VW's New-Age Microbus Is Back for 2027, and the ID.Buzz Now Comes with a Version for Campers

[-]

Uptons_BJs@reddit

Good ideas, but like, a camper that can only do 230 miles of range? Range is killing this car. Bump it up to 400 and it would be a hit.

[-]

Agreed, a minivan with only 230 miles of range is super impractical. It's basically a family right of passage to road trip in the family minivan right? How you gonna road trip with a car full of kids and have to stop to charge every 230 miles? That's like 5 batteries to comfortably go from my house to Disney World, that's nuts

[-]

kinda_guilty@reddit

How do you drive with children more than 200 miles without stopping?

[-]

Lower_Kick268@reddit

My parents did just fine with me as a kid, even then your stops are 5 or 10 mins to pee, not 1-2 hours to charge. The Buzz charges slow as fuck

[-]

B-rad-israd@reddit

Honestly? I’d much rather plan nice strategic charging stops and get out and do things while charging.

If you’re stuck at a highway rest stop to charge? I’d agree it’s useless. But smaller cities with museums and things to see? Perfect places to stop and explore with the family.

Road trips are way more interesting when you aren’t just crushing as many miles as you can. A stop for lunch here, a museum there and Disney world? Sounds like a fine time to me.

[-]

Lower_Kick268@reddit

Yeah you can do that, i dont think the other 99% of people want to do that. If im driving 15 hours somewhere I wanna get there, not spend 2 days going to museums and hotels and eating everywhere.

[-]

ChicSheikh@reddit

Bump it up to 400 and it would be a hit

I mean, sure, that sounds nice, but the battery pack in the ID.Buzz probably costs on the order of $10k and weighs on the order of 1,000 pounds. Doubling the size of the battery pack might get you to the 400 mile mark (it wouldn't double the range as the car would then need to carry an extra thousand pounds around). It would also intrude on cabin space, requiring a higher floor.

So you've made the van $10k more expensive, less roomy, less efficient for short-to-medium trips and slower, but yeah, it can do longer road-trips now. I'm not sure most people would go for those trade-offs, but maybe some would.

[-]

Hustletron@reddit

As someone who has spent time with a Buzz

270 genuinely is enough

Improved charging time wouldn’t be bad but camping with it. You can even charge at most electric power campsites overnight. Works well.

[-]

AwesomeBantha@reddit

300-400 is not enough for me in my gas guzzling ICE SUV to the point that I installed an auxiliary fuel tank that doubles my range.

But my perspective is also skewed because most of the camping I’ve done is at least 500 miles away from my house, so I’m probably using an expensive PTO day to get there and I’m the kind of person who hates having to stop at gas stations more than once a day.

[-]

abductee92@reddit

That's pretty fuckin silly, you can't just fuel up the night before and again when you reach your destination? Does that fuel cell eat into your camping cargo space?

[-]

AwesomeBantha@reddit

It’s a convenience thing, I like straight shotting long trips. Happy to fill up once in the morning and once in the evening but there are some days where I did 650-800 miles and hated stopping all the time.

The aux tank takes up the factory spare tire slot, which is under the back of the vehicle. I already have an aftermarket rear bumper that has a tire carrier and jerry can storage, so the space was unused anyway.

[-]

abductee92@reddit

I just feel like it only takes a few minutes, there's likely some time you need to use the restroom or stretch your legs but to each their own.

[-]

NoMoOmentumMan@reddit

In the lower 48 you are never further than 41 miles from a paved roadroad, and that includes being on top of mountains.

700 miles of range is something for the Australian outbackoutback, "expensive" PTO day or not.

[-]

AwesomeBantha@reddit

It’s a convenience thing more than anything. I like not having to stop to get gas… it’s really nice.

[-]

lordtema@reddit

It`s not really suited for the US market to be honest. I think it will sell O K in the EU but range is too poor and price is too high for it to make sense in the NA market.

