Volkswagen’s spacious, endlessly customizable, and $2,200 Microbus was a 1960s icon.
Hippies painted peace signs on their guitar-toting, cheap-to-use vans, transforming a German utility vehicle into the ultimate protest ride.
Families attached camper extensions and flooded the interior with pillows and mattresses, making it the perfect set of wheels for American travel freedom.
This year, VW tapped into the van’s iconic status. In early 2025, the all-electric ID. Buzz started popping up at American dealerships.
It carries many of the same design cues — dual-tone paints, airy interiors, and a massive VW emblem — that made the hippie van an eye-catching relic of the counter-culture movement.
But as Volkswagen plots its upcoming electric age, does the Buzz capture the same spirit it did in the 60s?
The Daily Mail tested the van to find out. Our conclusion: not really. Instead, we have a different recommendation for camper-esque capabilities.
Like most auto reviewers, we borrow cars for a week at a time — the company covers the tolls and first charge, but opinions on the ride are my own.
VW’s Microbus, which first came to the US in 1950, quickly became a counter-culture relic. It’s cheap starting price, quirky looks, and simple mechanics have made the German van an important part of American car history
Volkswagen is leaning into that nostalgia with the new, all-electric Buzz. But now, the van starts in the $60,000 range
Previous owners used the classic vans as family-hauling campers – the new Buzz has some of the same usability, but without the affordability
Buzz kill
Our $72,342 VW ID. Buzz had major main character energy.
The two-tone van looks nothing like anything else on the road. It’s big, boxy, and shaped like a rolling loaf of bread.
In a Target parking lot, strangers peeked inside, with one onlooker asking if we were planning on using it as a camper.
No, we don’t think that Volkswagen would like if the Daily Mail’s staff slept in its products: but, with a massive skylight and fold-flat rear seats, we see how owners could easily make the van accomodating to overnight trips.
Inside, the Buzz doubles down on personality. Bright colors, clever storage cubbies, and playful design details make it feel joyful in a way most cars don’t.
The driving experience told a different story.
The seats felt stiff and uncomfortable after just an hour, and the van’s efficiency disappointed.
The Buzz’s loaf-of-bread-like sillhouette is unlike anything else sitting in American parking lots
The Buzz had a ton of quirky design additions throughout the cabin, including etched pause and play symbols on the driver pedals and the van’s sillhouette on back seat leather panels
Our two-tone blue and white van was a head-turner – we have never been asked more questions by interested strangers when testing cars
The interior is bright and airy with light materials, great ambient lighting, and a huge sunroof. If only VW’s tech was better, we could envision ourselves staying in the car for a full night
We averaged 2.5 kWh per mile, which translated to just 231 miles of highway range — tough to swallow in a $70,000 EV.
Driving fell short of our expectations. The steering feel was often dull in the corner and any hard breaking lurched the heavy van uncomfortably forward.
It’s particularly upsetting because we had high hopes for the EV’s driving prowess, too: in August, we raved about VW’s electric driving system in the ID.4.
Still, charging was a breeze. The van’s battery swallowed up 180 miles of juice in 30 minutes on a fast charger.
There were some everyday usability frustrations, too. The rear step-in measured a steep 13 inches, tricky for kids or grandparents.
Overall, VW built the Buzz to be a heart-of-the-brand vehicle, not a mass-market best-seller.
It leans heavily on nostalgia, much like the revived Beetle that lingered in showrooms for two decades.
And in that way, the Buzz succeeds. It’s charming, eye-catching, and impossible to ignore — but not the kind of car most people will want to live with year after year.
But it isn’t the cheap-to-maintain icon that made it popular and accessible in the 1960s.
As one gawking stranger put it: buying a Buzz is like needing a winter jacket for the cold season. But instead of purchasing a black down, you walk out of the store with snazzy cheetah print.
Here’s what we’d recommend
Rivian’s R1S is the EV we’d recommend for camping – it has a ton of on-board tech that makes it the perfect outdoorsy vehicle
The interior takes a more supple approach than the ID. Buzz, but it still has plenty of personality – our tester even had plaid floor mats
Drivers who want an EV that doubles as a capable daily driver with camper-like versatility should look to the Rivian R1S.
We tested the $101,000 three-row SUV in June and walked away impressed with its range, driving feel, and advanced tech.
Unlike the Buzz, the R1S was built from the ground up as an EV, with a software stack that ties everything together — from battery prep before charging to weather-aware routing and intelligent trip planning.
That allows it to drive over 350 miles on a full charge.
The absence of Android Auto or Apple CarPlay barely matters, because Rivian’s in-house system works seamlessly.
Beyond the tech, the R1S leans into adventure.
‘Camp mode’ levels the cabin for a bed. A detachable Bluetooth speaker brings music outdoors. The trunk hides an air pump for trail runs and a built-in flashlight for emergencies.
The R1S isn’t as playful as the Buzz, but it strikes a rare balance between off-road capability and everyday usability.
If the Buzz is cheetah print, the R1S is a tailored parka: practical, rugged, and ready for anything.
