Long-Term Review

Why we’re running it: A switch from FWD to RWD brings better range, efficiency and drivability – but what about everyday appeal?

Month 1 - Specs

Life with a Polestar 2: Month 1

Welcoming the Polestar 2 to the fleet - 29 May 2024

Sometimes in this job, we go on drives in cars that we don't end up writing about because we've told you everything you need to know about it already.

I had one such drive late last year in a Polestar 2 - a car then recently facelifted and a few weeks earlier subjected to a full Autocar road test. I had some time in it before a flight home following the inaugural Polestar Day in Los Angeles, where the Swedish electric car maker unveiled its future model plans and strategy.

What I had thought would be a chance to fill my knowledge bank and to catch up with my road test colleagues turned into one of the most memorable drives that I had all year - and not just for the rather lovely Californian autumn sun and scenery.

The 2 was as little as I remembered. Pre-facelift, this 4.6m-long fastback was likeable but not an automatic choice in a market ever expanding with choice. While a creditable first effort, it wasn't outstanding and felt alternative in its positioning and execution.

Its mid-life facelift brought with it most of the customary changes, like some updated visuals and extra kit, along with the 'usual' for EVs of more range and improved battery and motor technology.

Yet it also brought with it a switch from front-wheel drive to rear-wheel drive - something practically unheard of but which we might yet see more of in the future, as such changes are now very much technically feasible in the electric era.

The 2 felt much more substantial as a result, with better rolling refinement, driver engagement and acceleration.

The switch to rear-wheel drive had obvious dynamic benefits but was mainly done to boost efficiency at a steady cruise (more mass is over the back axle now, so more torque is being used for forward motion), and the pre-facelift 2's real-world range of 200 or so miles became closer to 270 miles when we road tested it.

A 2 is now back with us for an extended stay, and after my memorable first experience, I'm excited and delighted to be running it. We've had a 2 on our fleet before: Matt Prior ran a range-topping Long Range Dual Motor with the Performance Pack, complete with the fancy Öhlins dampers that you need a spanner to adjust.

This time, we've got a Long Range Single Motor, which feels like the sweet spot in the range. There's just one model below it, the Standard Range Single Motor, with a 69kWh battery instead of an 82kWh one and a 268bhp motor instead of a 295bhp one.

The Dual Motor version remains in the line-up as well, featuring the 82kWh battery. It has 416bhp as standard or 469bhp if you add the Performance Pack, which retains those Ohlins dampers.

I am keen to see how that top-rung model has evolved at some point over the next few months and will make sure I pop over to Prior's to borrow his spanner and see what he thinks of the progress made.

As is typical with new cars these days, options are grouped into packages. Two are offered - Pilot and Plus - and my test car has both. The former features all the assisted driving technology and costs £2000 on top of the base car's £48,950.

The latter costs £4000 and includes quite a few bits, from what's fast proving to be essential on EVs, such as a heat pump, to the added theatre of a panoramic roof and a Harman Kardon premium sound system, to clever features like the lid-in-lid' pop-up bag holder in the boot, which stops things sliding around.

The colour of our 2 is as nice as I've seen in the metal on any car for a long time. It's called Jupiter and costs £900. The interior trim looks great and feels good too, and for the record is called Slate Weavetech with Black Ash deco by Polestar.

One question that has remained pre- and post-facelift concerns the 2's ride, which is firm. This again was shown in our road test on 20in wheels, but this car has 195, and so far the ride is better than I remember it being. That back-to-back comparison with the range-topper will be revealing for more than one reason, then.

One big part of the appeal of the 2 is its range, or more precisely its efficiency. The official range is a remarkable 406 miles, which as ever should be taken with a pinch of salt, yet in early testing I'm routinely passing the magic 300-mile barrier and pushing 330 miles on occasion.

This is a car with huge visual appeal inside and out and, my early experiences suggest, increased levels of driver appeal and even better efficiency.

I was apprehensive the day the 2 arrived for fear of it not being as good or as memorable in a soggy British spring as it was in a glorious Californian autumn, but it has already put those worries to bed.

Second Opinion

I thought the updated 2 was great when I first drove it: fast, frugal and pretty cool looking. Then I sat in the back of it and thought it was less great. I’m really interested to see if Mark’s rear-seat passengers find sitting virtually on the rear axle as grating and as nausea-inducing as I did, or if I was just being a typically fussy road tester.

Murray Scullion

Back to the top

Polestar 2 Long Range Single Motor specification

Specs: Price New £48,950 Price as tested £55,850 Options Plus Package £4000, Pilot Package £2000, Jupiter paint £900

Test Data: Engine Single front-mounted electric motor Power 268bhpbhp Torque 316lb ft Kerb weight 2490kg Top speed 99mph 0-62mph 7.4sec Fuel economy 4.2mpkWh (WLTP) CO2 0g/km Faults None Expenses None

Back to the top

Why we’re running it: Lexus has pinned its hopes of UK sales growth on this new compact crossover

Month 1 - Specs

Life with a Lexus LBX: Month 1

Welcoming the LBX to the fleet - 12 June 2024

Has anyone else got a mental block on all these Lexuses with an X in their name?

There's the RX, a Jaguar F-Pace rival, the Audi Q5-sized NX, the very slightly smaller UX and then this, the LBX, Lexus's newest car and its smallest yet.

LBX stands for Lexus Breakthrough Crossover, which seemed a bit silly until I read that all of those other names are also abbreviations: Radiant Crossover, Nimble Crossover and Urban Crossover (still silly but consistent at least). And the fact that this one isn't called BX to follow the pattern is significant, according to Lexus.

