Volkswagen’s new ID. Buzz electric people-mover might evoke all sorts of feel-good vibes with its visual links to the original Kombi of 1950, but in the world of last-mile delivery vans, sentimentality counts for nought.
Which is why the commercial vehicle version of the ID. Buzz won’t be able to use puppy dog eyes to wriggle out of any genuine shortcomings when it’s stacked up against the EV van establishment.
Of course, that original Kombi was a parcel-van first and a people-mover second, so maybe the essence of the packaging will do the talking after all. Then again, the all-electric platform of the Cargo is new ground for VW in this country; a market that doesn’t necessarily have charging infrastructure sorted out yet.
Price and features – Does it represent good value for the price? What features does it come with? 6/10
With a starting price of $79,990, the ID. Buzz Cargo is hardly the cheapest of the mid-sized EV van bunch. The LDV eDeliver 7 undercuts it by plenty at $63,990 and has more payload and cargo space into the bargain.
The Peugeot e-Partner matches up with the VW more closely in space terms, but has much less range, offset by a brilliant special offer price of $49,990, right now. Ford’s E-Transit Custom will probably be much closer to the VW’s price-tag when it finally arrives Down Under.
So, what does the extra money get you? Fundamentally, the Cargo presents as a pretty classy version of a van. The twin side doors and choice of single or split tailgate are part of that, but even the timber floor in the load area suggests somebody has put a bit of thought into this car’s specification.
2025 VW ID. Buzz Cargo
2025 VW ID. Buzz Cargo
2025 VW ID. Buzz Cargo
2025 VW ID. Buzz Cargo
In the cabin, the three-across front seat is trimmed in tough cloth, and there’s a dual-zone climate-control system. A 12.9 inch touchscreen is the major interface, and the driver information is conveyed via a smaller, animated dashboard.
Volkswagen has also figured out that not all vans need to be white and plain, so there’s a range of metallic and pearl paint options, a 19-inch wheel and tyre upgrade, and the forklift-friendly wing doors are a snap at $390 extra.
You can also upgrade the side and rear doors to fully electric operation and there are upgrades to LED matrix headlights as part of the same option package.
2025 VW ID. Buzz Cargo
Design – Is there anything interesting about its design? 7/10
As the working version of the ID. Buzz, VW has paid more attention to practicalities than extra backsides on seats. So, the Cargo is a three-seater with a conventional driver’s seat and a two-person bench for the passengers. There’s no walk-through function between the cabin and cargo area, either.
You can also forget fashion-driven stuff like alloy wheels; the Cargo proudly wears 18-inch steel rims, shod with old-school 80-inch 60 series front tyres and 8.5-inch 55 series rears.
It might sound like some kind of a backward step, but the Cargo makes use of a combination of front disc brakes and drum rear brakes. And while the latter sounds like extremely old tech, when you consider how much of an EV’s braking is done regeneratively (without the use of the friction brakes at all) the switch to simpler, cheaper drums doesn’t sound so retrograde.
But even with that philosophy of practicality over all else, those charming retro dimensions still shine through, giving the Cargo a character and personality that elevates it beyond being a mere appliance. Fleet managers won’t care; owner-operators just might.
2025 VW ID. Buzz Cargo
2025 VW ID. Buzz Cargo
2025 VW ID. Buzz Cargo
2025 VW ID. Buzz Cargo
2025 VW ID. Buzz Cargo
2025 VW ID. Buzz Cargo
Practicality – How practical is its space and tech inside? 7/10
Twin sliding side doors will be popular with those making multiple deliveries into sometimes tight spots. And even though there’s power latching, the Cargo lacks the powered side doors of the people-mover version of the same vehicle.
But for many operators, manual doors are quicker to open and close and, when you’re doing it dozens of times a day, those seconds can add up. Like the side doors, the Cargo’s tailgate is a manually operated one.
The default tailgate is a single piece, top-hinged unit that forms a handy umbrella when it’s opened and is also high enough for most adults to walk under without stooping.
2025 VW ID. Buzz Cargo
The option tailgate is a pair of barn doors which open out and back, allowing loading via a forklift. The only catch there is that if you choose the barn doors, you lose the rear window altogether.