[-]

FMJoey325@reddit

It’s definitely a lifestyle/fashion option here in the US. I’ve only seen one locally. Looks cool though.

[-]

Zassolluto711@reddit

I’ve seen plenty of them around here in Canada. Quite surprised to be honest.

[-]

Hard_NOP_Life@reddit

They’re doing like $20k off MSRP for cash purchases to move em. At that price they’re actually comparable to something like a fully loaded sienna.

[-]

ArthurFinchleyIII@reddit

They’re so popular in the UK, I see them everywhere.

[-]

goddamnitcletus@reddit

There are a few in the DC area, someone that works for the Mexican embassy has a pink one

[-]

Skensis@reddit

To be fair, so are a lot of cars people buy in general.

[-]

strongmanass@reddit

I've seen a few in Boston - my favorite spot was a Taycan behind an ID.Buzz behind a Lucid Air at a stoplight right across the street from a Whole Foods. The camping option might make it the first car my wife has ever wanted.

[-]

lordtema@reddit

Plenty here in Norway, seeing them mostly as work vans / company vehicles actually!

[-]

FMJoey325@reddit

US people are just getting used to Mercedes sprinter vans/ford transit instead of the typical V8 Chevy Express

[-]

_jagwaz@reddit

Just getting used to? We’ve hardly even left the Chevy Express still.

[-]

firewoodrack@reddit

There is an ice cream shop near me that has one and I think it’s perfect for them

[-]

WyrdHarper@reddit

Yeah. I think the idea of an electric vehicle as an environmentally-friendly-to-run (with some asterisks, I know the issues with mining materials for them) is neat. But many of the state/national parks around us are 100+ miles away with limited opportunities to charge (even some of the ones that have electrical hookups are not rated for EV charging and are very clear that it is forbidden on-site).

Those are great day trips (it's all highway to get there, so a 1.5-2hr drive for a day hike is pretty reasonable on a weekend) that we do fairly regularly, but aren't realistic for an EV (especially since we're not in a part of the country with great EV infrastructure. I've made ABRP very sad trying to plot some of those routes). Camping with extra power drain just seems out of the question.

[-]

lordtema@reddit

Yeah i mean, these could work very well here in Scandinavia. There is no such thing as "off road" camping here, and the charging infra is very good.

[-]

WyrdHarper@reddit

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I wish more of our state/national parks would invest in charging infrastructure because it would be a boon for tourism and EV adoption. But it's hard enough to get them funding for regular maintenance and upgrades.

[-]

lordtema@reddit

There is basically nowhere in Norway i would be worried about driving a EV at this point. At the very very worst you are going to find "only" a 50 kwh charger, but even those are rare these days and only found outside shopping centers really.

[-]

OrionGrant@reddit

The issue is that in the UK, if the battery was any bigger, it'd be over 3.5 tonne and wouldn't be able to be driven on a normal car license.

[-]

narwhal_breeder@reddit

Likely less once you are ladened with water, food, camping gear.

[-]

DistanceSolar1449@reddit

Aerodynamics is the bigger issue for this brick, so honestly loading it up won’t drop the range that much.

[-]

ArthurFinchleyIII@reddit

And there’s not much you can do about that, except cruise at 60 for quite a lot more range.

[-]

firewoodrack@reddit

What if you were unladen and perhaps you were also a swallow?

[-]

Captain_Mazhar@reddit

Are you talking about an African or European swallow?

[-]

Realtrain@reddit

Huh? I don't know that!

[-]

narwhal_breeder@reddit

how could I be unladen if I swallow?

[-]

BlackDS@reddit

Not really. Aerodynamics affect range more than payload. I'd suspect a Westfalia style pop up roof would ruin range more than 500lbs of gear

[-]

burntcookie90@reddit

Weight doesn’t have that much of an effect, it’s all aero

[-]

BeerorCoffee@reddit

Then bump that battery up to 100+ kWh

[-]

turb0_encapsulator@reddit

400 is a big ask, but even \~275 miles *and* 800V fast charging would make it much more appealing.

