If Rolex is the Audi of watches, then Tudor is Volkswagen, the so-called folks’s model. Strong, sensible, sometimes stunning, however hardly ever the factor you truly lust after. That’s been Volkswagen’s downside for the higher a part of twenty years. Positive, they’ve made dependable vehicles. However thrilling? Aspirational? Not because the Kombi and the unique Golf GTI had their moments within the solar.
For years, the VW badge has meant protected, smart, and uninspired: vanilla SUVs, beige hatches, and the reanimated ghost of the Kombi dressed up in company camouflage. You couldn’t pay me to drive one; folks have tried.
However right this moment in Bondi, one thing modified.
Parked close to the lads at Vrtus, prefer it had simply time-travelled from a better-designed future was a car that made me cease mid-coffee sip: the Volkswagen ID.Buzz. Absolutely electrical, retro-futuristic, and dipped in a two-tone color scheme that screams highway journey and oat milk lattes. It’s the Kombi reborn — and, for as soon as, VW truly nailed it.
I first noticed one earlier this yr in Geneva throughout Watches & Wonders. It was parked confidently out the entrance of the Novotel Central prefer it had no thought it was in Switzerland. It seemed prefer it had taken a mistaken activate the Pacific Coast Freeway and ended up within the Swiss Alps. And but, regardless of being tailored for California or Byron, I had not but noticed it on Aussie streets. Ludicrous, I tells ya.
A Retro Futuristic Icon
The ID.Buzz isn’t only a Kombi tribute. It’s what the Kombi would’ve change into if it had been designed by somebody who’s used an iPhone. The entrance is playful and symmetrical, the overhangs are brief, and the badge is very large (accurately). It appears like a retro Pixar character, in a great way.
The design language channels the spirit of the unique Kind 2 Microbus however strips out the nostalgia bloat. It’s fashionable, clear, and crucially, it doesn’t take itself too significantly. Lastly, a enjoyable automotive that doesn’t appear like it was cooked up in a German accounting workplace.
Constructed On Volkswagen’s MEB Platform
The ID.Buzz sits on VW’s modular electrical drive matrix, the MEB platform, shared with the ID.3 and ID.4. Which means it’s rear-wheel drive, similar to the OG Kombi. At launch, it comes with a single rear-mounted electrical motor delivering 150kW and 310Nm of torque, drawing energy from a 77kWh battery.
Vary? Round 423km (WLTP) for those who’re driving like a standard human. And with DC quick charging, you may get from 5 to 80 % in simply over half an hour. Translation: it’s not only a fairly face.
Area For Days, Tech To Match
Inside, it’s all about flexibility and feel-good vibes. Flat flooring, sliding rear seats, and a 5-seat configuration that feels extra like a lounge room than a van. A 7-seater long-wheelbase model is already on sale in Europe, and it’s possible coming to Australia quickly.
There’s a 10-inch touchscreen operating VW’s newest infotainment (nonetheless not good, however bettering), wi-fi CarPlay, and all the same old EV toys regenerative braking, over-the-air updates, and app-based distant entry. The Buzz Field detachable centre console is a cheeky, helpful contact. Even the ambient lighting feels enjoyable reasonably than pressured.
Why Didn’t They Do This Ten Years In the past
That’s the true head-scratcher. The Kombi’s cult following has been begging for a contemporary reinterpretation for years. And as an alternative of leaning into that vitality, Volkswagen gave us beige Tiguan after beige Tiguan. The ID.Buzz lastly provides followers and consumers what they’ve been ready for a trendy, useful EV with precise persona. Not simply one other badge-engineered folks mover.
It’s essentially the most universally favored Volkswagen because the first Golf GTI. Electrical, sensible, and genuinely cool. Now they should value it fairly in Australia, although let’s be sincere, that’s about as possible as a Kombi outrunning a Tesla.
Even for those who’re a cynical bastard (like me) who wouldn’t be caught lifeless in a van, the ID.Buzz forces you to rethink. It’s the primary new Volkswagen in twenty years that doesn’t really feel prefer it’s apologising for one thing. And it’s the primary automotive from the model in latest reminiscence that made me say out loud, I would like one.
Simply don’t anticipate me to put on hemp pants and begin a kombucha model.
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