Boggo-Spec VW ID Buzz Is Our Pick Of The Range, But There’s A Catch

We’re big fans of the Volkswagen ID Buzz at CarThrottle. Its blend of hugely characterful styling and enormous practicality make it one of the most likeable EVs on sale, and a recent update has ironed out a lot of the issues that early cars had.

However, with a starting price of £59,035, it’s not exactly cheap. Over in mainland Europe, VW has just made some strides towards making it more accessible with the introduction of a new entry-level model that gets rid of some of the frills for a hefty discount.

Called the Freestyle, in its home country of Germany, it starts at €49,998 – around £41,500. The German and British Buzz ranges don’t quite line up, with Germany getting a couple of other interim versions, but that’s around €11,000 (approx. £9,000) less than the model roughly equivalent to our entry-level Buzz.

For that significantly reduced outlay, you’ll get unpainted plastic bumpers (remember those?), and just two colour choices: the no-cost Candy White, or the €1,035 option of Mono Silver. You do get those nifty ‘Freestyle’ decals on the side free of charge, though.

Similarly, on the inside, there’s none of the jolly two-tone pastel hues or big, architectural sunroofs of more expensive Buzzes – you're limited to practical, hard-wearing grey fabric. The standard wheels are even steelies with plastic hubcaps, which we recommend immediately removing for an ultra-spartan look.

There are a couple of downsides. You’ll have to settle for a lower-powered motor, sending just 168bhp to the back wheels, so pace won’t be particularly forthcoming. A smaller 59kWh battery makes for a quoted 204-mile range.

It’s also currently only available on the shorter-wheelbase five-seater Buzz, which is a bit of a shame for something that could otherwise see service as a more affordable electric people-mover. The biggest disappointment, though, is that the Freestyle is only available in certain left-hand drive European markets. Volkswagen UK has confirmed to us that UK sales aren't currently on the cards, so we'll have look jealously across the Channel at this one.