Volkswagen ID. Buzz: interior, dashboard & infotainment
The ID. Buzz’s interior fit and finish live up to its price, and it offers plenty of family-friendly innovations
If there’s one area where Volkswagen’s ID. models have previously fallen short, it’s cabin quality, but a few unique touches set the ID. Buzz’s interior apart from that of the ID.3, ID.4 and ID.5, not to mention its van-derived rivals.
Volkswagen ID. Buzz dashboard
Volkswagen says sustainability is a “core part” of the ID. Buzz. You won’t find any leather in the cabin, as the firm has chosen to use several recycled or vegan materials for the upholstery and other finishes. One of these, called Seaqual yarn, consists of 10% collected ocean plastics and roughly 90% recycled plastic bottles.
Clever touches like the USB slot in the passenger door, the hidden wireless phone charging pocket on the dash and the totally flat floor really make the ID. Buzz feel like a vehicle that has been designed with careful thought about how it will be used. Owners can even specify a three-pin plug underneath the front passenger seat.
The electric MPV also gets ambient lighting and the interactive ID.Light across the dash, which changes colour in certain situations, turning red when warning of a possible hazard, for example.
Equipment, options & accessories
Standard kit on the entry-level ID. Buzz Life includes LED headlights, 19-inch alloy wheels, sliding rear doors, a 40:60 split-folding rear bench, armrests for the front seats, a 5.3-inch digital driver’s display, keyless start, a reversing camera, traffic-sign recognition, adaptive cruise control and autonomous emergency braking (AEB), among other safety systems.
Style adds 20-inch alloys, ambient lighting, stainless steel 'Play' and 'Pause' pedals, a powered tailgate, matrix LED headlights and two-tone cloth upholstery.
All ID.Buzz customers also get a choice of four two-tone paint finishes at an additional cost of nearly £3,000. These combine a Candy White roof and bonnet with either Lime Yellow, Starlight Blue, Energetic Orange or Bay Leaf Green for the rest of the bodywork.
Infotainment, apps & sat nav
Following on from Volkswagen’s updates in mid-2024, all ID. Buzz models are now fitted with a 12.9-inch touchscreen infotainment system. This unit replaces the older 10-inch setup that was the cause of much frustration for both our road testers and several owners alike, due to a number of glitches and design flaws. For those who still aren’t too keen on VW’s own software, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are also provided.
The fully digital instrument panel in the ID. Buzz is an evolution of the ID.3’s unit, and offers more information than before. For example, you can now display navigation instructions alongside key information like speed and range. The gear selector is no longer attached to the binnacle, either, and moved to where the wiper stalk would usually sit – but it’s still intuitive to use.
The ID. Buzz also comes with an array of driver-assistance technology and can even be equipped with the latest version of the brand’s ‘Travel Assist’ semi-autonomous system. In fact, top-spec versions of the ID. Buzz feature more than 30 such systems and can receive over-the-air (OTA) software updates from VW as well.
