On the road, there’s no significant change to the driving experience, which means a high driving position with great visibility thanks to the upright glass in every direction. There is a bit of a blind spot around the thick front pillar, however.
The growing exterior isn’t the only big change, with a new 282bhp motor landing in all Buzz models (including regular cars from August), replacing the existing 201bhp version, and mated to a larger 86kWh battery for the LWB. Meanwhile, standard cars get a small boost from 77 to 79kWh.
That means range jumps from a best of 258 miles to 291 miles on the entry-level Life SWB and 286 miles on the higher-spec Style. That translates to 283 miles and 277 miles respectively on the longer car. That bigger battery also has a faster maximum charge speed at 200kW versus 185kW, which means they take around the same time to charge – under half an hour from 10-80 per cent, according to VW.
The extra power does make the Buzz feel perkier, although maybe not as much as the figures suggest – the 0-62mph time drops from the current 10.2 seconds, to 7.6 on the regular wheelbase, or 7.9 seconds with the extra couple of hundred kilograms of the longer version. But it doesn’t feel like a major difference in what is still very much a big, tall vehicle with little interest in rapid cornering. And it still won’t hit three figures for top speed, dropping one mile per hour short flat out. No bad thing, given how higher speeds have pretty awful consequences for the range.