The only other time Lexus have previously used a three-letter name was for its VI0-engined supercar. "As the LFA showed a different side to the brand in terms of attitude and performance, the LBX will challenge the status quo and redefine what a small car can offer", apparently.

And Lexus is very much hoping that this will be a breakthrough model, anticipated to comfortably become its biggest seller and intended to attract new, younger customers to the brand.

The sceptics among you might describe the LBX as a badge-engineered Toyota Yaris Cross for at least £5000 more. Indeed, the two cars share the same TNGA-B architecture and hybrid powertrain.

But there's plenty to separate them, too: the LBX is longer, lower and wider and we're told that the two cars were developed separately and the Lexus was optimised for ride and handling. Plus, I don't think the LBX's styling gives any clues that its associated with the Yaris Cross.

The Premium Plus Design trim of our car is the fourth rung up on a ladder remarkably featuring seven. That puts this car at £35,595 - £5500 more than the starting price but still £5000 away from the range-topper, which is also four-wheel drive.

There's plenty of equipment for that money. The cheapest models receive 17in wheels, a 9.8in touchscreen and automatic high beam. Here, the wheels are 18in and there's a head-up display, blindspot monitoring, a 12.3in touchscreen, heated front seats, a wireless phone charger and a powered tailgate. The main difference with the top-spec LBX is fancier 18in alloys and a posh Mark Levinson speaker system.

The LBX offers only one hybrid powertrain, centred on a 1.5-litre three-cylinder engine and able to run on electricity alone. With a combined 134bhp, it can haul the car from 0-62mph in a respectable 9.2sec, while the official fuel economy is a heartening 61.4mpg.

It seems odd in this day and age to launch a brand-new car - especially a smaller one - with no plans to launch plug-in hybrid or fully electric variants. Toyota and Lexus, having been trailblazers with hybrids, chose not to lead the way for electric cars, and given that Lexus expects the LBX to account for a third of its total UK sales, clearly this lack of choice isn't expected to be a barrier to success.

I like a compact car, especially because I live in London, but I was mildly concerned about the size of the LBX, knowing how bulky my son's car seat is and the impact that has on front passengers. I haven't tested it with any particularly tall passengers yet, and I strongly suspect that any such candidates wouldn't be comfortable on a long journey, but moderately sized adults have sat next to me and been comfortable.

Our photographer Jack has verified that there's a decent amount of head room in the back, though. The boot has also come as a pleasant surprise, at 402 litres - only three litres less than in the rival Audi Q2. There is a loading lip, admittedly, but the boot seems well packaged to make the most of the space, and I can happily fill it up for a weekend, including my toddler's bike, without spilling over into the rear seats. Suitcases would be another matter, obviously. Now I just need to work out how to actually open the boot without a quizzical look and a second attempt...

The inside is very black in that safe way that so many cars are these days. It's practical, it's smart and it's (arguably) premium. The fact that it's uninspiring is a side note, and I've seen an alternative cream finish that looks swish. Nonetheless, this car does feel premium inside, with cosseting seats, a big touchscreen and nice turface finishes.

A few weeks in and I'm still getting the hang of reverse being a notch forward and drive being a notch back on the gearknob. It feels counterintuitive. I was wondering whether it was just me, but then a friend asked me to explain the exact same quirk on the BMW iX3. I had no answers but felt better at least.

As a Lexus model, the LBX uses the Toyota group's e-CVT, of which I've never been much of a fan. I'm intrigued by its execution in the LBX, though, because so far it's proving itself to be better than expected. There's still a noticeable moan when the engine is worked hard, but let's see how I adapt with more miles under my belt.

It has yet to be seen if the LBX will make a sales breakthrough for Lexus in the UK, so my goal for the coming months is to find out if it has the appeal to make that leap - and if it deserves that third letter in its title.

Second Opinion

The world needs more small cars, and I can see no reason why a small car can’t be upmarket, so I want to like the LBX. On first encounter, I liked the idea more than the execution, but there was enough character to make me think familiarity could convince me. I will be interested to see if that happens for Rachel

James Attwood

Back to the top

Lexus LBX FWD Premium Plus design specification

Specs: Price New £35,595 Price as tested £36,265 Options Metallic bi-tone paint £670 

Test Data: Engine 3 cyls in-line, 1490cc turbocharged, petrol, plus electric motor Power 134bhp at 5500rpm (combined) Torque 136lb ft at 3600-4800rpm Kerb weight 1280kg Top speed 106mph 0-62mph 9.2sec Fuel economy 61.4mpg (WLTP) CO2 103kg/km Faults None Expenses None

Back to the top

Why we’re running it: Can an extra-long, diesel 4x4 justify a place in daily motoring life in 2024?

Month 1 - Specs

Life with a Land Rover Defender 130: Month 1

Welcoming the Defender 130 to the fleet - 5 June 2024

No sooner had I written that the Ford Ranger Raptor had left Autocar's long-term fleet (to join Steve Cropley's personal fleet, and fair play to him), a similarly large vehicle has arrived to replace it.

It's a Land Rover Defender 130, the longest variant yet of JLR's most rugged 4x4, the car that represented the final peg of a "three-legged stool" when it was launched in 2020, alongside the Discovery and Range Rover. (And given there are multiples of Discovery and Range Rover, I still wonder if there's room for more than one Defender type.)

