We’ll grab one of these vans when its under $30k.
Two years. It will be less than half.
50% depreciation in two years is possible for the also-ran EVs, but not the popular ones. A 2021 Mach-e usually sells for 70% of its original price (sans tax credit).
Considering the demand for the Buzz, combined with the lack of competition, I expect it’ll take 3-4 years before it’s in my price bracket.
They may have to do a refresh in less than 2 model years to offer more range and hopefully better controls / interface.
If that happens, the low-range ones will probably take a hit on the used market. It all depends on how many people are willing to take the plunge at this price.
DOA at that price point.
What the heck is VW doing? This should have price parity to a Traverse, not a Tahoe.
They teased us way too long. I kinda lost interest a couple concepts back
As I said so long ago: The ID Buzz is the anti-VW Van.
Expensive, Heavy, Complex (unnecessarily so), etc.
VW shot themselves in the foot with the US launch. They should set up a production line in the US like the originally planned. That way we could have cargo models.
Lately I’ve been getting the sense that VW just isn’t that interested in selling anything here other than bloated cheap(er) SUV’s made here. Everything else is just too much work.
All EVs are heavy and complex.
Heavy batteries, yes. Complex, not so much. There are many, many fewer moving parts and very little maintenance required. And the air behind them smells much better.
That’s a hell of a lot of money for profoundly unacceptable range. I don’t think it’s that good of a deal, especially because the range will ensure this thing depreciates like mad even more than regular EV depreciation.
I just want to note that Kia EV9’s range is ~40 miles better. And about 20K more gets you 450 miles of range from the Silverado EV, which is approaching double.
Given that general advice is to not charge EVs over 80% except on road trips, that’s about 185 miles of commute range. Note that my Model Y Dual Motor at 80% gives me around 240 miles of commute range (and 300 overall). And that’s got 7 seats with still room in the back. I’ve had six people in the car (four adults, two teens) and it’s surprisingly doable. So for $25K more than the Tesla I get… a better third row, some more storage (not a ton more), and a lot less power and range.
wait a year and you can get them for $40k
This article title is insane. How is a minimum of $61k “not too bad”? When are manufacturers going to offer affordable (I mean like $20k for a car and $30k for a van/SUV thing) options for us? Europe is crawling with cute and cheerful electric hatchbacks that are actually reasonably priced.
If a family is looking for an electric minivan, this will be out of reach for probably 90% of them.
The author, Thomas is so out of touch if he thinks this is priced not so bad.
He should write about other things thanks cars, cause this article made him lost most of his credibility. Wonder how much gifts he got from VW to write this.
Any article involving an automaker giving us anything, be it lodging, travel, or gifts, will have a disclosure statement at the top. VW sent an email blast to publications and Thomas wrote an article about it. You’re reading his actual opinion!
I 100% believe this as The Autopian has clearly followed the rules for good journalistic integrity since its inception, and I would be shocked if any writers did not disclose any relationship, financial or otherwise, with the relevant automaker.
That said, Thomas is still 100% out of touch to call the price of a $61k minivan not too bad, and not to call out VW for the abysmal kWh rating is also a notable oversight.
Want to get depressed? Look at the prices for similarly-equipped Sienna and Pacifica hybrids. Even with tax credits (for the Pacifica), they blow past the $55k mark.
The Buzz pricing is objectively insane, but it’s “not bad” in the context of the competition, which is also insane.
$55k for a loaded Sienna is still a far cry from $70k, and you’ll get a lot more range and reliability with it.
A three row Mercedes EQB AWD electric SUV is under $70k, though range suffers at 200-ish miles.
The Kia EV9 AWD is $64k, and that has 280miles of range plus 800v architecture for very fast charging.
At the risk of sounding like I’m taking VW’s side here, the Buzz Pro S is $61k, $54k after the lease loophole. It has the same features as the $55k Sienna Platinum and $62k ($54k post-credit) Pacifica Hybrid Pinnacle. The Buzz is overpriced because everything else is overpriced, too.
The EQB and EV9 are good vehicles for their own sakes, but crossovers are poor substitutes for vans. The EV9 is nearly the size of one of these vans, but with only 58% of the cargo volume.