Upon first sight, my younger daughter hugged the yellow Volkswagen ID. Buzz. Arms draped across its cheerful face, she said, “Can we keep it?” A reasonable question for a car that looks like it time-traveled from Woodstock to Haight-Ashbury via Pixar Studios.
The ID. Buzz is Volkswagen’s reinterpretation of its microbus—a car so entrenched in American counterculture that you would think it ran on patchouli oil. But this isn’t just an exercise in brute nostalgia that’s engineered to empty a former hippie’s pension. It’s a modern, all-electric machine that manages to embody the good vibes of its flower-power past.
Heading north toward Dillon Beach, the first revelation hit: Unlike its asthmatic ancestor, this bus moves. The all-wheel-drive version will get to sixty miles per hour in a very decent six seconds. And more than just my daughters loved it. Skiers returning from Tahoe slowed beside us, faces pressed against windows like kids at a pet store. At the Dillon Beach Resort, we became the parking lot’s main attraction. “I used to have one of these,” declared every old-timer. And then, the inevitable question after getting a good look at the car: “What’s the range?” I managed around 230 miles on a full charge and limited spirited driving. That’s not a lot compared to, say, the 320-mile range of a Tesla Cybertruck. But no one wants to hug a Cybertruck.
The interior is comfortably utilitarian and stops short of luxe territory, with the exception of the gorgeous panoramic smart glass roof that can transition from transparent to opaque with a voice command. This isn’t quite a #vanlife vehicle. Despite its ancestral connection to cross-country odysseys, the ID. Buzz is, at its heart, an exceptionally cool minivan. There’s no built-in kitchenette, no pop-top for sleeping under the stars. It’s designed more for Costco runs and car camping—though aftermarket conversion companies are already drafting plans.
After about a day, my older daughter had heard me answer enough questions about specs that she could fill in as ambassador. The first rule of ID. Buzz Club? You will talk about the ID. Buzz. Exasperated after fielding so many boomers’ car questions, she asked, “Why does everyone want to talk to us?”
Which brings us to the question: Who exactly is this for? You can get more mileage and utility out of a Rivian R1S or a Ford F-150 Lightning. Those are definitely more practical. But in an automotive landscape where everything is starting to feel the same, the ID. Buzz does something radical: It prioritizes joy. Perhaps that’s exactly the revolution we need.
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