The 130 lives on the same 3022mm wheelbase as the Defender 110 but has had 340mm added behind the back axle, with a slight lower-body lift back there at the same time to reduce compromise to the car's departure angle.

The Defender was a pretty big car already, and now it's a really big one, at 5099mm long without a spare wheel and 5358mm long with it, as here. Such is the space offered that it's the only Defender variant that can be optioned with a third row of seats, although in that form it can't also be specified with the jump seat in the front, because nine seats are too many for a passenger car.

The last time a Defender joined Autocar's long-term fleet, a very pleasant 90, I had the pleasure of working through the configurator and picking the choice options: steel wheels, blue paint, white root, chunky tyres.

It's one of life's simple pleasures (I can recommend the Indian motorcycle configurator as my current deadline dodging obsession). But then somebody else ended up running that Defender.

This time around, it's different: I'm looking after the car, but it arrived pre-specced. The 130 has come to us in Outbound trim, with a 3.0-litre six-cylinder twin-turbo mild-hybrid diesel making 296bhp. 

(This D300 was registered a few months ago; now this trim comes with a minimum D350 diesel.) As you might expect, given the name, the Outbound is one of the more lifestyley variants of the Defender.

If you want to get deeply involved in the model range, it has the basic specification of an X-Dynamic SE but with added gloss black wheels, mats and extended rubber flooring inside, a body-coloured exterior panel and a powder-coated cross-car beam.

Crucially, the Outbound is avallable only with five seats, rather than eight, to prioritise load bay capacity over passenger carrying.

A 130 with all eight seats raised has 400 litres of room behind the third row. The volume on this five-seater is at least 1329 litres, rising to 2516 litres with the back seats folded. I haven't raised a six-a-side football team, so five seats suits me fine, as does the Outbound's easily cleanable rubber flooring, for when I fill the back with hay and the front with mud. Which, with due apologies to colleagues who will borrow the car from me, I will.

There are some options, of course, on top of a £80,390 base price when it was registered. The Defender in standard specification comes very well covered, but this car has a few packs and standalone options as well, most notably upgraded leather seats (£920), an upgrade for the interior (£2275), a towing pack (£1415), an electronic active rear differential (£1020) and more besides, including a tracker with a three-year subscription (£530).

The grey paint adds £1800 and the priciest option is the £4000 satin protective film over that, so that I look like an extra from a Guy Ritchie film. In all, £16,355's worth of kit takes the price to £96,745.

When the new Defender arrived, Commercial versions started at £35,000 but it was just about possible to spend £100,000 on a heavily optioned five-door. Now a Defender Hard Top is £57,420 and you can get pretty close to £140,000. JLR isn't alone here, though. Everything has quickly become more expensive.

Besides, the Defender has found its feet as a luxury car. And the most expensive ones now get a petrol V8. Goody gumdrops.

Anyway, back to this one: it's settling into my routine very easily. I will take it off road, or at least onto green lanes, but during its initial miles, I've been using it as a daily wagon.

I know it's big and tall and heavy, but it's such a good motorway car, with great visibility, big comfortable seats, a relaxed driving position and exceptional stability and isolation, even in bad conditions.

And sure, it's a 4x4, but ease off and relax and it can return 40mpg on a long cruise. Not many years ago, a 1.4-litre petrol supermini wouldn't have done that.

Like the Raptor that went before it, it's not the simplest thing to park, but I can be in a Suzuki Swift and I will still head to a quiet car park bay right at the end of a row and then scooch up against the wall or kerb, so it doesn't make much difference.

And there's a really good reversing camera that shows how much room the spare wheel requires, plus the space needed if you want to still open the rear door. There are lots of little niche features like that around the Defender. More on them in the weeks to come.

Second Opinion

We’ve all seen a lot of new Defenders, yet never one as well specced as the 90 we ran a few years ago (well done, Matt). It was memorable and is still missed; a bigger, more accessible boot was its only real weakness. The 130 takes a sledgehammer (or is that a shipping container?) to that problem, so I’m intrigued to see if it retains the 90’s charm.

Mark Tisshaw

Back to the top

Land Rover Defender 130 D300 Outbound specification

Specs: Price New £80,390 Price as tested £96,745 Options Satin film £4000, Premium Interior Pack £2275, paint £1800, Towing Pack £1415, Driver Assist Pack £1175, head-up display £1080, rear e-diff £1020, leather upgrade £920, Comfort and Convenience Pack £800, matrix headlights £760, tracker £530, Cold Climate Pack £260, laminated UVproof windscreen £220, domestic plug socket £100

Test Data: Engine 3.0-litre twin-turbocharged mild-hybrid diesel Power 296bhp at xxxrpm Torque xxxlb ft at xxxrpm Kerb weight xxxkg Top speed xxxmph 0-62mph 6.4sec Fuel economy 32.4mpg CO2 229g/km Faults None Expenses None

Back to the top

Why we’re running it: To see if this capable new crossover can be more than just a niche product

Month 1 - Specs

Life with a Subaru Crosstrek: Month 1

Welcoming the Crosstrek to the fleet - 1 May 2024

Appearances can be deceptive. At a glance, the new Crosstrek looks like any other compact family crossover - a new rival for the Qashqai, perhaps?

But while the big-selling Nissan starts at a shade over £27,000, the cheapest Subaru is more than £34,000. No wonder, you might respond, the company sells so few cars here. "We're a niche manufacturer and proud of it," says Subaru UK.

