Volkswagen ID. Buzz review - Reliability & safety
Reliability is unproven, but VW has a great track record for occupant safety
Both the ID. Buzz and its electric ID. siblings are yet to appear on our Driver Power customer satisfaction survey, but with few moving parts, all should be painless to own. Nevertheless, Volkswagen has an impressive track record when it comes to safety ratings, so we expect the ID. Buzz to be one of the safest MPVs you can buy.
Volkswagen ID. Buzz reliability
Electric car reliability is a point of discussion as the majority of cars are too new to have developed a problem; however, the simplicity of an electric powertrain also means that apart from software glitches, there should be less to go wrong.
That’s a good thing as Volkswagen has not performed well in our recent Driver Power surveys. In 2023, the German brand placed a disappointing 27th out of 32 manufacturers, with over 26% of owners reporting an issue within the first year of ownership. This ranking slipped again to 29th in 2024, which is a worrying trend, but the share of faults did at least improve slightly to 23.4%. The main complaints were with the brand’s reliability (28th place) and quality (27th), but positives included 12th for rear legroom and 16th for running costs.
Safety
Like Volkswagen's other electric ID. models, the ID. Buzz scored a full five stars in Euro NCAP's rigorous safety tests. In fact, there hasn’t been a Volkswagen model since 2016 that hasn’t received top marks, despite the assessments getting more stringent by the year.
Standard safety equipment for the ID. Buzz is high, with all models getting things like adaptive cruise control, autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian and cyclist detection, road-sign recognition and lane-keep assist.
