As aged hippies often argue, the sixties didn't end on December 31st 1969. We've been both enduring and enjoying the decade's cultural legacy ever since through films, music and the cyclic fashionability of flared trousers. Now there's an automotive throwback that defies the sort of cynicism normally triggered by such deliberate retro marketing, the Volkswagen ID.Buzz.
Actually, not quite. Volkswagen is determined to push the hype it has been steadily building since the (formerly capitalized) ID.BUZZ concept was shown at the 2017 Detroit Motor Show a bit further, with the finished car only set to be fully unveiled in March. But before them PH got to have a brief go in a disguised prototype during an extended tour or Europe. This had previously taken a group of ID.Buzzes to cities including Barcelona, Paris and Copenhagen, but the British stint took place in and around the distinctly less glamourous location of a cold, grey Milton Keynes.
As a drive down the A303 on a summer Saturday will prove, Volkswagen has made many generations of people-vans. But the company says that the ID.Buzz's inspiration is drawn largely from the T1 and T2 microbus and their panel van sisters. Despite the prototype's psychedelic wrap the inspiration is obvious in terms of stance and proportions. Sitting on an electric platform, with the 82kWh battery pack located under the floor, has allowed a return to what is definitely a rear-engined aesthetic. One which is entirely appropriate as, sitting on the same MEB pure electric platform as the ID.3, ID.4 and lesser Audi e-trons, the basic Buzz will use a single electric motor turning its rear axle, this producing 201hp and 229 lb-ft. A quicker, all-wheel drive version with another motor for the front axle will follow later.
Other details are limited. Volkswagen has confirmed the ID.Buzz's core dimensions - with the regular 2,988mm wheelbase you see here it is 4,712mm long, 1,985mm wide and 1,937mm high. A longer wheelbase version will also be offered, with three rows of seating rather than two. The LWB will also get a larger battery, and a smaller pack will also ultimately be offered to make a cheaper version suited to short-haul trips. There is no official range figure yet, but the development team say they are chasing a 250-mile rating under the WLTP protocol for the regular battery. And while Volkswagen has confirmed the Buzz will have a 90mph speed limiter, we don't have any acceleration figures yet.
One other obvious issue with assessing the Buzz's place in the legacy of VW Campers, Caravelles and Transporters comes with the fact I won't actually be driving the bus version; beneath the rainbow colours the prototype I've been assigned is the commercial panel van, with a bulkhead behind the front seats to separate cockpit from cargo space and barn-split doors at the back instead of the bus's top hinged tailgate. So no chance of a chillaxed picnic by the side of the A428, although I might be able to earn a few quid from some impromptu courier work.
Getting into the prototype confirms it is wearing disguise on the inside, too. Fabric panels obscure most of the dashboard and door cards, although the basic contours behind them are obvious. Two screens are on display, a small digital instrument one behind the steering wheel - which seems identical to the one in the ID.3 and ID.4 - plus a bigger touchscreen in the centre of the dashboard with a row of capacitive temperature controls below. As in the Golf, these are irritatingly easy to accidentally operate when trying to make screen inputs.
While massively quicker than any factory-produced T1, T2 or T3 camper, the commercial ID.Buzz isn't especially rapid by EV standards. Given the lack of an official 0-60mph time I try to guesstimate one through a couple of foot-planted launches and reckon on around nine seconds. (Something that loading it up would radically alter, obviously.) Initial acceleration is keen but it also tails off as speeds rise; an indicated 75mph cruise feels entirely comfortable, but the gradual rate at which speed is building at that point suggests the 90mph limiter would take a long time to arrive.
Being a commercial meant the van I drove was riding on the smallest available wheels, 18-inch alloys shod with Goodyear Vector tyres. It also had suspension settings capable of dealing with a substantial payload - exact figures aren't finalised yet - but in this case running empty. Grip levels on the winter-spec rubber were predictably unspectacular, but the Buzz's chassis behaves well when pushed. Quick-acting traction control intervenes invisibly on greasy tarmac, with little sense of being rear-wheel driven. The front end does run out of grip first, but without the copious understeer common to vans, the low-mounted mass of battery and powertrain giving a sense of dynamic solidity. It rode well, too - although with a slight sense of floatiness over bigger bumps which some weight in the back would probably calm down.
But what really stood out was the refinement. The powertrain's near total silence wasn't surprising, but the continued hush as speeds rose was more unexpected - much quieter than a boomy normal van and with only slight wind noise disturbing the tranquillity. Like its ID sisters it will offer plenty of clever technology, like smart regenerative braking. Initially the differing amounts of regen felt like some kind of glitch, but I soon worked out that the system adjusts the rate according to approaching speed restrictions or junctions, doing so intelligently.
My 45-minute stint confirmed that the ID.Buzz drives pretty much exactly as you'd expect - like a taller version of VW's existing EVs. But plenty of other questions remain unanswered for now, not least the finer details of how the Buzz's impressive interior space will be utilised in its passenger configuration. We'll also have to wait for pricing, although we can safely predict that even the lowliest version of the Buzz bus is not going to be cheaper than the existing PHEV Multivan, which kicks off at £48,835 including VAT. I suspect even what will likely be a wince-inducing price tag isn't going to prevent the ID.Buzz from being a smash hit.
Specification | Volkswagen ID.Buzz prototype
Engine: Electric motor
Transmission: Single-speed, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 201hp
Torque (lb ft): 229 lb-ft
0-60mph: TBC
Top speed: 90mph (limited)
Weight: TBC
CO2: 0g/ km
Price: TBC
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