That's all well and good when all you're selling is quirky oddities such as the Forester (driven, p27), but Subaru hopes to sell a million cars worldwide this year, and while not very many of those sales are likely to be in the UK, the first quarter of 2024 was the Japanese firm's best since before the pandemic and the graph is looking decidedly positive.

In Britain, the Subaru brand still has plenty of leftover cachet from its rallying exploits with Colin McRae, Richard Burns et al, and the Crosstrek (née XV, now wearing the badge it has always carried in North America) has the potential to take it slightly more mainstream, even if it is still attracting buyers with a far more rigorous list of 'must-haves' than the norm.

Key among those will be 4WD. All Subarus now have it, as will those in the future, and the traces of the old Impreza you can see in the Crosstrek's shape are no accident, because the two share much under the skin (a sixth generation of the family hatchback has been on sale abroad since early 2023).

And when you factor in that symmetrical, permanent 4WD system, and the fact that all versions are pretty generously loaded with kit, it looks competitively priced against rivals such as the Mazda CX-30 and Skoda Karoq.

The Limited is anything but, and all my £2000-pricier Touring adds is 18in rather than 17in wheels, black rather than grey door mirrors, high-beam assistance and an electric tilt-slide sunroof.

That last item is a pleasingly retro affair, with a flimsy manually operated cover that reminds me of my dad's 1986 Rover 820i, but it really does brighten up the interior, which is fairly unremittingly black otherwise - albeit clearly very well screwed together.

The sunroof isn't the only throwback inside: if you're the sort of person (and I count myself among their number) who bemoans the ever-increasing number of touch-sensitive - or, far too often, insensitive - controls in modern machinery, this car is for you.

There is a touchscreen for the infotainment, and a pretty good one at that, increased from 8.0in in the old XV to 11.6in here, but elsewhere there are lots of traditional switches, some even making an old-school click-clack sound.

Indeed, a sense of no-nonsense practicality pervades. The interior is surprisingly roomy for what isn't a huge car and the back seats in particular feel spacious (at 6ft 3in, I can sit behind the driver's seat when it's set up for me), although the rear seatbacks are very short and head room is rather at a premium. 

Space is even more limited in the boot: the battery for Subaru's e-Boxer hybrid system sits under the floor, so there's no extra storage and it's pretty shallow, leading to a meagre 315 litres with the seats up.

In the front, however, the seats are really comfortable, with an odd blend of sitting fairly high, due to the jacked-up suspension, but deeply set within the car.

Comfort levels are further augmented by the ride, which Subaru has worked hard on to make this car well tuned for road use without compromising the marque's famed off-road ability.

There's 10% more torsional rigidity than in the old XV, and that's more than mere PR guff: open the rear doors and you will see secondary latches at the base of each to anchor them to the body.

So it's stiffer and smoother-riding than before, as well as 150kg lighter, which should further aid its ability in the rough stuff, as well as giving a marginal improvement in fuel efficiency.

So far, it hasn't exactly blown me away on that score, with mainly town driving resulting in an average MPG in the low-30s - to be fair, not far behind Subaru's own WLTP figures.

That's because the 'hybrid' bit is a touch misleading: this isn't a plug-in or a proper self-charging hybrid with a large battery pack but very much a 'mild' hybrid.

Its 0.57kWh battery will give a couple of hundred yards of fully electric running, but the petrol engine swiftly kicks back in and more often the battery power is being deployed under acceleration.

Ah yes, acceleration. Time to address the elephant in the room, which is the standard Lineartronic CVT. This is a boon for off-road work but can make on-road driving and in particular meaningful acceleration - a laborious affair.

Yet it didn't take me too long to work out how it prefers to be deployed and to drive around its compromises, letting the motor chip in with its 16bhp and 49lb ft of torque (much needed, with only 134bhp and 134lb ft from the normally aspirated 2.0-litre flat four) to get me up to speed.

It's simply a case of tuning into - and enjoying - a slightly less hurried pace of life. First impressions, then, are of a flawed but very likeable family car - a conclusion that makes it look like a bit of an expensive indulgence.

But so far it has spent its time with the trundling to and from work on the outskirts of London, so I haven't yet had a chance to really dip into its talent pool. I'm looking forward to rectifying that situation in the very near future.

Second Opinion

The Crosstrek’s well-mannered, pleasant-riding suspension surprised me. With something that has genuine offroad ability, I expected a fairly rough and ready on-road compromise, but Subaru’s claimed fine-detail tuning work really is apparent. The hybrid powertrain is less impressive, particularly when you work it a bit. With such a chassis, this car certainly deserves something more enticing. An atmo flat six, maybe? If only… 

Matt Saunders

Back to the top

Subaru Crosstrek 2.0i E-Boxer Touring specification

Specs: Price New £36,290 Price as tested £36,290 Options

Test Data: Engine 4 cyls horizontally opposed, 1995cc, petrol, plus 48V hybrid assist Power 134bhp at 5600rpm Torque 134lb ft at 4000rpm Kerb weight 1630kg Top speed 123mph 0-62mph 10.8sec Fuel economy 36.8mpg CO2 174g/km Faults None Expenses None

Back to the top

Why we ran it: Volkswagen is looking to repeat the glory days with a massive family EV, but was the Buzz as easy to love as a bug? 

Month 1 - Month 2 - Month 3 - Month 4 - Final report - Specs

Cheery electric MPV says farewell after bringing some colour to gloomy Britain - final report 

How far will you go to not have an SUV? Or rather, how much will you pay? 