[-]

JB_UK@reddit

It’s just a generation early for the US, they’ve put as many batteries as they can fit on the MEB platform. It works for Europe, for example this year it’s selling twice as many as the Ioniq 5 in Europe, but not in the US.

Maybe in 3-4 years you’ll get the SSP version.

[-]

demonkeyed@reddit

I have an 81 westfalia and its range is honestly about that.

[-]

StanknBeans@reddit

Honestly even if it had 400 miles of range, the price in Canada just makes me ask who is this for?

[-]

Uptons_BJs@reddit

I mean, it currently has 21 thousand dollars of incentives on it in Ontario, you can get one for $60k.

A Honda Odyssey Touring starts at $62k.

If it had range, I think it would be a decent choice

[-]

StanknBeans@reddit

Man how you find incentives so easily? What kind of incentives in SK?

[-]

Uptons_BJs@reddit

This one was just straight up on the VW website haha: https://imgur.com/a/r1hS5sY

[-]

Plastic_Willow734@reddit

VW just needs to pony up and make a range extender version

[-]

andrewia@reddit

That would be cool, but I don't see where you can cram an engine in the front end. I guess Scout is our best hope.

[-]

Plastic_Willow734@reddit

Couldn't they just cram a motorcycle engine somewhere in there? IIRC the original I3 range extender had a BMW motorcycle or moped engine in the under the trunk floor

[-]

lordtema@reddit

They will never do that, because that makes it a hybrid and DOA for the EU market since hybrids do not have the incentives EVs has a lot of places. And making a range extended version just for the USDM makes zero sense and will never recoup the R&D needed.

[-]

Drprocrastinate@reddit

If the range extender engine doesn't power the power train but just charged the batteries does the EU still treat it as hybrid?

[-]

lordtema@reddit

Yes. There's a reason why the i3 with the range extender sold like shit.

[-]

ArthurFinchleyIII@reddit

Funny, I thought that was the best model. Enough range to do 90% of your driving on battery. Rx if you needed it.

[-]

lordtema@reddit

In Europe, if it has a ICE engine, it's a hybrid, doesn't matter if it powers the battery or not. That's why a range extender makes zero sense outside NA.

[-]

BeerorCoffee@reddit

Scout Bus with the EREV.

[-]

kstetter@reddit

With a rear engine, I will never buy a front engine Volkswagen.

[-]

narwhal_breeder@reddit

Probably the strangest hill to die on i've ever heard.

[-]

kstetter@reddit

It is.

[-]

buttlord5000@reddit

did they cut the price in half?

[-]

Combat_Wombat23@reddit

We’re bringing back the ID Buzz..exactly the same as it was! Overpriced and under-ranged

[-]

cgduncan@reddit

Just imagine how much more marked up the camper version is going to be.

[-]

ChasedWarrior@reddit

Dead on arrival unless Vw significantly lowers the price.

[-]

Averageinternetdoge@reddit

I guess it's a lifestyle-accessory for the wealthy elite. Like always.

[-]

irishWhistlr@reddit

Yeah. The Kia PV5 is like $20k less with a little better range though I don't know if it's in the US yet.

When I saw how ridiculous and time consuming the process was for changing a simple cabin filter on the Buzz, I just had to laugh. German engineers man.

[-]

ArthurFinchleyIII@reddit

The PV5 has worse range.

[-]

ChasedWarrior@reddit

Cabin filters in general are a pain in the ass. I have to nearly rip apart the passenger side of my dash board to get to mine.

[-]

bubzki2@reddit

Halo car.

[-]

yobo9193@reddit

I feel like this is one of the few EVs that holds their value decently well; good luck finding a used example under 50k.

