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Electric family outings just became even more adventurous with the arrival of the all-wheel drive Volkswagen ID. Buzz GTX 4Motion 7-seater.
We’ve reviewed the original Volkswagen ID. Buzz with five seats, and the seven seat, long wheelbase version; now you can get the ID. Buzz with all-wheel drive and seven seats – surely this is the ultimate electric car for family adventures?
The iconic exterior styling of the Volkswagen ID. Buzz remains, albeit with the seven-seater gaining a longer wheelbase than the five-seat model, and the cabin is also mostly unchanged, but the big news is that the GTX 4MOTION model gains all-wheel drive thanks to two electric motors. This also means a power hike to 340 PS, and torque of 560 Nm. Energy comes from an 86 kWh (net) battery, compared to 79 kWh for the regular versions.
The long wheelbase ID. Buzz model is 4,962 mm long, compared to 4,712mm for the five-seater, so it gains 250mm in length (and in wheelbase). This results in lots of space, with huge legroom for second-row passengers, and the third row of seats can accommodate adult passengers.
Front occupants get storage space between the seats thanks to the ‘Buzz box’ – a removable centre console – and two cup holders pop out from the bottom of the dashboard. There are two trays that can be pulled up from the back of the front seats for outer second row passengers, who also get USB sockets in the doors, and even third row occupants have their own USB sockets in small compartments next to the rear side windows. For the driver, the phone wireless charging is in a small, easily-missed compartment between the steering wheel and the touchscreen.
The rear side doors, which are 190 mm longer than the standard model to give better access to the third row of seats, slide open electrically, and can be controlled by the driver using buttons on the dashboard or on the key. Both the second and third row of seats slide forwards and backwards, and fold to give a flat floor that’s the same height as the ‘multi-flex board’ (false boot floor), although there is a small gap between the seats, or between the seats and the boot floor, when folded.
With all three rows of seats in place you get 306 litres of boot space, which increases to 1,340 litres with the third row of seats folded, and a cavernous 2,469 litres with both the second and third rows of seats down, which gives you a space that you can sleep in.
All this size doesn’t come lightly – the Volkswagen ID. Buzz GTX 4Motion 7-seat LWB 86 kWh weighs 2,919 kg, but you get a payload of 481 kg and a towing weight of 1,600 kg.
The Volkswagen ID. Buzz GTX 4Motion was challenged with the Lake District, including the region’s two most arduous mountain roads, the Wrynose Pass and the Hardknott Pass. During our test the normal situation arose – numerous petrol cars were struggling to get up the mountain passes, with engines sounding painfully strained and clutches burning out.
In contrast the ID. Buzz ‘van’, with 340 PS and all-wheel drive, powered up all inclines with absolutely no problems, making petrol cars look very old fashioned and very ineffective for such environments. Attempting such roads in a petrol or diesel van would be a very unpleasant experience.
Levels of grip were excellent, as was the performance – the ID. Buzz GTX 4Motion has a 0-62 mph time of 6.4 seconds and feels much more responsive than the standard model. The choice of drive modes is helpful for different environments: Eco, Comfort, Sport, Traction and Individual. There’s also the option to select ‘B’ on the gear selector on the right-hand side of the steering column in order to capture all the energy that would otherwise be wasted when going downhill.
Even with its large 21-inch alloy wheels and low profile tyres (235/45 front and 265/40 rear), ride quality was impressive. The obvious issue is that a 5-metre long van weighing almost 3 tonnes is never going to be as agile as a smaller car, especially on narrow, winding roads. Away from the hills, the ID. Buzz is quiet and refined on long motorway journeys.
As is the case with most new EVs, virtually all car controls are accessed via the touchscreen. The infotainment system has been improved since the ID.3 first appeared, when there were virtually no useful shortcut buttons, resulting in a lot of button-pressing for basic car controls.
The ID. Buzz has a home button at the bottom of the screen, along with some basic climate controls – but you still have to press the climate button to view all the options. At the top right of the screen is a button to access apps (three screens-worth of apps in total), and four ‘favourite’ shortcut buttons at the top right can be chosen by the driver, which are ideal for items such as Apple CarPlay, Media Drive Modes, Assistance Systems. However if you spend time setting the car’s controls to your liking, you’ll find that you’ll have to reset everything if you get out of the driver’s seat for even a few seconds, when the vehicle switches itself off.
The Volkswagen ID. Buzz GTX 4Motion 7-seat LWB 86 kWh Pro 340PS has an official WLTP combined electric driving range of 280 miles. During a week on test (including on motorways and in the hills) the real-world range was averaging 220 miles. The GTX 4Motion model has an energy consumption figure of 2.94 miles/kWh (21.2 kWh/62 miles).
The ultra-rapid charging rate of 200 kW has increased from the 170 kW of the five-seat model. This translates to a 5% to 80% charge taking 30 minutes. Using 11 kW 3-phase AC charging, most commonly found at workplaces in the UK, a 0%-100% charge should take 9 hours.
The ID. Buzz also has bidirectional charging functionality, allowing it to feed power back to a house.
The Volkswagen ID. Buzz GTX 4Motion 7-seat LWB 86 kWh Pro 340PS is priced at £56,630 excluding VAT, or £67,945 including VAT. Our test vehicle came with the options of retractable tow bar with electric release (£980) and Silver/Cherry Red paint (£2,791), taking the total price as tested to £71,716 including VAT.
There are two other trim levels, the ID. Buzz Life and the ID. Buzz Style, and the ID. Buzz is also available with five seats. There’s also the ID. Buzz Cargo van.
The Volkswagen ID. Buzz GTX 4Motion seven-seater delivers space, pace, and all-wheel drive grip allowing you to explore more of the great outdoors than the standard rear-wheel drive model, making this an extremely capable all-round EV for family adventures. The official electric driving range of 280 miles is reasonably practical, and 200 kW charging should mean that time at charging stops is kept to a minimum. The ID. Buzz is one of the best designed EVs you can buy, but at nearly £70,000, it isn’t cheap. The Volkswagen ID. Buzz GTX is awarded a Green Car Guide rating of 10 out of 10.
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