Whether your anti-SUV sentiment is founded in environmental proclivities, distaste for their ubiquity or cynicism about their capabilities, the fact remains that they're popular for a reason: they just do everything the average person will ask of a car. Big boot, roomy rear, five-star safety: that will do nicely, thanks very much.

But woah there, conformists! Isn't there a better way? Can't we have all that functionality and space in a differently-shaped package? One that expresses our personalities and gets the neighbours talking?

One that makes an occasion of every journey, rather than simply conveying us to our destinations? You're darned right we can.

Remember MPVs? We used to call them people carriers. You may remember the term from such gems as the Renault Espace, Fiat Ulysse and Chrysler Grand Voyager - triumphs of form over function, each designed with an outright focus on utility and each utterly devoid of charisma or covetability.

They were hardly the preserve of schoolboy sketches and bedroom posters. But now MPVs are coming back into vogue, and with much more style. UK demand for the Gulfstream-esque LM has surpassed Lexus's expectations, Volvo's striking new EM90 looks cool enough to nearly compensate for the axing of its estates and even Alfa Romeo has hinted at plans for an electric 'van with windows'.

I reckon Volkswagen started this. With the quirky, charismatic ID Buzz, it proved that mass mobility needn't be monotonous and that 'SUV' needn't be a byword for big car'. Perhaps more importantly, it proved that it was possible to make a van truly desirable.

But it isn't a van, remember, it's a car. And I think possibly its greatest strength - aside from its propensity to enliven even the bleakest of commutes - is that it behaves convincingly like one, despite its unignorable bulk.

It's impressively manoeuvrable at low speeds, stable and easy to place on the road and sufficiently efficient. Over 4000 miles, mine averaged 2.7mpkWh, equating to a range of 208 miles.

You might consider that to be sub-par, in light of its official 255-mile range and considering a vehicle of this shape and size should really be able to facilitate hassle-free holidays and five-up festival runs, but given I wasn't really even trying and the energy-sapping M25 and M40 accounted for roughly half of my total mileage, I'll take it.

I'm still perplexed about why Volkswagen didn't launch the long-wheelbase seven-seater first (or indeed exclusively), and it's a shame the Buzz isn't available with the ICE Multivan's spinny, slidey armchairs, to say less of the long-awaited camper option

. But if you view the Buzz as I came to, as simply a massive and slightly oddly shaped estate car, you will soon come to forgive its ergonomic shortcomings.

Am I a mug for being so wilfully taken in by the superficial charms of what is fundamentally a pretty ordinary car? Indeed, there is little here in technological terms to really shout about down the pub.

I never saw the high side of 100kW when public charging, even my lightest right foot could only kick it to about 250 miles in the real world and the clunky digital interface already feels a few years out of date.

But the near-impossibility of maintaining a frown while at the wheel of the Buzz is testament to how little any of that really matters.

Volkswagen wants to be a "love brand" again, and I'm not sure what that means exactly, but I'd wager the Buzz stands in better stead to achieve that goal than its amorphous electric stablemates.

I can't say the heart-wrenching decision to sell my beloved 1972 Beetle a few weeks ago was made any easier by the fact that I still had this other cheery orange Volkswagen to punt around, but there's no ignoring the obvious effort that Wolfsburg has gone to here in injecting a degree of sorely needed personality and charisma into its EV line-up. If the ID 3 hatch and ID 4 SUV are the Volkswagen EVs to buy with your head, the smiley, cheeky Buzz is where your heart would put its money.

Ultimately, though, it will be a particularly tough fight between the two organs for your vote. The Buzz is an undeniably attractive proposition in isolation, but there are some pretty compelling electric options at this lofty price point, variously touting longer real-world ranges, faster charging, plusher interiors and the option of a third row of seats.

If your anti-SUV inclinations are strong enough to prevail over your sense of rationality, though, and you rarely need to travel more than 200 miles at a time, that will hardly matter, will it? Turn up the Hendrix (but for God's sake turn down the air-con) and off to Woodstock you go.

Second Opinion

Sorry, but I’m the party pooper at Felix’s hippie festival. The Buzz looks to me not cute but Easter Island head. Its touch controls and screen were very annoying. It’s vast yet lacks a third row. I now expect 4.0mpkWh in any EV, not 2.5, let alone one meant for road trips. Oh, and £66k?! I’d buy a BMW M340d Touring and a series of nice European hotel stays.

Kris Culmer

Back to the top

Love it:

Making new friends I had an Aston Martin DBX 707 at home for a week and it didn’t invite half as much conversation.

Interior motive Flat floor, huge boot and twin sliding doors made it the king of the tip trip, house move or supermarket sweep.

I believe in you There are EVs that go much farther, but I trusted the Buzz’s calculator enough to plan each trip in detail.

Loathe it:

Can't touch this Slow, laggy, illogical and graphically basic: everything people hate about touchscreens in one handy package.

Adas ist gut? Intrusive lane assistance, unhelpful hazard warnings and dodgy speed limit detection. Just let me drive!

Final mileage: 7856

Back to the top

It feels at home almost anywhere – except perhaps a 1960s multi-storey car park - 3 March

I recently arrived at a launch in Somerset, where I was met by a journalist from another motoring title who wondered aloud, in good humour, whether there might be anyone on the Autocar team who had less of a need for a car like the ID Buzz.

Fair point, I replied, but the fact of the matter is that - perhaps against the odds - this massive family EV is actually suiting me right down to the ground.

My learned contemporary's argument was founded on three crucial facts: I live in cramped, snarled-up suburban London, I don't have children and I have no ability to charge an EV at home.

