Although America is only now getting the ID. Buzz, Volkswagen has been selling its retro-flavored electric minivan in Europe for a couple of years. In a bid to make the zero-emission family hauler more attainable, there’s a new Freestyle flavor serving as the entry-level trim. As you can see from images we took from the German configurator, you’ll have to make some serious concessions.
The spartan-spec ID. Buzz has 18-inch steel wheels with 235/60 R18 front and 255/55 R18 rear tires. That reminds me of another electric vehicle from the VW Group built on the same MEB platform with even larger steelies. A few months ago, I was surprised to see the Audi Q4 E-Tron has a 19-inch set with glorious hubcaps. Should you want alloys, VW has a couple of 19-inch sets but those cost around €2,500 ($2,800) more.
This Candy White color is the only one offered at no extra cost, but an optional metallic Moon Silver can be had for an additional €1,035 ($1,150). Regardless of choice, the ID. Buzz Freestyle comes with unpainted bumpers that look straight out of the 1980s. Speaking of things no longer in fashion, VW throws in those side decals for free.
The interior is predictably dreary as well with basic-looking cloth seats that look like leftovers from a base Golf Mk4. You still get that giant tablet with a 12.9-inch display and wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay connectivity. Other goodies included as standard vary from height-adjustable front seats to dual-zone automatic climate control.
While America only gets the stretched configuration, Europeans can buy the ID. Buzz with a standard wheelbase. That’s what we have here, hosting a 59-kWh battery pack between the two axles. The juice is used by a rear electric motor that produces 170 horsepower, roughly half of what you get in the sporty GTX trim level.
With 229 pound-feet of instant torque, the poor man’s ID. Buzz in Europe takes 10.7 seconds to reach 62 mph and won’t go any faster than 90 mph. It’s not exactly quick but that’s to be expected given a curb weight of nearly 5,300 pounds and only a single-motor setup. Once you’re out of energy, it takes 24 minutes to charge from 10% to 80% using DC.
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Volkswagen
At €49,997, the Freestyle undercuts the previous base trim level (Pure) by a little over €4,000. If we do the conversion, it works out to a base price of $55,663. That makes it nearly $6,000 cheaper than the much nicer base ID. Buzz available in the US. However, it’s not a fair comparison seeing as how Germans pay 19% value-added tax (VAT).
The launch of a sub-€50,000 ID. Buzz in Germany closely follows the introduction of a sub-€30,000 ID.3, the not-for-America compact electric hatchback. VW seems to be making more efforts to sell EVs in a cooling European market by launching additional attainable versions. It’s probably worried about meeting fleet emissions targets, which will get even stricter in 2025, putting automakers at risk of paying massive fines if they exceed a certain threshold.