u/kodos1978

We drove several hours to pick her up and so enjoyed a road trip back. Now, as someone who owns an ID.Buzz along with two Chevy EVs (Bolt and Silverado EV), I have to say that Tesla is far ahead of the game. I love those other vehicles, but the Tesla excels over them in FSD, overall software, the App (especially Phone as Key), and the Supercharger's "plug-and-play" nature. The road trip (350 miles) was pretty pleasant. FSD was close to "magical" even though I am still learning to trust it. Tremendous package. Still in the "honeymoon" phase, however. The M3P in Stealth Grey is a stunner when clean. Of course, now it is pretty dirty after the trip, and Stealth Grey loses its "pop" when dirty. I plan to get tint and ceramic coating next week. Sorry for the lousy photos; they were quick snapshots because we were in a hurry to get back home! Hope to post more photos with a more thorough review as I spend more time with the vehicle and I get her detailed up.

Anyhow, glad to be a fellow Tesla owner with many of you. Nothing quite like it. Also, we traded in our last ICE vehicle today. We are now an all-EV family (we have four, soon-to-be five, drivers in the home), and I love having the EVs. No more juggling the maintenance for our old ICE vehicles, especially the time sink that it was.

We just concluded our first road trip in our new-to-us 2025 ID.Buzz First Edition (AWD). I posted about the vehicle a week or so ago, and many of you were interested in knowing more about it. I thought this post could serve to give an update on the vehicle and how we liked our first road trip with it. We drove from the Fredericksburg, VA area to Dayton, TN. Almost exactly 500 miles one way. Six passengers, all teenage or adult, along with a hitch-mounted cargo carrier for the luggage needed for a weeklong trip.

First thing out of the way - this van is an absolute stunner. From the vantage point of the van, it was easy to see that when people passed us, they often turned their heads and smiled at it. Some took out their phone to take pictures. When we arrived at our destination, it was the "buzz" of the area. If you don't like attention (and I am not necessarily one that does), this might not be a great choice. Maybe not in this color scheme anyway. Everyone wanted to ask questions - "is this electric?" - "How many does it seat?" One person at a charge stop said that when their Mach-E is retired, they wanted to get one.

Second - the trip itself. It was very comfortable. Everyone brought backpacks into the "cabin", and my son even kept his electric guitar with him. It still felt very spacious. No fatigue from the seats. Plenty of legroom. Even the third row passengers (the young men) were happy. No one fought over the second row, as they do with our VW Atlas. I found that noteworthy. The cabin is airy and light (we have the white interior), which has a huge effect on our mental state (psychologically) when we are on a long trip. The electrochromatic glass was great at letting in some light without burning us up. 

Third - as far as electric range, efficiency, and charging. The elevation changes made this a fairly inefficient drive even though we maintained the speed limit (the highest speed we cruised at was probably 73mph). We averaged 2.7 mi/kwh on the way to TN and 2.5 mi/kwh on the way back to VA. ABRP told us to make three charge stops each way, and it was sound advice. Charge stops were 20-30 minutes. We used Electrify America for 5 of the 6 stops, and we got the monthly pass for this trip. However, on the way back, we stopped at a Buc-ee's outside Knoxville and used their MBZ chargers (Alpitronic), which was a great experience, especially since we spent the time in the store. The worst experience we had was at EA stations in a Walmart on the way there (which we did not return to), where the first charger I plugged into was out of commission (but not obviously so). So that wasted about five minutes. That is a huge improvement from even last year, when I first got my Silverado EV and was frustrated by the many charging stops during my first road trip with it. Infrastructure has gotten better, rapidly.

Even though charging added close to an hour of drive time each way (we made it in around 9 hours instead of 8) compared to an ICE vehicle, I felt like it was a more satisfying drive. We were less fatigued. We enjoyed two or three of the stops immensely. It gave us the feeling of actually visiting places. But this is an area of improvement for the next Buzz - it should have a bigger battery. We are somewhat spoiled with our Silverado EV RST Max Range, with almost 500 miles at 100%. We stopped every 2 to 2.5 hours. Which is okay, given our need for restroom breaks and to stretch our legs. Would have been nice to get closer to 3.5 hours of driving time with more range. Not sure if the cargo carrier or roof rails made a significant difference in efficiency. The charge curve seemed very good and stable. 10-80% in about 25 minutes or so, by my estimate.

We avoided Tesla chargers due to their short cords, and we had the hitch carrier on the Buzz. The EA and Mercedes chargers had no problem at all. 

The driver assistance was great. Made use of it most of the way to let it auto-steer and maintain speed. I missed Supercruise's hand-free capability, but then again, Supercruise nags a lot more, especially if your eyes are off the road for just a few moments. It also does not work on all roads, unlike the Buzz's driver assistance.

All in all, though we could not make RAPID progress across a long-distance road trip as we might have in our ICE vehicles, it was a more pleasant experience overall. Not only that, the vehicle is lovely for trips like this. I wish everyone got a chance to go on trips like this. The biggest annoyance was the whistling of the roof bars. I should have taken the advice of someone who said to remove them beforehand, but we were really pressed for time. We just turned on the sound system to compensate.

I suppose the test is this: I was ready to get back into the Buzz after that drive. I cannot say I have had that thought with many other vehicles after a 1,000-mile journey. I am adding several photos of the interior, as some of you were interested in that last time.

