The VW Buzz is a superhero, here to save us from villainous SUVs

Irish Times

2 days ago

Volkswagen ID.Buzz
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Year
:
2025
Fuel
:
Electric
Verdict
:
Funky styling on the outside, unmatched space on the inside, and a decent range makes the Buzz the best electric seven-seater by far.
I've had a bowdlerised version of the original 1966 Batman theme song rattling through my head all week. However, instead of the exultant 'Batman!' at the end of the 'Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na' prefix, I've been calling out 'BatBuzz!' instead.
Childish but I can't help myself. The all-over 'Deep Black Pearlescent' paintwork of this long-wheelbase, seven-seat Volkswagen ID. Buzz test car, a model more normally seen and photographed in bright, often two-tone pastels, just makes it look very Bruce Wayne spec. The effect is to make the big VW MPV appear a bit sterner and more serious-minded.
VW ID.Buzz seven-seater
It also helps to, somewhat, disguise the extra size of this long-wheelbase model. Ever since the first generation of ID.Buzz arrived in 2022, its five-seat-only layout has been a slight disappointment. Surely if Dacia can squeeze seven seats into a compact
Jogger
, then VW could do the same with the tall and roomy Buzz? Well, yes it can, it just wanted to add a bit of extra length first.
In fact, VW has added an extra 250mm overall to the length of the Buzz to create this long-wheelbase version, all of which is inserted into the wheelbase, stretching the gap between the wheel centres front-to-rear to 3.2m. The Buzz has managed to stay, just, within five metres of overall length, which means it just about fits into a standard parking bay. It's also about the same overall length as VW's lower-slung ID.7 Tourer estate, so while the Buzz looks huge, that's more to do with its height than its length.
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VW ID.Buzz seven-seater
Then again, that height and length really pay off. You see, most seven-seat cars on the market these days are SUVs, which are wasteful. I don't just mean of fuel and emissions (although, heaven knows, those too) but of space. SUVs are big, tall and long and yet they sacrifice much of that cubic space to long bonnets and lofty ride heights, which means their interiors are often much less spacious and practical than they at first appear.
The Buzz, by contrast, is a true, proper MPV, sharing its cavernous body with a commercial van, and therefore turning over almost all of that height, and virtually all of that length, to passenger space.
VW ID.Buzz seven-seater
VW ID.Buzz seven-seater
VW ID.Buzz seven-seater
Sit up front in the Buzz, and aside from the – broadly impressive, although more proper buttons would be welcome – 12.9-inch touchscreen, little enough has changed. You have the same comfy, lofty seating position (you can eyeball Land Rover Defender drivers), the same Vista-Vision widescreen view out the front, which just makes you realise how hard it is to see out of so many other big cars.
Hop in the back, though – through the never-not-fun electric sliding side doors – and there is a big change. Legroom was never an issue in the five-seat Buzz, but here in the seven-seater, there's simply masses of space. Even in fairly roomy cars, I can usually at least brush my knees off the back of the front seat, but not here. I can almost stretch my legs out straight, when the adjustable rear bench has been slid to its furthest-aft position. Better still, the entirely flat floor and the broad middle seat means that there's actually room, and comfort, for three full-grown adults here.
Usually, pushing a set of adjustable middle-row seats all the way back means that anyone in the third row has to have a knee-ectomy, or at least cram their legs up into their armpits. Not so in the Buzz – row three is not only easy to access (the big sliding side doors and the tilt-and-slide middle row make getting in and out much easier than in rival SUV models) but there's still ample legroom and headroom in there, even if you're built like me. I'm officially classified as 'husky'.
VW ID.Buzz seven-seater
Behind, with all seven seats in use, there's a mere 306 litres of boot space left over, but flip row three down flat, and you have an enormous 1,300 litres to play with. For high-spec models such as this Style version, there's also a raised section of boot floor to give you a flat-load space across the backs of those seats. The raised section has a lid, allowing you to easily stash charging cables and so on underneath, and you can remove it to get a lower boot floor, but that involves screwdrivers and spanners, so it's probably best left alone. Two issues will give you loadspace pause, though. One: there's nowhere to store the retracting luggage cover if the back seats are in use or if you want to load up to the roof. Two: the top-hinged tailgate is so big that you need to leave considerable room behind you when parking so as to be able to open it. Side-hinged barn doors would be better.
A longer Buzz means a bigger battery, so this version gets an 86kWh unit, compared with the 77kWh of the standard five-seat Buzz. That makes for an improved range, rising from about 420km for the five-seat version to up to circa 470km here. In the real world, the difference is quite significant. In previous test drives of the five-seat Buzz, range generally works out to a realistic 350km or so. Here in the seven-seater, range is more like 430km in real-world conditions, which is much more useful, and we easily matched VW's claimed 21kWh/100km energy consumption figure. Put it this way: in one day I drove from Dublin to Wexford and then on to Belfast, using mostly motorways, with only one quick 25-minute stop for a recharge, arriving home with 35 per cent remaining charge in the battery. That's more than decent, and with charging now possible at up to 200kW from a high-powered DC charger, that turns the Buzz into a viable long-haul machine.
Which is its perfect role. The suspension, generally good at ironing out the worst tarmac, does tend to occasionally heave and jerk on rough urban streets as it attempts to keep the Buzz's 2.6-tonne weight under control. On bigger roads it's much better, although motorways are not the Buzz's natural environment. Much better to take windier main roads, stick to about 80-100km/h and enjoy both the surprisingly direct steering, and that glorious view of the countryside.
It's an expensive thing, the seven-seat Buzz – our test car clocked in at €75,350, but that does need contextualising. First off, that's in line with all-electric seven-seat rivals such as the Kia EV9, yet the Buzz has more space. It has as much usable space as, say, a Mercedes EQV, but is – wait for it – €50,000 cheaper, and has better range on one charge.
Batman might be good at rescuing the citizens of Gotham City, but the seven-seat Buzz is here to save us from SUVs.
Lowdown: Volkswagen ID.Buzz Style Seven Seat
Power
210kW e-motor developing 286hp and 550Nm of torque, powering the rear wheels via a single-speed automatic transmission.
CO2 emissions (annual motor tax)
0g/km (€120).
Electric consumption
19.5-21.0 kWh/100km (WLTP).
Electric range
453-487km (WLTP)
0-100km/h
7.9 sec.
Price
€75,350 as tested, ID.Buzz starts from €67,785.