2025 Volkswagen ID. Buzz Reveal: What's New, Photos, Specs, and More

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Article QuickTakes:

• 2025 Volkswagen ID. Buzz's styling is a callback to the Microbus
• The ID. Buzz looks retro but is full of modern tech
• VW ID. Buzz by the numbers: What's its driving range?
• What will the ID. Buzz cost and compete with?

Many fans of Volkswagen's visually iconic Bus have waited a long time for this moment. For decades, VW has titillated the faithful with concept vehicles promising the return of the legendary Microbus wrapped in a modern, technologically advanced package.

And now, the automaker may finally be doing right by that faithful fan base. The 2025 Volkswagen ID. Buzz can be seen as the classic Bus reincarnated in electric vehicle form. Talk about flower power!

When the 2025 ID. Buzz arrives in dealer showrooms in 2024, it will offer seating for up to seven people, several cargo-carrying configurations, and rear-wheel drive or all-wheel drive (AWD).

2025 Volkswagen ID. Buzz highlights:

• New electric minivan
• Styled to recall the iconic VW Microbus
• Rear-wheel drive or AWD
• Up to an estimated 330 horsepower
• Seats up to seven people among three rows
• Launch model well-equipped with standard features
• Improved next-generation infotainment system
• Standard IQ.Drive advanced driving-assistance system
• On sale in 2024

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2025 Volkswagen ID. Buzz Styling

Although the old Microbus and the new ID. Buzz have little in common beyond their large VW emblems, sliding side doors, rear-mounted powerplants, and available two-tone paint, the new ID. Buzz can still stoke nostalgia for the 1960s. If you take a step back from your memories of the Microbus, the ID. Buzz is a toaster on wheels — but if you embrace your sentimentality for the Bus, the ID. Buzz can be an irresistible object of desire. And that's why I, Captain Obvious, think it will be a huge hit.

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2025 Volkswagen ID. Buzz Interior

Climb aboard the ID. Buzz and you'll find power-adjustable front seats with armrests on each side. The driver and front passenger sit tall, facing a retro-detailed dashboard with modern digital gauges and a large infotainment touchscreen. The towering windshield is far away, and its pillars are split with windows in the middle to help create a panoramic view forward.

A second-row bench seat is standard, with individual captain's chairs available. The power sliding side windows recall the Microbus and an available panoramic sunroof with electrochromic tint bathes the cabin in natural light.

A two-person third-row bench seat folds down to expand the cargo room, or you can remove it from the van to maximize volume. The second-row seats also fold or slide nearly eight inches forward to add legroom or cargo room when necessary. As of this writing, VW has yet to announce official cargo-space figures for the new ID. Buzz.

When the new Buzz goes on sale, it will have plenty of standard equipment. Highlights include artificial leather upholstery; heated, ventilated, and massaging front seats; heated outboard second-row seats; a heated steering wheel; and automatic climate control with air-conditioning vents for all three rows.

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2025 Volkswagen ID. Buzz Technology

Volkswagen equips the 2025 ID. Buzz with a next-generation version of ID. Cockpit, the automaker's name for the 5.3-inch digital instrumentation display, and the 12.9-inch touchscreen infotainment system. Highlights include an improved user interface, added system configurability, and what is meant to be more intuitive operation. VW also illuminates the touch-sensing slider controls for stereo volume and cabin temperature, ideally making them easier to find and use at night.

The infotainment system offers Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and delivers entertainment through a standard nine-speaker sound system or an optional Harman Kardon premium audio system with 14 speakers. Though unconfirmed by Volkswagen, there may also be subscription-based connected services offering a variety of features, including access to a Wi-Fi hotspot.

In addition to these infotainment amenities, the ID. Buzz will have an optional head-up display, surround-view camera system (Area View), and semiautonomous parking assistance (Park Assist).

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2025 Volkswagen ID. Buzz Safety

Volkswagen will equip every ID. Buzz with a collection of advanced driving-assistance systems called IQ.Drive. Typically, IQ.Drive includes features such as forward-collision warning and avoidance, lane-keeping assist, and blind-spot monitoring systems. However, all VW is confirming about the Buzz's specific IQ.Drive package is that it contains hands-on semiautonomous driving technology.

Other Volkwagens have some semiautonomous driving functionality, too. In current vehicles, it's called Travel Assist, and pairs an adaptive cruise control system with lane-centering assistance to ease highway driving. In other VWs, IQ.Drive can also come with Emergency Assist. This technology works with Travel Assist, detecting when a driver has become unresponsive due to, for example, fatigue, impairment, or a medical emergency. Emergency Assist can bring a VW to a controlled stop when this happens. We'll have to wait to see if these are the semiautonomous functions the ID. Buzz includes.

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2025 Volkswagen ID. Buzz Specs

In standard specification, the new ID. Buzz comes with a rear-mounted electric motor powering the rear wheels. The motor makes 282 horsepower and 406 lb-ft of torque, drawing electricity from a 91-kWh battery pack. In addition, Volkswagen says a dual-motor AWD system will be available, providing about 330 horsepower. The Buzz will top out at 99 mph.

Unfortunately, VW has not announced details regarding driving range, charger compatibility, and recharging times. I spoke with a Volkswagen representative who indicated that because an ID.4 crossover with the same battery and rear-wheel drive can travel an EPA-rated 275 miles on a charge, the heavier and less aerodynamic ID. Buzz will not offer quite that distance. They wouldn't provide an estimate, because official testing and figures are unavailable. However, a target of 250 miles for the rear-wheel drive ID. Buzz could be a reasonable expectation. The AWD model would probably offer less range.

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2025 Volkswagen ID. Buzz Price and Competitors

Volkswagen ID. Buzz prices will be announced closer to the van's on-sale date. The automaker is not building the ID. Buzz in the U.S., so the van won't be eligible for a federal income tax credit. However, VW says leasing programs will help to keep monthly payments competitive.

As VW debuts the ID. Buzz, there isn't anything else exactly like it on the road. In addition, there are few three-row, seven-passenger EVs of this size. The most desirable of the known alternatives is the new Kia EV9 three-row crossover SUV, but by the time the ID. Buzz goes on sale in 2024, more automakers are likely to announce upcoming alternatives.

That said, it's improbable that any of them will spark an emotional reaction quite like this resurrected legend.