Volkswagen ID. Buzz Cargo 2024 Review 

The most affordable 2024 Volkswagen ID.Buzz is the $79,990 Cargo, a three-seater load carrying commercial van, and is followed up with two people-movers: the five-seat Pro SWB ($87,990) and the seven-seat Pro LWB ($91,290).

A scorching ID.Buzz GTX seven-seater with 250kW of power and all-wheel drive is due to drop mid-2025, priced at $109,990 – and all prices listed exlude on-road and dealer delivery costs, so factor in a few thousand dollars on top of each of those (give or take) to get one on the road.

Although Volkswagen says the ID.Buzz Cargo weekly novated leasing costs are similar to a HiAce van (thanks primarily to the Cargo’s EV FBT exemption) the Cargo is more of a Peugeot E-Partner or Renault Kangoo E-Tech competitor in terms of carrying capacity. In other words, it's not the biggest dog in the yard.

Warranty is five years/unlimited kilometres, while the battery warranty is eight years/160,000km.

Scheduled servicing is due every two years/20,000km and you’ll be up for $670 each of those under Volkswagen’s capped price service plan, all of which are competitive.

The ID.Buzz Cargo comes with 18-inch steel wheels with wheel covers, body colour painted bumpers, power-latching sliding side doors and tailgate, cargo partition, timber (and plastic coated) cargo flooring, cargo wall lashing tracks, a 40-60 split three-seat bench and dual-zone air conditioning.

The ID.Buzz Pro SWB comes with 19-inch alloy wheels, five-occupant capacity, power-sliding side doors, electric opening side windows, three-zone aircon and 10-colour ambient lighting. The ID.Buzz Pro LWB adds a two-seat third row over the SWB spec for proper troop transporting capabilities.

All ID.Buzz variants have a ‘staggered’ wheel set, meaning that the front wheels (and tyres) are a different (narrower) size to the rear. This is relatively common with rear wheel-drive performance cars, unusual in a van.

In any case, it’s going to make buying new tyres more expensive and rotating them (to even out wear) impossible.

There are numerous options on each of the ID.Buzz models. Starting with the ‘delete’ options on Cargo: you can order barn rear doors in place of the tailgate which will cost you $390 and unpainted grey bumpers and silver-painted steel wheels with black hubcaps (in place of standard black wheels with wheel covers).

From there, key options are $3500 'Tilberg' 19-inch alloy wheels, $1890 metallic or pearl effect paint, the $1610 power sliding doors and $2100 'IQ Light' matrix headlights.

The Pro SWB and LWB options include a $6470 Interior Style Package with ‘Seaqual’ fabric seat inserts, 30-colour ambient lighting, powered front seats with heating, massage and memory settings, door trims with leatherette armrests, front armrests, Multiflex board rear storage, net partition and acoustically insulated glass with dark privacy tint.

The $6980 Premium Interior Style Package (which includes everything in the Interior Style Package except Seaqual fabric is replaced by ArtVelours ECO microfleece for front seats and outer rear seats inserts), a $4090 two tone paint, $1890 metallic or pearl-effect paint, $3290 panoramic sunroof with smart glass and the $2200 Infotainment package Plus (comprising a head-up display and Harmon Kardon sound system) are the other options.

Infotainment is covered off by a large 12.9-inch central touchscreen, housing AppConnect for wireless smartphone mirroring (iOS, Android), Bluetooth and DAB radio. There are nine speakers standard in the ID.Buzz Pro models but only two speakers in the Cargo.

Safety is well provisioned in the 2024 Volkswagen ID.Buzz with driver fatigue detection, multi collision brake, front assist city emergency brake assist, emergency steering aid and auto headlight control including high beam assist.

Dynamic cornering lighting is also in there, as is tyre pressure monitoring, front and rear parking sensors, rear-view camera, adaptive cruise control with stop and go, lane change assist and lane keeping assist.

With 210kW and 550Nm (560Nm in the Pro SWB/LWB), the ID.Buzz is no slouch and has a decent range of 431km (Pro: SWB 422km; LWB 452km).

Using an 11kWh AC wall box, charging from 0-100 per cent takes 7.5 hours, while five per cent to 80 per cent DC fast charging is 30 minutes. An AC domestic wall plug charge will take just under 23 hours. Buyers get mode 2 (three-pin domestic) and Mode 3 (public chargers) charging cables as standard with the vehicle.

EuroNCAP gave the ID.Buzz a five-star safety rating; ANCAP is yet to rate ID.Buzz but Volkswagen Australia believes it should be a very similar rating to EuroNCAP.

The 2024 Volkswagen ID.Buzz is a surprise package when it comes to the driving experience; this is not really like any other commercial van to drive.

It actually feels almost like a heavy luxury car to drive; you feel its heft though the corners but the ride quality is very good. Although when you step up to the ID.Buzz Pro passenger vans with optional 21-inch wheels, it does become a bit harsh.

And the ID.Buzz points into corners rather tidily for a van and the battery electric powertrain delivers convincing performance. This would have to be one of the fastest-accelerating commercial vans out there, no question.

While the ID.Buzz Pro SWB/LWB are also very responsive, the Cargo’s lighter body makes it feel a bit sharper and even quicker than the Pro models.

While most modern vehicles now feature large digital dashboards and infotainment screens, it’s still a bit of a novelty in commercial vans. Thankfully, working the menus is not as distracting as some other similar set-ups.

While it’s hard to make a definitive statement from our first impressions, the quality of fit and finish is in the main very good. Thumping over poor quality secondary roads in the Hunter Valley didn’t produce any nasty rattles or squeaks out of the ID.Buzz.

The standard bulkhead really helps to isolate noise from the open cargo space behind as well.

We will need more time with the ID.Buzz to nail down power consumption figures but the 16kWh/100km low average (with a high of around 20kWh/100km) indicated during the launch drive is promising.

The hard numbers don’t lie; the 2024 Volkswagen ID.Buzz Cargo is in the light commercial van category as far as carrying capacity goes.

With a 774kg payload and 3.9 cubic metres of volume, it's comparable to what a Peugeot Partner Long, Renault Kangoo or Volkswagen Caddy can accommodate in the back. It’s nowhere near the nearly 6.0 cubic metre capacity of medium vans such as Volkswagen’s own Transporter van.

For a commercial van, the lack of a spare tyre and the fact that the tyres cannot be rotated because of the staggered set-up is not going to help a small business's bottom line. Likewise, the ID.Buzz’s 1200kg towing capacity is not even close to the towing capacity of some mid-size (ICE) vans.

If ever there was a heart-over-head commercial van purchase, the 2024 Volkswagen ID.Buzz Cargo is it.

When defined by pure carrying volume, the Cargo doesn’t stack up as a value proposition. Yet as a stand-out advertising billboard for your business that is really easy (and enjoyable) to drive and doesn’t run on diesel or petrol to do it, the Volkswagen ID.Buzz has strong appeal.

As for the ID.Buzz Pro, these are very appealing and relatively spacious passenger-carriers with plenty of space and refinement while keeping to a city-friendly overall size.

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