Minivans are a great use case for electric vehicles

[-]

ArthurFinchleyIII@reddit

In Europe they’re very popular, but they’re also cratering in price used. Which I can’t wait for! A couple more kids and I’ll pick one of these up 5 years old for a lovely sum.

[-]

The_Stiggiest_Stig@reddit (OP)

While I agree for the most part, minivans are also kinda supposed to be road trip machines and the EV kinda kills that

[-]

CorrectCombination11@reddit

200 mile range and after one night of hvac, you get 50 miles when you wake up.

[-]

narwhal_breeder@reddit

Teslas only see about 5-10% drain overnight in Camp mode.

[-]

CorrectCombination11@reddit

Get outta here with your level headed comments! This is cars! Sensational posts win!

[-]

narwhal_breeder@reddit

Oh. Shit. Right. right.

What I MEANT to say was GOOD luck FINDING A CHARGER in the WOODS i DRIVE 3000 miles EVERY TWO DAYS and an EV could NEVER DO THAT.

[-]

cat_prophecy@reddit

I NEED 700 MILES OF RANGE AND ZERO CHARGE TIME BECAUSE I DRIVE FOR FIFTEEN HOURS A DAY.

[-]

supert3ds@reddit

MY BLADDER IS 200ltrs I CAN DRIVE FOR 24HRS NONSTOP IN MY DIESEL SKODA

[-]

Realtrain@reddit

Plus I'd imagine part of this range is due to it being a larger and less aerodynamic car. Running the HVAC all night wouldn't cost any more than in a Tesla, so as a whole it's probably a smaller percentage that it would use up.

[-]

strongmanass@reddit

The ID.Buzz air filter will have to work overtime to clear the marijuana smoke from the cabin, so it'll use up all the battery in a few hours.

[-]

wearymicrobe@reddit

Mine uses 0.7kwh in AC just sitting in traffic at zero mph. Plugged in at night on a level 2 you can easily run the AC and charge at the same time.

People keep asking for 300-350 mile range but getting a brick like the buzz to do that at freeway speed is just not that easy. Mine does does 3.1 miles per kWh in city and mild freeway use and that is amazing given the size and shape and how many people and dogs I shove in it.

[-]

daxelkurtz@reddit

I'm a huge car-camper guy. My goal is to

drive 2-3 hours in between charges
get pretty close to where I'm going and charge to full
drive into the back-country
chill out for a long weekend, charging my stuff and running the heat pump from time to time
with enough juice left to make it back to the front country

The ID.Buzz doesn't have a ton of range; it doesn't have a super big battery; and it has zero off-pavement ability.

For me, I'd rather get in something like a Rivian R2 with a rear seat delete. Not nearly as spacious... but way less money, too.

[-]

Realtrain@reddit

Subaru recently came out with a few, right? Have you looked into them? (I admittedly haven't)

[-]

strongmanass@reddit

An R1S with a pop top and water tank would be close to the ideal campervan.

[-]

Rough_Cancel7265@reddit

This would be great for beach camping

[-]

BlackDS@reddit

I didn't realize the id.buzz died

[-]

bandi53@reddit

Can they just let it die?

[-]

StrangeSmellz@reddit

Why do you want anything cool to die? Then we all turn around and complain how eveybrjbf is a cross over

[-]

bandi53@reddit

It’s not cool though, it’s an ugly box horrendous build quality and neat wheels. As a vw tech, they’ve been a nightmare. The only similarities it has with the original bus is the two tone paint, they didn’t even get the shape of the headlights right. Thing looks like an air fryer and has abojt the same amount of character.

[-]

lordtema@reddit

It sells decently well in Europe, just isnt the right fit price wise and range wise for the US.

[-]

bubzki2@reddit

for some it sure is

[-]

CountBreichen@reddit

This would be pretty cool if they’d put a gas or diesel engine it. I can’t take an electric van out to the middle of nowhere to go camping.

The electric motor ruins it for me.

[-]