Volkswagen ID. Buzz review: reliability & safety rating

The Volkswagen ID. Buzz scored the full five out of five in Euro NCAP's crash testing

Overall rating

4.5 out of 5

Reliability & safety rating rating

4.0 out of 5

Euro NCAPAdult protectionChild protectionSafety assist
5 stars (2022)92%87%90%

The Volkswagen ID. Buzz was put through the rigours of the Euro NCAP crash test procedure in December 2022 and came away with the maximum five-star overall rating. But that shouldn't be a surprise given the ID.3, ID.4 and ID.5 that share the ID. Buzz's platform also received top marks. In fact, every new VW tested since 2016 been awarded a five-star score.

Volkswagen ID. Buzz reliability & problems

In theory, the relatively simple powertrain in an electric car should minimise the chances of anything mechanical going wrong. However, Volkswagen’s latest infotainment system – as fitted to the ID. Buzz – has suffered some widely reported glitches.

None of Volkswagen’s electric cars featured in our 2022 Driver Power owner satisfaction survey (the ID. Buzz is too new), but VW’s result isn’t exactly confidence-inspiring. It finished 18th out of 29 brands, with its in-car tech getting a hammering from owners. Reliability was rated similarly poorly, although the fact that 18.6% of all VW owners surveyed reported problems isn’t disastrous in itself.

Safety

As mentioned already, the ID. Buzz received the maximum five-star rating in Euro NCAP crash-testing, scoring 92% for adult occupants and 87% for children. Every ID. Buzz gets adaptive cruise control that keeps a safe distance from the car in front, autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian and cyclist detection, road-sign recognition, lane-keeping assistance and a contact system for the emergency services.

Welcome one and all, I’m Ellis the news reporter on Auto Express, the brand’s former online reviews editor and contributor to DrivingElectric. I’m proud to say I cut my teeth reporting and reviewing all things EV as the content editor on DrivingElectric. I joined the team while completing my master’s degree in automotive journalism at Coventry University and since then I’ve driven just about every electric car and hybrid I could get my hands on.

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