Revealed: 2024 Volkswagen ID. Buzz

[Hagerty]

Whether you slept in one at Woodstock, passed the many that once clogged the right lanes of America's freeways, or inherited one when your grandparents finally bought an Acura and moved to The Villages in Florida, the VW Microbus has spent six decades clattering into our hearts.
https://www.hagerty.com/media/news/revealed-2024-volkswagen-id-buzz/

[bradfa]

This is a great looking box on wheels! I'm honestly excited. But sadly, I think VW is making a big mistake trying to make a long wheelbase 3 row model be the only one to come to the USA. Also, still no volume knob.
Electric cars, for the average middle class family, are still very much 2nd vehicle kind of cars. They're not good for long family trips (have you ever sat at a rest stop for an hour with 3 young kids waiting to "refuel" your car? does grandma have a level 2 charger you can use when you arrive?) so won't be the primary 3 row vehicle. But they can be an excellent and economical choice for a 2nd car for the family to use. 3 kids in the 2nd row is fine and 200ish miles of real world cold and hot weather range for shorter trips is plenty. ID Buzz solves like 95% of the middle class family vehicle problem, but that remaining 5% is what prevents it from being able to actually replace the main 3 row SUV or minivan.
VW, please don't screw this up. Bring the short wheelbase 2 row model with AWD here to the USA. I think you'll be surprised at how many you sell. Market it as a 2nd vehicle which is economical and functional and actually big enough for a middle class suburban family with 2.5 children. Sliding doors are amazingly nice to have with younger kids even if sliding doors look dorky, the functionality angle is what will sell this.

[MeJ]

I think this is going to flop horribly. This design conveys nothing of the original to me. I believe a simple change to the headlights (make them oval or round like the original!) would be a huge improvement. Make it look less serious and more fun. Like the original.

[TinaBird]

Round headlights are definitely needed!

[PhillipinSD]

Round headlight have gone the way of high button shoes.

[4RenT]

Jeeps

[OldFordMan]

Looks like it will disintegrate in multiple kinds of crash tests.

[Oldroad1]

Crash and burn for hours.

[Air_and_Water]

No, it will not. Look at it from profile, as you aren't sitting at the nose as it appears from the outside. They simply wouldn't sell it if it couldn't do well in crash tests. The Bulli (a previous prototype for a gas powered one) was cancelled because of the then-new offset crash test. It couldn't meet it without extending the nose considerably. This one doesn't have an incompressible lump, so it can meet that easily with a relatively short nose.

[daffodildeb]

Ugly as sin from the A pillar forward. Rest is okay.

[Stixx]

Not for me i'm afraid . I have a BULLITT Mustang , an Escape Titanium , for everyday box carry and a new BMW F 750 GS triple black mountain carver touring bike with mild off-road capabilities. Not a bit of room in the garage at this point ..... I like it though , for my grand kids to start their families with /

[Hudson]

Don't care for how it looks.

[LesFender]

Two row/short wheelbase/gas engine: Sign me up! This: Not a chance. Too bad.

[Pilott]

Maybe someone will start a business to convert these to VW air cooled gas engines w/ 4-speed and a real clutch.

[Bostwick9]

Now THAT I would go into debt for.

[Sutton12]

Absolutely, This thing is an insult to anyone that drove a real VW van and is looking for another one. How useless will that electric engine be? Well, at least the engine is in the rear!

[Air_and_Water]

I had several early buses, from a '60 Kombi to a '66 Double Cab pickup. I don't feel insulted in the least. Those things were death traps and nothing remotely resembling them could be sold in any first world country today. They were great for their time, but their time has long passed.

[OHCOddball]

Get rid of all the weird holes in the front fascia and make the headlights round. It will need longer range. The wheelbase is plenty long to have a larger battery in it. Still hate the touch screens in the center of the IP like all of them seem to be doing. Put real controls that you can operate by feel without taking your hands off the wheel.

[Tim]

I can tell you are hoping for more of a MicroBus look, but the front of this vehicle would not at all look good with round headlights. I imagine VW went down that design road. I think if people put this vehicle in a context of "How would the MicroBus look after decades of evolution?" rather than, "Can we make a MicroBus clone?" we can see this is a better result. Sure, not everyone will like every detail, but overall, it works pretty well.

