ROAD TEST - VW ID.BUZZ
There aren’t many new van launches that have caused as much of a stir as the ID.Buzz. Nor many van launches that we would be interested in for VolksWorld, yet the latest addition to Volkswagen’s electric ID line up has stirred something in our soul.
VW’s long-awaited reinterpretation of the original Split Screen Transporter has the same visual impact as the Concept One that was unveiled in 1994. A follow-up Bus version has long been talked about but it took until 2017 for an actual car to break cover on a Californian beach. It has taken until 2023, however, for it to become available to buy at your local VW dealership.
Where the revived version of the Beetle compromised the original Beetle concept by stretching its vaguely rear-engine body shape over a front-wheel-drive platform borrowed from the Golf, the ID.Buzz feels quite authentic. Its toaster-like silhouette sits on a flat floor with an air-cooled motor at the rear wheels, just like the original, except this one runs on batteries.
Chocolate box
Ditching the combustion engine is important to VW. The ID.Buzz shares its EV-only platform with the ID.3 hatchback, so the battery is underneath the cabin between the axles and split into modules like a bar of chocolate, while the electric motor and