Perhaps a diddy urban runaround would be more up my street, or - considering that I often find myself covering large swathes of ground at short notice - something that turns liquid into fumes and forward momentum.

But while the Buzz is far from the longest-legged or most efficient EV I've lived with, it's returning some impressive economy figures often outperforming the much smaller and lighter Ora Funky Cat that I ran before.

It managed a scarcely believable 4.2mpkWh on a stop-start commute through west London the other day, although that was a distance of less than five miles at an average of 16mph.

Perhaps more relevant is the average of 2.7mpkWh that it mustered on a 230-mile return trip to Birmingham - pretty strong in the context of its towering, flat-fronted silhouette and conspicuous heft, and doubly so in light of the sub-par 2.1mpkWh that I previously eked out of our Audi SQ8 E-tron Sportback on the same route.

It was just about warm enough for me to turn the heater off (despite my passenger's loud protestations), and the cruise control never saw the high side of 65mph, but I'll take 10 minutes extra on the M40 over a 30-minute charging stop at the services any day.

Yes, I'll concede that there are more suitable means of traversing our nation's fine capital: the Buzz fills every millimetre of the average parking space, width restrictors have become my sworn enemy and the prospect of getting it down from the eighth floor of Autocar's 1960s car park brought me out in hives.

But the inescapable truth is that, despite its van-like proportions, it really is a fabulously easy thing to live with day to day.

It compensates for its generous footprint on the road with sublime visibility at each corner, it has an impressively tight turning circle to bolster its car-like low-speed dynamics and the lane departure warning and reverse collision avoidance systems are helpful more often than not in something of this size.

I'll refrain from making that clichéd sci-fi reference, but the more time I spend with the Buzz, the smaller and less conspicuous it feels.

I've said the same about its combustion-engined Multivan sibling before: it's a van that drives like a car, and that alone goes some way to justifying the chunky premium it commands over most alternatives of this size and shape.

Love it 

Shelf benefits

My partner asks that I give a shoutout to the Buzz’s handy dashboard shelf: “I haven’t lost my sunglasses in weeks!”

Loathe it

That sucks

Vacuuming the cavernous interior takes nearly 40 minutes and completely drains my Dyson.

Mileage: 7240

Back to the top

Life with a Volkswagen ID Buzz: Month 4

Time spent charging is not waste - 21 February 

I don’t buy into the whole ‘charging is time wasted’ argument, and I was (sadly) excited about getting some work done on the Buzz’s seatback tray tables during a motorway stop last week. What a shame, then, to find that they’re too small to comfortably accommodate my laptop and the hinges too flimsy to support its weight. Costa it is. 

Mileage: 6650

Back to the top

Colder temps bring longer waits... - 7 February

I downloaded the Volkswagen phone app during the recent cold snap so I could preheat the Buzz’s cabin and battery to preserve its range and the feeling in my extremities. But the app told me to register a new user on the car’s infotainment, which doesn’t seem to have the option to do so, so I’m typing this update (slowly, with numb fingers) while I wait for the windscreen to clear.

Mileage: 6255

Back to the top

Life with a Volkswagen ID Buzz: Month 3

It's over to our Staff Writer for a Cornish holiday, and a California comparison - 24 January

Knowing I was spending Christmas and New Year down on the Cornish coast, I leapt at the chance to grab the keys to the ID Buzz. What better place to take the spiritual successor to the classic Volkswagen camper van?

Yes, it has been done before (by this car's keeper last January, no less, but this would be different as I would be taking the Buzz for an extended period, with the family and a dog and much deeper into Cornwall, far away from the tourist hot spot of Newquay.

It also just so happened that my parents were already there and had travelled down in their 2016 Volkswagen California Ocean, so there was an opportunity for an impromptu comparison test.

According to Zap-Map, there are 408 publicly accessible EV chargers in Cornwall, many of them found on the A30 - the main road in and out of the county. Others are dotted around the larger towns, some of which would be around 30 miles away from where we would be staying: Lizard, England's southernmost settlement.

The Buzz proved to be an extremely comfortable travel companion on my 315-mile trek there - even at 4am - and carried my festive cargo with room to spare.

Charging was effortless, but given the time of day, I expected it to be. I left home with the Buzz not fully charged (170 miles of range was indicated) and stopped first at Membury services for half an hour. That got me to Exeter, where a bacon roll, an overpriced coffee and some more electrons saw me to the Lizard. At 75p per kWh, it cost me about £40 to travel from one side of the country to the other.

The Buzz spent the next week or so faithfully carrying out its duties, transporting my family and our belongings throughout Cornwall and tackling some of the worst weather I've ever had the displeasure of driving in.

While the California is nice enough to drive, the Buzz trumps it for refinement, comfort and general ease of use. The camper's 2.0 turbo diesel engine does offer excellent low-range torque, but the electric Buzz is always raring to go. It doesn't feel anything like it's near 2.5-tonne kerb weight, and accelerating is a cinch. The California is made to feel

older than it is by the spaceship-like Buzz. Even my parents had to concede that returning to it almost felt like stepping back in time, with its dated Kenwood infotainment system and rattling interior. Of course, the Buzz is based on the Volkswagen Group's MEB platform, so it's really just an enormous ID 3, while the California is a proper van with a kitchen, sleeping berths, endless storage space and almost double the range.

Throughout our holiday, the Buzz completed every task asked of it with ease. It charged at its advertised rate (170kW), breezed up gradients and through twisting turns and looked cool in the process.

