For the last 3 weeks I’ve been using an id.buzz LWB while VW repair the damage they did to my Beach. Yes, it’s taken 3 weeks and not ready yet! Over this time I have warmed to the buzz. My initial impression was tainted by the seemingly poor range. I picked it up with 96% charge and a range of about 230 miles, and that’s with the 86 kWh battery.
Plus points are the huge amount of legroom for passengers in all three rows of seats, while folding all the seats down enabled me to get a massive amount of junk in the back to take to the local recycling centre.
Despite being about 5m long I found it easy to use in London and it’s great on the motorway. The seats are really comfortable for longer journeys and once I’d discovered the heated steering wheel, going back to the Beach will be just that little bit harder.
I actually think it would make quite an interesting camper conversion proposition, using the passenger vehicle as a Beach style weekend camper or the Cargo as a more dedicated camper.
Having charged a few times now, the last one gave me an estimated range of 345 miles, but that’s using my eco driving skills to the max! The regenerative ‘B’ driving mode seems very well executed to me, and with a bit of practice you can pretty much drive with one pedal around town. The regen mode makes it really economical for town use and I would think a genuine 300+ miles range is doable. Obviously, you need to take into account that the recommended charge is 80%, so I would likely keep the 100% charges for longer runs. The best I’ve achieved so far is 3.6 miles per kWh over a full charge, and a mix of town and motorway driving, which equates to 310 miles full to empty.
On the negative side, I do think VW have made a mistake by not including a rail system like the Multivan. The rear seats just fold down and I’m not sure if they are all removable. I think just the third row can be taken out.
Overall, I’ve definitely grown to like it, but would I buy one new for £60k+ … I’m not so sure.
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