Thanks to all who gave advice for our first road trip in our new-to-us 2025 ID.Buzz First Edition (AWD). We drove from the Fredericksburg, VA area to Dayton, TN. Almost exactly 500 miles one way. Six passengers, all teenage or adult, along with a hitch-mounted cargo carrier for the luggage needed for a weeklong trip.

First thing out of the way - this van is an absolute stunner. From the vantage point of the van, it was easy to see that when people passed us, they often turned their heads and smiled at it. Some took out their phone to take pictures. When we arrived at our destination, it was the "buzz" of the area. If you don't like attention (and I am not necessarily one that does), this might not be a great choice. Maybe not in this color scheme anyway. Everyone wanted to ask questions - "is this electric?" - "How many does it seat?" One person at a charge stop said that when their Mach-E is retired, they wanted to get one.

Second - the trip itself. It was very comfortable. Everyone brought backpacks into the "cabin", and my son even kept his electric guitar with him. It still felt very spacious. No fatigue from the seats. Plenty of legroom. Even the third row passengers (the young men) were happy. No one fought over the second row, as they do with our VW Atlas. I found that noteworthy. The cabin is airy and light (we have the white interior), which makes a huge effect on our mental state (psychologically) when we are on a long trip. The electrochromatic glass was great at letting in some light without burning us up.

Third - as far as electric range, efficiency, and charging. The elevation changes made this a fairly inefficient drive even though we maintained the speed limit (the highest speed we cruised at was probably 73mph). We averaged 2.7 mi/kwh on the way to TN and 2.5 mi/kwh on the way back to VA. ABRP told us to make three charge stops each way, and it was sound advice. Charge stops were 20-30 minutes. We used Electrify America for 5 of the 6 stops, and we got the monthly pass for this trip. However, on the way back, we stopped at a Buc-ee's outside Knoxville and used their MBZ chargers (Alpitronic), which was a great experience, especially since we spent the time in the store. The worst experience we had was at EA stations in a Walmart on the way there (which we did not return to), where the first charger I plugged into was out of commission (but not obviously so). So that wasted about five minutes. That is a huge improvement from even last year, when I first got my Silverado EV and was frustrated by the many charging stops during my first road trip with it. Infrastructure has gotten better, rapidly.

Even though charging added close to an hour of drive time each way (we made it in around 9 hours instead of 8) compared to an ICE vehicle, I felt like it was a more satisfying drive. We were less fatigued. We enjoyed two or three of the stops immensely. It gave us the feeling of actually visiting places.

We avoided Tesla chargers due to their short cords, and we had the hitch carrier on the Buzz. The EA and Mercedes chargers had no problem at all.

The driver assistance was great. Made use of it most of the way to let it auto-steer and maintain speed. I missed Supercruise's hand-free capability, but then again, Supercruise nags a lot more, especially if your eyes are off the road for just a few moments. It also does not work on all roads, unlike the Buzz's driver assistance.

All in all, though we could not make RAPID progress across a long-distance road trip as we might have in our ICE vehicles, it was a more pleasant experience overall. Not only that, the vehicle is lovely for trips like this. I wish everyone got a chance to go on trips like this. The biggest annoyance was the whistling of the roof bars. I should have taken the advice of someone who said to remove them beforehand, but we were really pressed for time. We just turned on the sound system to compensate.

I suppose the test is this: I was ready to get back into the Buzz after that drive. I cannot say I have had that thought with many other vehicles after a 1,000-mile journey.

Thank you for the warm welcome you gave me on my first post. We are preparing for a 1,000-mile (round trip) road trip tomorrow. Will have six passengers and all of our gear. So, I spent this morning putting together a hitch carrier and doing a dry run (see photos) at a local MBZ charging station to make sure the vehicle (new to us) works with DCFC and that maneuvering the carrier would not be a problem. Now, it wasn't in this particular case, as you can see. But I am assuming Tesla Superchargers are a no-go (their cables seem very short). Any tips for charging with this mounted on our hitch? Anyone have problems with a similar setup? This is our first trip in the ID.BUZZ and I don't want my family to get frustrated. For range and hauling stuff, we would typically take our Silverado EV RST, but we have six passengers on this trip, and it cannot take them all!

New to us - we picked it up with a little under 6,000 miles on it. We have loved the three days we have had with it so far. Taking it on a 500-mile road trip Monday and returning on Friday. So we will see what 1,000 miles is like in terms of charging. We have taken our Silverado EV RST on a similar trip before (but it is a Max Range - almost 500 miles!), so the charging stops will be an adjustment. But we are looking forward to having more room and a relaxed pace on the way down. I was almost scared away from buying the vehicle due to the range anxiety, but seeing how fast it charges has somewhat alleviated that. We will see when we put it to the test.

It is a lovely vehicle thus far. It has wormed itself into our hearts. We need more vehicles with character and colors on the road!

We also love our Silverado EV. I hope they don’t stop making them.

New to us - we picked it up with a little under 6,000 miles on it. We have loved the three days we have had with it so far. Taking it on a 500-mile road trip Monday and returning on Friday. So we will see what 1,000 miles is like in terms of charging. We have taken our Silverado EV RST on a similar trip before (but it is a Max Range - almost 500 miles!), so the charging stops will be an adjustment. But we are looking forward to having more room and a relaxed pace on the way down. I was almost scared away from buying the vehicle due to the range anxiety, but seeing how fast it charges has somewhat alleviated that. We will see when we put it to the test. We have enjoyed it very much so far, though, and look forward to interacting and reading more in this sub.