The Volkswagen ID.Buzz is impressive up front, with loads of head and legroom and a really airy feel. Thank the deep windscreen that's nearly vertical, the tall side windows and the little quarter lights splitting the pillars for that.
Adjustment in the seats and steering wheel is plentiful, with the digital dials mounted to the moving steering column. Electric seat adjustment is optional unless you go for 1st Edition trim, however. The ID.Buzz Cargo feels just as roomy up front, avoiding the legroom restriction some vans with partitions behind the seats suffer from.
There's also an excellent amount of storage up front, with dual pockets in each door, various rubberised compartments in the dash (including the neatly integrated wireless phone charging pad), a decent-sized glovebox and a removable centre console with cupholders, two further cupholders in a fold-out cubby and a deep drawer. The ID.Buzz Cargo does away with the latter when fitted with three seats, but makes up for it with a huge crevice across the top of the dash with additional cupholders.
In the back of the passenger ID.Buzz you'll find plenty of leg and headroom, and the wide cabin plus the lack of a transmission tunnel means three can sit comfortably. We're disappointed that there's not three individual seats, rather it's a simple bench, but it does split 60/40 allowing you to slide part of the bench forwards or backwards or recline the seat backs.
Further disappointment comes when you find out VW won't be selling the ID. Buzz with seven or eight seats yet. It blames limited production capacity for that, but it's odd given there are already armrests and cupholders behind the second row ready for them.
The Volkswagen ID.Buzz has a boot capacity of 1121 litres with all five seats in place. That's pretty van-like (well, it is a van), but you can expand it to a huge 2205 litres if you fold down the seat backs.
Folding them does leave a big load lip, but you can counter that with the special 'Multi-Flex Board' offered on Style trim and above. In place with the seats folded it creates a totally flat floor big enough for two to sleep on (we advise bringing a mattress) with a storage area underneath.
The ID.Buzz Cargo has a load space of 3.9m cubed, which is acceptable, and a maximum payload of 650kg, which is pretty off the pace compared with similarly sized vans. Still, it's a design-led product, and VW expects enough businesses to sacrifice payload for that cool factor.
A useful tech feature found on the Volkswagen ID.Buzz is bi-directional charging, like you get on Kia and Hyundai EVs. Essentially this allows you to use the car's battery to power household electrical devices, slow charge other EVs in an emergency and even (with the right wallbox) power your home if you're caught in a power cut.
The Volkswagen ID.Buzz's dimensions make it 4712mm long, 1985mm wide and 1937mm tall. It's not far off the width of a Range Rover, then, and quite tall, but it's not much longer than a typical family estate. Impressive, given the space inside.
Given the premium price tag, you'd expect a step up in quality compared to the ID.3 or ID.4. And the Volkswagen ID.Buzz succeeds there - providing a high quality cabin that raises the bar compared to van-based alternatives. Inside, you'll find a mixture of hard-wearing plastics and plusher trims, soft-touch door armrests and (on higher spec models) a splash of wood and textured finishes on the dash.
We also like the white dashboard and colourful seat fabrics available, which give a splash of character. It's worth noting that the more basic ID.Buzz Cargo is mostly black and gloomier as a result, but at least there's a big glass area to bring light in.
There are no animal products used in the interior of the ID. Buzz. You'll either find recycled plastics or a special material called Seaqual, which is partly made from plastics recovered from the ocean.
All versions of the passenger-carrying Volkswagen ID.Buzz get the same central infotainment screen mounted on a plinth so it's within the driver's line of sight. It's a 10-inch display of the same design as you'll find in other Volkswagen ID models.
While the display is pretty responsive and crisp to look at, the controls remain our biggest gripe with the Volkswagen ID.Buzz. Just like other electric VWs, the temperature controls and volume sliders below the screen aren't backlit and are irritating to use on the move. We're not keen on the touch-sensitive buttons on the steering wheel, either.
Navigation is standard, too, as well as wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay should you prefer to use Waze or Google Maps instead. You also get a simple but effective 5.3-inch digital dial display on every version as well as wireless phone charging and seven USB-C ports.
Optionally available (or standard in the 1st Edition) is a bigger 12-inch touchscreen display which in our view is nice-to-have but not essential.
Child seats that fit a Volkswagen ID.Buzz
Our unique Car Seat Chooser shows you which child car seats will fit this car and which seat positions that they will fit, so that you don't have to check every car seat manufacturer's website for compatibility.
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