Inside the load area, which VW says will accommodate two standard pallets, there are rails for use as tie-down points, and a wooden cargo floor.
To be honest, though, the rails are too high to secure dense, heavy items, so there are also six beefy tie-down points around the floor’s perimeter. Protective plastic trim also extends half way to the roof on each side panel.
2025 VW ID. Buzz Cargo
For safety, there’s also a partition to separate the driver’s compartment from the load, and there’s an access port for longer loads that require the full length of the interior. Under-floor storage areas are located on each side, accessed from inside the door opening.
With a load-space length of 2232mm, and a minimum cargo-bay width of 1230mm at the pinch-point (the rear wheel arches) the Cargo is pallet-friendly, and the load bay height of 1279mm means a cubic capacity of 3900 litres.
However, payload is limited a little by the vehicle’s own mass. The kerb mass of 2352kg is pretty brutal (batteries are heavy, right?) and the Gross Vehicle Mass limit means the payload tops out at 774kg.
2025 VW ID. Buzz Cargo
2025 VW ID. Buzz Cargo
While the batteries’ typical location under the floor makes for a flat cargo area, the electric motor between the rear (rather than the front) wheels means that the Cargo may not be quite as suitable for a rear-mounted wheelchair ramp as some of its competition.
Phone charging on the go is taken care of by four USB-C ports in the cabin. There’s a single 12-volt socket in the cargo bay and a couple of neat touches such as four coat hooks behind the seat and illuminated door handles and convex rear view mirrors, recognising the fact that many delivery vans spend a lot of time reversing into tight spots, too.
There are loads of storage nooks and cupholders around the cabin, including a full-width tray on top of the windscreen. The three-seat layout is going to work very well for some businesses, too.
2025 VW ID. Buzz Cargo
The only catch there is that the fixed cargo barrier imposes a very upright backrest when the seats are moved all the way back for taller drivers. Move them forward a little and the backrest angle can be eased.
The big downside is the lack of a spare tyre of any sort. Instead, you’ll need to rely on the tyre sealant and 12-volt compressor with which VW equips the Cargo. At least there’s a tyre pressure monitoring system to give you early warning of an impending flat tyre. There’s a tool kit, as well.
The Cargo is capable of towing a 1200kg braked trailer.
Under the bonnet – What are the key stats for its motor? 8/10
Because it’s based on the short-wheelbase version of the ID. Buzz people mover, the Cargo gets the short wheelbase body and a single electric motor driving the rear wheels. Outputs are 210kW of power and 550Nm of torque which, even on paper, promises pretty stout performance.
The electric motor is mounted between the rear wheels and there’s a single-speed transmission because that’s all the torquey electric motor needs to offer a full range of road speeds. Speaking of which, the Cargo has a top speed of 160km/h (more than adequate in Australia) and VW claims it will get from rest to 100km/h in about 8.0 seconds. Which feels about right.
2025 VW ID. Buzz Cargo
Efficiency – What is its driving range? What is its charging time? 7/10
Power comes from a 79kWh battery which, thanks to the official maximum consumption figure of 22.2kWh per 100km, gives a theoretical range of 402km.
Again, that’s plenty for a last-mile van. And in the real world, we recorded a figure of just under 20kWh/100km, so you’ll get closer to the claim than most EVs out there.
Charging from an 11kW socket should take about seven-and-a-half hours to get the Cargo from 0 to 100 per cent charge while the VW will also charge at a maximum of 185kW from a commercial DC fast-charger. In that instance, charging from five to 80 per cent should take about 30 minutes.
VW equips the Cargo with a Mode 2, Type 2 charging cable and there’s also a DC to DC converter. A CCS Type 2 charge port is included as standard as is a household power-point-friendly charge cable which should take the Cargo to full charge in just under 23 hours.
2025 VW ID. Buzz Cargo
Driving – What's it like to drive? 7/10
First impression of the ID. Buzz Cargo is that it’s a very sophisticated piece of equipment for a tradie van. That’s largely down to the silent operation of the electric powertrain, but also because we suspect the suspension has been tuned for a little more comfort than some of the competition.