There were some gripes, though. The wipers were ineffective a lot of the time, leaving a dirty patch in the middle of the screen. I expected the rear seats to go back farther. There were the usual Volkswagen Group infotainment issues of lag and no back-lighting for the climate control sliders. And the car didn't always detect the key fob inside so occasionally refused to start.

Not, perhaps, what people might expect for the price, certainly judging by the scrunched-up Cornish faces and raised eyebrows that greeted the words 'sixty grand'. Stick a kitchen and a bed in the back, though, and who would say no?

Jack Warrick

Like it

On rails

A large sliding door on either side meant getting in and out of a car had never been easier, for both people and pets. 

Loathe it

Dash fails

I always forgot where the switch for the windscreen wipers was. (As a reminder, on a small, unmovable stalk behind the steering wheel.) 

Mileage: 6102

Back to the top

Car platform can't avoid car prices - 17 January

I must have said “it’s not actually a van” about 50 times in the past couple of months, but it turns out there’s no arguing with the money man at my local hand car wash. £20 for an exterior clean stings slightly, especially when I should have paid the £17 ‘large car’ price, but there was no way I was doing it myself at the local jet wash. Either way, it was filthy again two days later

Mileage: 4930

Back to the top

Entirely predictable task, surprisingly competent execution - 3 January

As the old saying goes, there are three inevitabilities in this life: death, taxes, and receiving a text that says "can you help me move house on Saturday?" as soon as you announce that you're in possession of a large car or van.

And so it was that, just half an hour after I'd sent my friends a picture of a VW ID Buzz being delivered to my house, the call of duty came. I feigned reluctance, but the truth is that I really wanted to see if this oversized five-seat MPV could prove itself more useful than your average estate or crossover, and this would be the perfect test.

I was in fairly good spirits until my mate's cargo - rather than the promised "small desk and a couple of big bags" - turned out to include half an Ikea catalogue's worth of bedroom furniture, a dozen unwieldy plants, a record collection, a stack of rare vintage film posters (curiously unpackaged but apparently "priceless"), a set of filthy outdoor chairs and a ridiculously large television.

Clearly, this was going to be a big ask of the Buzz, and the arrival of another friend (ostensibly an extra pair of hands but really a dead weight) meant we had to keep one of the back seats up, further restricting load space.

But anyway, I love a bit of Tetris, so I was quite keen to tackle the puzzle. The back seats fold fully flat, which is a good start, and the seat bases can then slide back to give a bit of extra storage on the floor behind the driver - so the desk fitted a charm up top, while the monsteras and money plants could be stowed safely in the footwell.

Towels and clothes next, which is where the 'second' boot under the main load bay came into its own. I reckon we got a whole wardrobe's worth crammed in under there, once I'd relocated the nice VW-badged basket that holds the charging cables and breakdown kit, and there was still room for all the bedding.

With a towel down to protect the floor, the garden set went in flat, which still left masses of space on top for a good few boxes. We piled these in until there was only room for the TV to slide in carefully on top of everything, wedged against the headlining.

Marvellous: far more than we could have dreamed of cramming into a Skoda Superb or Volvo V90.

Our route to the new house (a daunting 4.2 miles away) was beset with fearsome obstacles: towering speed bumps, heavy suburban traffic, erratic drivers and a boisterous Leyton Orient football crowd.

But the Buzz rode serenely and steadily enough that it wasn't long before I forgot I was carrying any load at all - although a quick swerve around a bus did cause some worrying jangling from a box of mugs.

It must have been carrying a good bit of extra weight, too, with the three of us and all that cargo aboard, but power delivery felt exactly the same as if it were empty, and I didn't notice a change in my average urban energy consumption. Job well done.

Frustratingly, this all happened a few days after I had named my favourite feature of any new car we had run on the Autocar fleet in 2023: the ride height adjustment buttons in the boot of the Range Rover. If you asked me now, I'd say the little load securing bracket that sticks to the Buzz's boot floor.

This stupidly simple piece of hinged plastic can be adjusted through 180deg to wedge heavy objects in place and stop them sliding around the boot - invaluable on an errand like this and the sort of clever little trick that makes you think: Why has nobody else thought of that?'

Like it 

Step-through cockpit

A lack of transmission tunnel and centre console means the driver can easily use the other door – very handy when I’m in a tight space.

Loathe it 

Parking sensors

They scream bloody murder at me when I’m backing into a space, then I get out and find that I had another foot to go.

Mileage: 4266

Back to the top

Life with a Volkswagen ID Buzz: Month 2

Speed limited recognition frustrates our news editor - 20 December

Several times, sitting at 70mph on the motorway with cruise control on, the speed limit recognition camera has glimpsed a 30mph or 40mph sign on a neighbouring country lane or slip road and jammed the anchors on, which is (a) very annoying and (b) very dangerous. You can deactivate this function but it defaults to on every time you start the car.

Mileage: 4050

Life with an ID Buzz: Month 1

Welcoming the ID Buzz to the fleet - 22 November

"My absolute passion is for the brand, and to get the brand back to where it belongs – to the hearts of the people. Real Volkswagen again. A love brand."

VW CEO Thomas Schäfer there, outlining to Autocar earlier this year his plan to recapture the brand’s once-enviable popular appeal in order to compete effectively with fearsome new rivals that have comparatively little heritage, and to ensure its cars remain desirable in this era of increasing technical homogeneity between modern EVs.

