A larger battery and three rows of seats for the VW ID Buzz in the US market

Good news everyone: it’s almost time for Volkswagen ID Buzz. The electric minivan, loved even by car-hating people, went into production in Europe last year, but only the short-wheelbase, five-seater version. Ars drove in Denmark for some time where we found he was very charming but needed a few adjustments for his trip to America. Today, VW finally unveiled the ID Buzz that will be on sale here next year. The wheelbase is longer and there’s that all-important third row of seats. But it also has a bigger battery and slightly more power than the Euro-spec Buzz.

The layout of the Buzz remains unchanged. There is a battery pack between the axles, but those axles are about 10 inches further apart, and the battery pack now has a gross capacity of 91 kWh, an increase of 8 kWh compared to the two-row Buzz.

The Buzz can be specified with a single-motor, rear-wheel-drive powertrain or a two-motor, four-wheel-drive setup. There’s a new, larger rear engine than the unit we’ve seen in other VW BEVs that use the same modular platform (called MEB). It’s still a permanent magnet synchronous motor, but it generates 282 horsepower (210 kW) and 406 lb-ft (550 Nm). The total power of the AWD Buzz is 330 hp (246 kW).

That should yield a faster Buzz than the one we tested last summer, even accounting for the added mass. Indeed, it now has a slightly higher top speed: 99 mph (159 km/h) instead of 90 mph (145 km/h). You won’t want to spend a lot of time going that fast unless you like charging, but VW hasn’t yet told us the estimated range of this variant, nor how long it will take to charge. We do know that it has a drag coefficient of 0.29.

In most respects, the three-row Buzz is very similar to the two-row. The dashboard still has a wood look, plus plenty of storage compartments and USB-C charging ports, and the impressive front view should remain unchanged. Step in through the side doors and things are a little different, though, as there are now two rows of seats in the back. They’re not removable, but the seats slide forward and back and fold flat to create a flat cargo area.

A major criticism I had of the two-door Buzz was the lack of rear ventilation, a problem compounded by the fact that the windows were stuck. Well, someone was listening, because if you flip through the photos VW sent you, you’ll see that vents and climate controls are now embedded in the headliner. And there are now also sliding windows in the doors.

The infotainment system is also new – despite being very similar to the one I’ve played with, VW says it’s the same upgraded system found in the ID.7 saloon, which will also be on sale here in 2024.

The main unanswered question we have is “How much will the ID Buzz cost?” But automakers usually don’t provide that kind of information until a few weeks before they put a model up for sale, so for now we’ll wait and see.