The upshot of that is that when it's relatively heavily loaded, you can feel the difference, and while the Cargo absolutely coped with the 500kg of breeze blocks we drove it with, there’s no doubt there was a load on board.
Even walking up to the loaded Cargo revealed the ride height had dropped a few millimetres, and speed humps could be felt making the rear multi-link suspension earning its keep.
2025 VW ID. Buzz Cargo
2025 VW ID. Buzz Cargo
However, there was never any bottoming out, the steering never lost its accuracy and that stonking driveline was more than capable of getting it all rolling in a fair hurry.
Forward vision is great with that huge, deep windscreen framing the view, and even though there are two A-pillars on each side, they don’t contribute to a terrible blind spot thanks to clever placement.
The Cargo’s steering is sharp and pleasantly accurate without being hyper-active and its fair to say driver stress levels would be a lot lower in this van than many of the diesel-burning, hard-riding alternatives. Owner-operators are likely to love it.
2025 VW ID. Buzz Cargo
2025 VW ID. Buzz Cargo
2025 VW ID. Buzz Cargo
2025 VW ID. Buzz Cargo
2025 VW ID. Buzz Cargo
2025 VW ID. Buzz Cargo
Safety – What safety equipment is fitted? What is its safety rating? 8/10
Commercial vehicles have come a long way in this department in a few short years, so the ID. Buzz Cargo needs to be up there with the best of them in this age of OH&S compliance.
As such, there’s standard autonomous emergency braking that works at all speeds and also incorporates pedestrian and cyclist identification. This has all been made possible because the Cargo shares the same current-gen platform as the rest of the ID. Buzz range, and is not an afterthought model spun off last year’s platform.
Other drive-assistance gear includes lane-keeping assist, rear-traffic alert and an exit warning system. Combined with emergency assist, swerve-support and oncoming vehicle braking (when turning) VW calls its driver-aids package a "semi-automated driving assistance system" (their words, not ours). There’s a rear view camera as well as multi-function camera set-up.
2025 VW ID. Buzz Cargo
The usual front airbags are also standard, as well as side-curtain airbags in the front compartment, although there’s no centre-front airbag thanks to the three-seater arrangement.
The passenger’s front bag can be disabled in the case of the front seat being used for extra luggage space. And while the front seat consists of a driver’s pew and a bench for two passengers, the central seating position gets a proper three-point seat-belt. All three belts also feature pretensioners.
You also get adaptive cruise-control, multi-collision braking, a driver fatigue monitoring system and even tyre pressure monitoring.
Volkswagen Australia has no intention of crash-testing an ID. Buzz or Cargo locally, and is instead relying on the car’s Euro NCAP score of a maximum five safety stars.
Ownership – What warranty is offered? What are its service intervals? What are its running costs? 6/10
Down-time is a dirty word in the transport industry, so fleet operators should appreciate the 24-month/30,000km service intervals which reflect the relative simplicity of the BEV platform.
Also of interest to fleet managers will be VW’s offer to bundle the lease repayments, charging infrastructure and charging costs into a single monthly payment.
Fleet managers and tradies are notoriously pragmatic when it comes to shelling out on a new vehicle. In which case, the Cargo’s relationship with the charm-offensive people-mover version of the ID. Buzz counts for little.
Fortunately, there’s some real meat in the Cargo’s make-up and the powerful, torquey driveline is just part of that. The driving experience is also a refined one, with the now well-understood benefits in driver stress-levels that implies.
Never the biggest van out there, the Cargo nevertheless makes the most of what size it does boast, and there’s enough cargo space for it to be a serious contender for a lot of small and large businesses.
Finally, while it costs more than some of its competitors, it still boasts the potential for ongoing low running costs, depending on how and where it’s charged. Horses for courses, we believe it’s called.
Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer, with travel, accommodation and meals provided.
Disclaimer: The pricing information shown in the editorial content (Review Prices) is to be used as a guide only and is based on information provided to Carsguide Autotrader Media Solutions Pty Ltd (Carsguide) both by third party sources and the car manufacturer at the time of publication. The Review Prices were correct at the time of publication. Carsguide does not warrant or represent that the information is accurate, reliable, complete, current or suitable for any particular purpose. You should not use or rely upon this information without conducting an independent assessment and valuation of the vehicle.
