Volkswagen ID Buzz GTX review: When room meets vroom
Volkswagen’s electric bus may be a big box on wheels, but behind the wheel it is a barrel of laughs
[HANOVER] Volkswagen’s ID Buzz is big, but it’s also brawny. Never more so than with the new GTX variant, the most muscle-bound VW van to escape the factory, ever.
The long wait to buy an ID Buzz, a pure electric reincarnation of Volkswagen’s iconic bus, is nearly over, with a Singapore launch slated for September. That’s when a single motor ID Buzz Pro version officially goes on sale here, in two different lengths that come with five, six or seven seats inside.
The incoming Pro is actually updated from 2022’s debut model, with a more efficient 285 horsepower (hp) motor (up from 204 hp) and new features such as a bigger touchscreen with easy-to-use software.
But the GTX turns things up several notches, not only with 340 hp from two electric motors, but with four-wheel drive to lay it down onto the tarmac more cleanly. It’s only arriving in early 2025, exclusively in long wheelbase form, and only in the seven-seat configuration.
And while it may be a big box on wheels, the ID Buzz GTX is a barrel of laughs. With 560 Newton-metres of instant torque, it rewards every stab at the accelerator pedal with a lively surge to the horizon. The zero to 100 kmh time is 6.7 seconds, which isn’t fast enough to make your palms sweat, but is certainly brisk enough to make you grin like a dog with two tails.
And while it easily musters enough haste to rival, say, a big exec sedan with a V6 turbodiesel engine, the ID Buzz GTX actually has the handling to make the most of its pace. It defies body roll, sticks tenaciously to tarmac, and it’s even well-balanced (although that could well be different if you have the weight of seven people on board). Given the way the GTX picks up speed and slips through bends, this is one van that feels like it wants to be a sports car in a different life.
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It even looks the part, especially in the cherry red paint that’s exclusive to the GTX. It also wears subtle bits of sporty trim on its body, like a slender grille with a criss-cross pattern, arrow-shaped LEDs at the edges of the front bumper, black “GTX” badges on its flanks and larger wheels. Even the cabin is dressed in moody black fabric, with red stitching for a spicy bit of contrast.
The sea of black does help the GTX look suitably sporty inside, but the Pro version’s bright interior colours do more to add to the ID Buzz’s cheerful appeal, if you ask me.
Still, something common to both interiors is an enormous amount of room. The long wheelbase version has a 25-cm stretch, which adds plenty of real estate to an already big car, so it’s tough to imagine anyone longing for more space, whichever seat they’ve chosen on board.
I didn’t know this until going on the ID Buzz’s media launch, but it’s actually built by Volkswagen’s commercial vehicle arm (which offers a panel van version called the ID Buzz Cargo that’s also coming to our shores).
That explains the cheap, hard plastics on the car’s dashboard and doors, although they do look like they would survive a nuclear blast, let alone vigorous scrubbing.
It also explains why the ID Buzz can swallow half an Ikea store. Folding the middle and third row seats leaves you with 2,469 litres of cargo space, and if you need even more you can lift the third row chairs out altogether, but only if you’re reasonably muscular (trust me on this).
The commercial vehicle origin is also why Germans lovingly refer to a VW bus as a “Bulli”; the word is a portmanteau of “bus” and “lieferwagen”, or delivery van.
But while the electric Bulli has plenty of physical presence, it doesn’t actually have a huge footprint. Even in long wheelbase form, the ID Buzz is shorter than, say, a BMW 5 Series (though it’s slightly wider), so it shouldn’t be a nightmare on Singapore roads.
It offers a great view from the driver’s seat, the steering is light and the ergonomics make sense. I suppose it makes sense that a multi-purpose vehicle would be so friendly and easy-going, even if it is a powerful Bulli.
Volkswagen ID Buzz GTX LWB 7-Seat Motor power/torque 340 hp/560 Nm Battery type/net capacity Lithium-ion/79 kWh Charging type/time 8 hours zero to 100 per cent at 11 kW AC, 1 hour 20 minutes 10 to 80 per cent at 50 kW DC, 30 minutes 10 to 80 per cent at 200 kW DC (estimated) Range 420 km (estimated) 0-100 kmh 6.7 seconds Top speed 160 kmh Efficiency 21.2 kWh/100 km Agent Volkswagen Group Singapore Price On application Available Now
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