VW ID.Buzz pricing, range & interior colors announced .. Launch version $70k - 231mi Range

[Oyabro]

The serious lack of range in these configurations is disappointing.

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[mkhuffman]

I always thought this would be a good soccer mom vehicle. But with such poor range, that's all it would be: shuttling kids and equipment around town.

The travel soccer families can't use it, IMO. Unless the kids love all those DCFC stops. Hah.

 

[s0ysauce]

Wow, that's either bad foresight or such a sinister way to bring money into their service departments. That's terrible man, I'm sorry you had to go through such an asinine thing.

Our friends at VW chose to use a servo-actuated lock to secure the charge plug to the port. This is not out of ordinary, but they found a way to make it a total PITA.

First, operationally - it can only be unlocked when the car is unlocked, and if you’re done charging, it’s still firmly attached. That’s annoying and a “feature” but worth pointing out because it’s stupid.

For the repair - the servo is a $1 part, quite literally. It is mounted behind the wheel well, as the charge port was put exactly where the fuel filler would be. If the computer is unable to identify the servo is closed, it will not allow the car to charge - period. This means when the servo starts to pack up - because it’s in a spot where more dirt collects than normal - the car is basically bricked because you can’t charge (L2 or L3 - doesn’t matter).

VW charges $2k+ for the repair. For a $1 part. That they put in a place where it was bound to prematurely fail. Ours had 35k on it when it went.

 

[BigSkies]

I’d be fine with the range as an around town vehicle if it started maybe $15k cheaper and it qualified for the tax credits.

It’s not even remotely compelling at this price. Which is too bad. I had high hopes for this one.

 

[mikehmb]

Wow, that's either bad foresight or such a sinister way to bring money into their service departments. That's terrible man, I'm sorry you had to go through such an asinine thing.

Yeah, this is all to say that VW’s path to electrification has yet to fill me with confidence. I do very much hope the ID.buzz succeeds, because I want to see them around - so pretty. I just hope they don’t suck, mechanically-speaking.

 

[shrink]

The more I look at the Buzz, I really think it has the potential to be great car for an Uber/Lyft driver. Fun car. Lots of room to move people and cargo.

Again, do not like that range and price.

Still hope it somehow succeeds.

@mikehmb, sorry to hear about those ID.4 issues. That’s another car that catches my attention when I see it. Nice looking car, unrealized potential.

 

[UnsungZero_OldTimeAdMan]

Used, these could be fun to own… for a bit (until the VW engineering flaws become evident).

 

[beatle]

The range is pretty disappointing. There are still charging deserts that can't be crossed in the winter with that amount of range. My guess is VW already knew they would catch flack for the price, and adding another 20-30kwh to it was going to make this a real disaster of a launch. Instead, I can see there being the initial surge of interest from people who don't care about the price or range and just want the latest thing, but when people start to buy the vehicle on its other merits, sales will collapse when the nostalgic novelty has fizzled.

Styling wise they also would have done well to remove the horizontal light bar that ties the VW logo and the headlights together. The concept didn't have this and it looked much better, but all the other ID vehicles had it, so the brand's design language claims another victim.

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