By: Eric Peters
The VW ID. Buzz looks good — if you like the look of the old VW Microbus, which this electric bus was designed to evoke. And that’s about all it has in common with it.
The original Microbus was compact, light, and affordable — with a rear-mounted, air-cooled engine and rear-wheel drive. It was slow, sure, but it was also fun, simple, and inexpensive to own. It was never meant to be a luxury item.
Fast forward to the ID. Buzz.
This one is heavy. It weighs nearly 6,000 pounds — almost as much as a full-size half-ton pickup. All that weight is mostly due to the batteries that power it, which are necessary because the thing is electric, and electric vehicles are power-hungry.
But those batteries also make it expensive.
The Buzz has a base price of around $60,000. That’s about $20,000 more than a Chrysler Pacifica minivan or a Toyota Sienna — both of which weigh less, cost less, and go a lot farther on a tank of gas than the Buzz does on a full charge.
The range is around 260 miles — if you don’t use the air conditioning too much. Using it eats into the range, just as heater use in winter does. That’s a fun little quirk of electric vehicles: The more you use them like normal cars, the less like normal cars they behave.
In the Microbus, you could roll down the window or pop open a vent. No range penalty for being comfortable.
And that’s the point: The old Microbus wasn’t pretending to be something it wasn’t. It was honest — even charmingly so. It didn’t try to be high-tech or high-end. It was for people who wanted a people’s car — a car for getting around, not showing off.
The ID. Buzz, meanwhile, feels more like a brand exercise than a transportation solution.
You can almost hear the conversation in the boardroom:
“Let’s make something that looks like the old Microbus. The boomers will love it. The younger crowd will love the retro thing. And the government will love it because it’s electric.”
Well, maybe.
But maybe not — especially when people realize they’re paying $60,000 for what amounts to an underperforming nostalgia piece.
Imagine if VW had put a modern turbo-diesel engine in the Buzz. A TDI-powered bus could probably go 600 miles on a tank and cost $15,000 less. It could also be lighter, simpler, and — dare we say — more fun to drive.
But instead, we get this: an EV that looks cool in your driveway but might not get you to your weekend camping trip and back — not without a long stop at a fast charger (assuming one’s available).
So, yes — it looks OK.
But the soul of the Microbus?
That got left behind in the rush to go electric.
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The views and opinions expressed in this blog post are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the National Motorists Association. We believe in fostering open dialogue and welcome diverse perspectives on issues affecting motorists. If you would like to submit a response or opposing viewpoint, we encourage you to contribute. Please email us at greg@motorists.org for submission guidelines.