For a tangible embodiment of this objective, look no further than the ID Buzz, a slick, smiley electric MPV that nods stylistically to one of VW’s most successful historic models – but is otherwise every inch the technically competitive flagship model it needs to be.

It must, at once, be a space-age family hauler that competes convincingly in a crowded field, while tugging on the heartstrings of diehard VW fans who might otherwise be completely disengaged with the marque’s current portfolio and positioning.

If you’ll excuse a modicum of self-indulgence, I think I’m quite well placed to judge the Buzz on its capacity to succeed in this endeavour. I was brought home from the hospital in the back of a Mk2 GTI, I’ve endured innumerable soggy ‘holidays’ in bay-window Type 2s, my best friend and I once rescued a T3 Transporter from the scrapheap, a succession of five-cylinder Golfs have graced my family’s driveway (presently filled by a current GTI and a Mk2 Polo), and my first car – which I’ve kept against all odds for more than a decade – was a 1972 Beetle.

In this line of work, it doesn’t really do to confess to brand favouritism, but there’s no denying VW is a marque I’ve always held in high regard. That deep-seated affinity, though – for me and no doubt thousands of other paid-up members of the ‘dub club’ worldwide – has been harshly tested of late.

Widely publicised software issues and usability gripes have plagued the firm’s current crop of cars, which have hardly sought to compensate for their shortcomings with perceptible charisma and distinct personalities like VWs of old.

In 50 years’ time, will you reminisce fondly about all those brilliant summers you spent trekking around the country in a T-Cross, laugh at the memory of all your old ID 4 Pro’s charming quirks, or go on a wistful rant about how they “don’t make cars like that anymore” when someone down the pub mentions the Taigo? Possibly not. 

The Buzz, though, is the antithesis of those rather clinically conceived crossovers. A wilfully whimsical statement of intent from a brand that has decided elements of its storied past can live on, with some concession to modernity, in its bold electric future.

And it’s no flash in the pan: we’ve already heard how certain existing names (Tiguan, Passat, Golf) will be carried forth, in recognition of their intrinsic importance to the Volkswagen story, and the neat little ID 2all concept nods heavily to some of the brand’s most popular hatchbacks in a bid to recapture the fun-loving, crowd-pleasing ethos that defined its predecessors. Familiarity breeds contempt? VW is hedging its bets on the very opposite being true.

Not that you would ever mistake the Buzz for its air-cooled ancestor: beyond the two-tone paint scheme and blobby, bread-bin silhouette, there are few overt stylistic links to the Type 2.

Take a good look around, though, and you will find a couple of fun little nods to the spirit of the VW bus ‘brand’: there are Harvey Ball-esque smiley faces in the door handle recesses and engraved surf bus motifs in the trim at the rear, for example, and the three stripes across the D-pillar are where the air intakes were on the original. Neat.

Call it cheeky, call it cringeworthy – the truth is: I like it. Cars have become far too serious, so it’s nice to be spending time with one that majors on joviality without verging on contrivance, as we have observed with some other retro-flavoured cars – particularly those that can’t lay claim to so lengthy and pervasive a back story as the VW van.

If you needed a measure of its credibility, perhaps it suffices to say that I’ve received several knowing nods from classic VW owners already – and believe me when I say that’s no small feat (I once waved and nodded at the driver of a lovely T3 Notchback from a 2004 Bora, forgetting I wasn’t in my Beetle, and nearly had to go into hiding) – so this is a good start for the Buzz. Plus, it’s already proving far more useful than any five-seat SUV at this price, with seats that fold flat and a massive hidden load space under the boot floor enabling it to do a very passable impression of a van when needed.

It’s hardly as utilitarian as the Microbus, but I’m hoping it emerges from our test as a convincingly practical alternative to more conventional big EVs like the Audi Q8 E-tron and Kia EV9.

Because, ultimately, what we need to determine here is whether the Buzz is as much about substance as it is style: can this £67,000 people carrier really be, at once, one of the most capacious, charismatic, comfortable and competent EVs on the market?

Only an arduous few months of road trips, house moves, long-distance commutes, dog walks and tip runs will give the full picture, but at least I don’t need to worry about rusty heater channels and seized heater cables on this one.

Second Opinion

Being a five-seater, the Buzz I tried was pretty bulky compared with a hatch that could do the same job. But on every other count it was great. It looked and drove beautifully – and I particularly trust my own judgement because I recently owned a diesel VW California. The EV was better in all respects except touring range. 

Steve Cropley

Back to the top

Volkswagen ID Buzz SWB 77kWh Pro Style specification

Prices: List price new £62,844 List price now ££63,780 Price as tested £66,394

Options: Candy White/Energetic Orange paint £1800, Infotainment Package Plus £1560, Type 2 charging cable £190

Claimed range 255 miles Battery 82/77kWh (total/usable) Test average 2.7mpkWh Test best 3.8mpkWh Test worst 2.1mpkWh Real-world range 208 miles Max charge rate 170kW

Tech highlights: 0-62mph 10.2sec Top speed 90mph Engine Rear-mounted Permanent-magnet synchronous motor Max power 201bhp Max torque 229lb ft Transmission 1-spd reduction gear, RWD Boot capacity 1121 litres Wheels 20in, alloy Tyres 235/50 R20 (f), 265/45 R20 (r), Continental EcoContact 6 Kerb weight 2502kg

Service and running costs: Contract hire rate £896.74 CO2 0g/km Service costs None Other costs None Fuel costs £467.20 Running costs inc fuel £467.20 Cost per mile 12 pence Faults None

Back to the top