7-Seater Is Finally What The VW ID. Buzz Should Have Been At Launch

When the VW ID. Buzz arrived in 2023, everyone loved the way it looked. When I test-drove it, no other car evoked so many positive comments from passersby and friends. However, it felt like an unfinished product. This was the five-seater. It had loads of luggage space, but the lack of a third row of seats was a missed opportunity, and there were other niggles too. Now, at long last, the seven-seater long wheelbase version has arrived in the UK. I got to spend some quality time with it. I didn’t really want to give it back.

VW ID. Buzz LWB: More Seats, Bigger Batteries

With the introduction of the seven-seater version of the ID. Buzz, there are now four body variants for the van. The original five-seater version remains with the short wheelbase chassis, but this has been joined by a six-seater using the short wheelbase, a six-seater with the long wheelbase, and a seven-seater variant using the long wheelbase. The long wheelbase is slightly shorter in the US. The powertrain has also been upgraded across the board. The original 204 PS rear motor has been significantly improved to Volkswagen’s latest AP550 286 PS unit – a 42% increase in power.

The five-seater partners this motor with a 79kWh (net) battery, up from the 77kWh unit of the original Buzz. The six-seater can also use this battery, or you can opt for an even bigger 86kWh unit, which also necessitates the long wheelbase. The seven-seater only comes with the larger battery. There are then Life and Style equipment levels to choose from. Topping off the range is a GTX 4MOTION ID. Buzz, which offers dual motors and all-wheel drive providing 340 PS. This variant is also available with all four body variants.

There are commercial versions of the VW ID. Buzz that go head-to-head with cargo-focused electric vans such as the Farizon SV, but the Volkswagen is more general-purpose in focus. The six- and seven-occupant versions now have a third row of seats. With the seven-seater, there are three places in the second row, then you can flip the seat on either side forward to enable access to the third row, which only has two. These aren’t small with limited head and legroom like on many seven-seater SUVs, such as the Mercedes EQB. They are perfectly comfortable for adults and offer almost as much space as the second row.

The middle seat in the second row is also almost as wide as the outer ones, meaning it’s viable to have three adults side-by-side. The downside is that the back doesn’t fold forward to make an armrest with cupholders. Instead, passengers in this row will have to use the aircraft-style tray tables integrated into the seats in front for their cups. The third-row passengers have cupholders in the side panels.

One of my biggest gripes with the original five-seater Buzz was the lack of ventilation for rear-seat passengers. That has now been remedied, and very well indeed. There are vents available for both rear rows, and the climate control is quad-zone, giving the second-row passengers on each side their own ceiling-based controls to change temperature and fan speed. The side doors are motorized, too, and are a bit wider than on the five-seater to facilitate access.

The VW ID. Buzz seven-seater is a very comfy form of transport for seven adults but it’s the cargo carrying capacity that makes this vehicle so very special. With all three rows of seats in place, the luggage space in the back is a hatchback-like 306 liters. But you can of course drop the third row of seats forward to provide 1,340 liters, around the same as a compact station wagon. There’s a shelf behind that, which ensures the floor of this space is still flat. Two storage bins underneath provide space for charging cables and other vehicle paraphernalia.

If you need a bit more capacity and only have two people in the car, you can also drop the second row of seats forward, with a 60/40 split. That makes 2,469 liters of cargo space, which is 350 liters more than the five-seater. Still not enough for you? That shelf, the bins, and both the third-row seats can all be removed. Unlatching the seats is easy but they are heavy, so you will need to be strong to carry them out. This gives you a massive total space. Of course, you can take out the third row and still have five seats, while having as much luggage space as most SUVs – when they’re carrying just two people.

The ID. Buzz doesn’t have the natty array of buttons found in the back of the Kia EV9 to operate its seven-seat system. But then it doesn’t have the space available with the Buzz. By removing the third row of seats and dropping forward the 60% portion of the second row, I was able to transport all the pieces for a London art fair, along with myself and two passengers.

If that’s not enough, an optional £980 towbar is available. A button drops this down, after which you must manually pull it until it locks into place. When not in use, it can be stowed back where it came from. The Buzz can tow 1,000kg braked or 750kg unbraked, so not enough for a caravan but a small boat or cargo trailer would be fine.