I'm not keen on the lower front fascia, either. It's as though VW needed it for air flow (it didn't). Maybe that will get tweaked in the U.S. version. At least it's not the worst I've seen. I'll call it livable, if not ideal.

[spark123]

Too expensive. Way cheaper to slap a tablet on the dash and call it a day!

[GRP_Photo]

If you look at the top photo in this article, it appears that there's some sort of radiator behind the fascia. My bet is that the air conditioning unit is located there. I'm certainly with you about touch screens.

[VetteKid56]

The original attraction for the micro bus was they were inexpensive and a favorite of the counter culture of the 1960's and 70's. Now its just another pretender like the front engined water cooled Bug trying to attract these nostalgic for that era.

[PhillipinSD]

Nostalgia is dead. Millennials are not into nostalgia. That's especially true of millennials that can easily afford such a vehicle like this. The older folks with lots of money will just bid up the old original VW buses from that nostalgic era.

[bradleydad]

I loved VW from the beginning and owned most models including bugs, buses, squarebacks, even a 912, Rabbits, Golfs, Jettas and then a Tiguan. I now have an electric car and a plug in hybrid. Sadly, the Tiguan has taught me the level of contempt VW has for their buyers so I can't imagine that VW will be willing to support the complexities of electric vehicles. (The Tiguan engine failed after 70,000 miles because it had been running too lean. There is no way for an owner to adjust that, of course, and not even a gauge. I worked my way up the chain, hoping for at least a discount on repairs. The top guy said basically "You people in California are always trying to screw us". They charged $1300 to diagnose the issue and wanted $12,000 to repair it. I stuck a used engine in it. Hopefully we can get another 50,000 miles or so) So, can you imagine a company supporting an electric car with an attitude like that?)

[RG440]

You nailed it on VW dealer support as my experience with a Jetta and Tiguan that were always dealer maintained turned into “Real Money Pits” with salesman at the dealerships salivating over easing your financial pain, FOR only more, down the road. Yes it was US VW Dealers that have, through their actions, left a bad taste in my mouth…. I just wonder if this “Bus” will be seen in more places than on the side of the road, on a flatbed, of a rollback wrecker or littering dealer service lots? I vote round headlights.

[Redhorse1958]

It will be interesting to see the manufacturers warranty coverage (time and mileage) provided by VW on these new buses. My experience with VW dealers is they try to find wear and tear or beyond normal use excuses to avoid covering repairs under the manufacturers warranty or suggest if they are covered, it would only be by a separate parts manufacturer warranty, which you are on your own to pursue. If one has this much trouble with warranty coverage with existing internal combustion engines, I can only imagine the troubles one might experience with an electric microbus in its first year of sales in the US.

[ChrisKennedy]

This is a total farce and intended for rich people who are pretending to be "hip". Look at the modern and trendy background in the photo-----probably some multi-million dollar house.

/s/ Chris Kennedy

[Musco03]

Nice BUT the only thing I can say is I hope it's safer than the original in a 30 MPH accident. In 1970 I spent 3 months in traction and another month in the hospital recovering from a like I said 30 MPH slip in the snow.
Drive safe everyone!

[Air_and_Water]

I've had several early Buses and I can guarantee that there is nothing built like them at all on sale today. The reason we didn't get the Bulli (one of the previous iterations) was because the offset crash test came out and that killed the design. This vehicle will pass that with flying colors. How? You sit behind the wheels. Waaaaay behind the wheels.

[tripled]

Wish the Euro sized version was coming to the US. Longer range wouldn't hurt either. Cool looks and great colors!

[BB66Vett]

Kind of cute but not for me, I have a Passat TDI, get 50MPG highway and 800 mile range. Can drive from Detroit to the state of Georgia before I have to stop for fuel. No interest in EV's.

[MAXTHEAX]

Woodstock was eons ago and while retro is interesting, I can't see this flying. If for some reason I was given one I'd park it in the back forty and use it as a gazebo.

[avanti5010]

Another joke from VW.

[OldCarMan]

More German-VW arrogance towards the consumer...
No surprise here.
Instead, get a Chrysler with stow in the floor seating & hybrid. Looks better, too!

