2025 Volkswagen ID Buzz Is Retro Greatness From Every Angle

Volkswagen had us drive our Buzzs (Buzzi?) down San Fransciso’s famous Lombard Street for a photo opp. It made one great visual.

The ID Buzz may be a great design, but it’s still a van at the end of the day, and that’s a very good thing.

I don’t have any issues with an ID Buzz being $70,000, but I do have some issues with the fact it feels sort of cheap in here. There’s a lot of very eh plastic to be found throughout.

Even with the third row in position, VW says there are over 18 cubic feet of cargo space. You can really make the most of it with the Flexboard system as well.

Those three streaks on the side don’t have any functional use, but they harken back to older VW vans, and I’m a fan of that.

The headlights should be circular, I’m sorry. I know this is ID’s corporate face, but they’re just the wrong shape.

I would have really liked the gauge cluster to be bigger, but I supposed it’s better than nothing as more and more cars put everything in the center screen.

These seats are very comfy and adjustable. They make up for a lot of the more subpar aspects of the interior.

I drove over that a few minutes later.

There are non-retro rims available for the ID Buzz, but you would be a fool to not get these.

VW’s infotainment system is greatly improved for the Buzz. It’s nowhere near as laggy or confusing as the previous version.

Two-tone paint is a $995 extra, but with eight combos to choose from, you need to go for it. It just fits the van far better than any regular, solid paint color does.

With the rear seats removed and the second row folded, Volkswagen says the ID Buzz has more cargo volume than a Chevy Suburban.

I don’t care if this is a gimmick. The whole care is a gimmick.

The door may be made of ridiculously scratchy, hard plastic, but there’s no denying it isn’t practical. You could fit at least 600 water bottles in there (and even more kine bud.

This little hatch feels aggressively cheap, and what’s under it isn’t exactly pretty. None of that matters though, because not a single ID Buzz owner will ever open it.

How about we pretend this is the engine and use this space to talk power specs for a moment? Sound good? Great!

There are two drivetrain options you can get in the Buzz. There’s either a rear-motor, rear-wheel-drive setup or a dual-motor, all-wheel-drive configuration. VW says the RWD power unit puts out 282 horsepower and 413 pound-feet of torque and has an EPA-estimated 234 miles of range from its 91-kWh battery. Meanwhile, the AWD Buzz makes a combined 335 horsepower. VW isn’t publishing a combined number for torque, but it says the front motor puts out 99 lb-ft, and the rear motor puts out an identical 413 to the RWD model. The AWD Buzz’s range is quoted by the EPA at 231 miles from that same battery. Both versions come with an 11-kW AC onboard charger, and the Buzz can DC fast-charge at up to 200 kW.

With this amount of legroom in the second row, the ID Buzz’s back seat makes for a great place to spend some time.

Even in the third row, there’s a ton of legroom and headroom for me at 6-foot-1. You’ll never be able to beat the space of a van.

The sea is where it should be.

All of this tech works fairly well, but the capacitive touch buttons for volume and climate control leave a little bit to be desired (and so do the non-leather material choices). The steering wheel feels like a quality item, though!

Let’s talk about prices really quickly, while we’re on the subject of quality. There are three trim levels: Pro S, Pro S Plus and 1st Edition. The Pro S is RWD only, and the two latter trims have AWD as an option AWD. The Pro S starts at $61,545, and there are no options available. Next up is the RWD Pro S Plus, which starts at $65,045, and fork over $69,545 and you’ll get the Pro S Plus AWD. You can add two-tone paint ($995) and an electrochromic panoramic glass roof ($1,495) to either of those. Finally, you’ve got the limited-time-only 1st Edition that comes with everything. RWD versions of that van start at $67,045, and the AWD 1st Edition will set you back $71,545. All of these prices include $1,550 for destination. These aren’t small numbers, but the ID Buzz gets most of the way to justify them.

While pulled over on the side of the road shooting pictures of ID Buzz in Northern California, two folks in a German-market Volkswagen Crafter camper van stopped to take a look at the Buzz. These two German 20-somethings were taken aback by how great the car looked, and they wanted to know everything about it (including if a camper version of it was coming). People really dig this thing, man.

So, that’s the VW ID Buzz from every angle. Despite the flaws this van might have, it’s hard to deny that it isn’t a great-looking piece of design. I’m very excited to see these popping up across the U.S., making traffic a bit less drab.