Driving The VW ID. Buzz Seven-Seater

The considerable extra power over the original Buzz is very noticeable with this upgraded version. The launch version took a pedestrian 10.2 seconds to reach 62mph, but the new seven-seater drops this to 7.9 seconds, which a decade ago was considered quite quick for any car and is still rapid for a van. The dual-motor GTX 4MOTION version is even quicker, hitting 62mph in just 6.4 seconds.

You will be surprised how well the Buzz can get off the lights or complete an overtake on a highway. Although it weighs 2.8 tons, most of that mass is low down. This is also a rear-wheel drive vehicle, so the steering is quite light. You won’t want to hit a bend too fast, but at the right speed the dynamics are quite fun. This is a huge vehicle for city streets, however. The smooth power delivery and light steering make it quite maneuverable, but you always have to be careful with the length.

One thing I really appreciated during my test driving, which involved a lot of country roads at night, was the Matrix LED headlight system. This divides the beam into pixels and only dips the LEDs directly pointed at oncoming traffic or a vehicle directly in front. It meant I always had the bushes by the side of the road illuminated while not blinding other road users, which felt safer than traditional auto dipping main beams.

VW ID. Buzz: Range Improvement

While the range of the original Buzz wasn’t terrible, it also wasn’t quite as much as you’d hope for in a vehicle that has potential for family country trips. The bigger 86kWh battery isn’t a huge leap from the original 77kWh one, but it does mean that the Life trim seven-seater now offers 291 WLTP miles of range – quite a boost from the original 255 miles. The Style has larger wheels so the range drops to 285 miles, and the example I borrowed had 21in rims, which will further reduce this figure.

During my testing, which involved a lot of long journeys on A-roads and highways, I managed 2.4 miles per kWh. This would equate to 206 miles. However, my Buzz also didn’t have the £1,050 heat pump option and the weather was cold. I was also driving mostly in Comfort mode with a fair amount of enthusiasm, so I suspect greater range is possible if you drop to Eco and make more sparing use of the accelerator pedal. I achieved more like 2.7 miles per kWh with the original Buzz, giving it similar real-world range.

However, the 86kWh battery also supports DC charging up to 200kW (the original maxed out at 170kW), which means you can still recharge from 5 to 80% in 30 minutes. In other words, a half-hour break every two hours at motorway speeds will make long journeys viable. I completed several near-three-hour journeys with a mix of A-road and motorway speeds and only needed to charge at the destinations. With a vehicle that is so well configured for taking your family places, this is exactly what you need.

VW ID. Buzz: Price and Conclusion

Although everyone loves the VW ID. Buzz, there’s a reason why you don’t see more of them on the streets – they’re expensive. They started around £59,000 ($76,000) at launch, and this remains the case. The six-seater is £150 ($190) more and the seven-seater £510 ($650) on top of that. It’s then £4,800 ($6,200) for the Style over the Life, and then £3,600 ($4,650) more for the GTX 4MOTION, making the latter £67,435 ($87,000) in five-seater form. My test vehicle, which was a seven-seater Style with a premium two-tone green paint option with the Comfort Seat option, would set you back a princely £71,615 ($92,500).

That’s a lot of money when you consider the premium luxury EVs you can get for a similar figure. However, while the price hasn’t dropped, the seven-seater option has increased the utility of the VW ID. Buzz considerably. Almost all my criticisms of the Buzz at launch have been dealt with. I’d still like to see a battery around 100kWh, although I suspect that this hasn’t been offered yet because it would push the weight over three tons, and reduce the cargo capacity accordingly, so we’ll probably have to wait for denser batteries for that.

Even without it, the seven-seater VW ID. Buzz is an incredibly desirable vehicle. The size means it won’t be ideal for city dwellers, but if you live in a more suburban or country environment, have a large family or frequently take a regular-sized one on outdoor trips with lots of equipment, it’s uniquely brilliant. It costs a lot, but at least now the full potential of the platform has been realized. This is what the Buzz was always meant to be.