[js100]

Actually, you can't have both. The Pacifica batteries fill those seat wells. The good news is that for $15K you get a plug-in hybrid with much more comfortable middle buckets. Get the towing package and put that 4 x 8 plywood in a utility trailer, once a year.

[Rider79]

Would not work for those of us who haul our bikes inside.

[DavidHolzman]

I give it a D+ for styling. The rest of this vehicle looks fine, but the face is a flop. Part of the problem is that the squinty headlights with that connecter chrome going across the face, making the front look like the back, and you don't put squinty headlights on something that's supposed to invoke the distant past--they've got to be round!--and part of the problem is that stupid cross-hatching where the bumper used to go.

From the front, it's not a microbus.

Cue the bronx cheer.

[Javman]

I like it. Never was much of a fan of the old box on wheels microbus but this is cool. The front looks like an impish fase with a devlish grin, sort of like that kid in the cartoon strip with the tiger, Calvin I think was his name. Would be a perfect urban runaround, no need to stretch it as there are plenty of big SUVs around as it is. Would a hybrid make it more functional for longer trips?

[bblhed]

I know a lot of people are going to hate this thing but it looks like it is ticking just about every "Mom Mobile" box there is. This van can be used as a daily driver, school and sports drop off car, grocery getter, and it can move big but not big stuff. Whoever is the primary user doesn't have to deal with going to the gas station either. Bonus it is an EV so it will not be the family vacation car.

Down side, is that it is an EV and can't really pull duty as the vacation car. This is not and should not be viewed as an instant classic, but as what it is, a utility vehicle. Look what happened to the VW bug when it came back, it was a car that collectors pounced on only to find out that it was a regular car.

[ROBBO99]

Thank you for telling it like it really is our government cares nothing about real hard working americans . This government caters only to the rich and is trying to bankrupt all of us . There is no accountability on any money they spend . Why isn't anybody screaming about these crooked men in washington ruining our former great nation ?

[spark123]

You forgot to mention that it takes 50 times as much fossil fuel to run than an ICE vehicle

[SJ100]

For a new vehicle it looks like it would not meet the Safety Standards.

[Jimmyo]

It must pass U.S. safety standards in order to be sold in the U.S. European standards are pretty strict, but they have different rules than the U.S. There may be a reason that this short wheelbase version will not be sold in the U.S. beyond the belief that Americans only like bloated giant land barges. It might be that only the longer version meets U.S. standards. This is just speculation on my part.

[fredwhyzer]

Great little ride for a "valley" girl or dread headed surfer in the ice cold waters of the Pacific. So they once again bring to the US market another flop. I want a bus that I can drive 500 miles before I need to find an outlet. I would rather have a diesel pumping out 200 h.p. in order to get up over the hills. I don't want 150 year old technology. Just give me a fun car. Not another 50+ fat woman's car like the last Beetle. Chevy has a hit with the new Corvette, while Ford puts out fake You Tube video's of an electric Mustang. These car makers for the most part have lost their way. Are their designers all high on pot or pills? Give me a 50 mpg gasoline car with some balls. Even if they are little balls. Some are better than none. I give the US Edition of this bus a 4.

[Tim]

A lot of negative comments from the MicroBus fan club. I've got no issue with the design, as it has a good amount of reminiscence without trying to be what it isn't. The only real limitations to its sales numbers are going to be the price (higher than we all will expect) and that as a 3-row-only offering, it cuts out potential customer like me who would look seriously at a 2-row but not even consider a 3-row. Maybe that will come later, but then again, this model isn't coming soon, so it's a bit much to expect potential customers to wait 4 or 5 years on a "maybe." (Actually, it isn't even a "maybe" right now, as there are no announced plans at all for a 2-row to come stateside.)

[Bostwick9]

Other 'real limitations' besides price, 3 row: range, battery life, cost of battery replacement and frequency, no place for an apartment or condo dweller to recharge.
Same as they always were.

[chargeral]

Not a lover of electric cars and vans. Way too limited on use, plus this one just looks cheap and tacky. No thanks.

[Bostwick9]

I do like it better than the Urban Soy Cowboy electric Ford Truck though.

[Pilott]

It's just a flat-nose electric SUV ... sigh.

[carguyjim]

I think it looks great, EXCEPT the front bumper are, which the designer obviously slept through.