24 September 2026
The ID. Buzz is a year away. What to buy instead.
Volkswagen has pushed the bus to the 2028 model year, its second delay running. If you were waiting in order to sleep in the thing, here's the awkward news: three vehicles already on sale do most of what you were waiting for, and one of them does it better.
First, what were you waiting for?
Three things, not a shape
Strip the romance out and the ID. Buzz Tourer promised three specific capabilities:
- Climate overnight without combustion — Overnight Mode, holding cabin temperature off the traction battery with nothing running
- Power at camp — vehicle-to-load, which the American van doesn't get until 2028
- Somewhere flat to sleep — a mattress over folded seats
Every one of those exists today on something you can drive off a lot this month. What doesn't exist is the bus, and we'll come back to that, because it's the part that actually matters to most people reading this.
The closest match
Kia EV9
Kia's Utility Mode is Overnight Mode by another name, and it's been shipping for two years. Kia's own description has it powering climate control, infotainment and interior lights from the high-voltage battery when parked for long periods "or while camping." No engine, no generator, no propane — the entire argument this site is built on, already for sale.
V2L comes standard at about 1.9 kW, and works independently of Utility Mode. That's the capability the ID. Buzz doesn't get until 2028 and the European ID. California Cruise has had all along. It runs a fridge, lights, a kettle, a laptop. It won't run a rooftop air conditioner, which draws three to five kilowatts.
Fold the second and third rows and you get a flat floor roughly 81 inches long. Sit with that number: the purpose-built bed in Volkswagen's electric California is 80 inches. The EV9's load floor is longer than the actual camper's actual bed.
It's also on an 800-volt architecture, where the ID. Buzz is 400-volt, so charging stops are meaningfully shorter — which matters more than peak range when you're covering distance.
The sibling
Hyundai IONIQ 9
Same underlying platform as the EV9, slightly longer at 199 inches, and slightly more room with the seats down — about 86.9 cubic feet. V2L is there too, via a 15-amp, 125-volt household outlet in the load area plus a 12-volt socket.
Two things it has that the Kia doesn't. Second and third rows fold electrically from the touchscreen, which is a small luxury that becomes a real one in the dark at the end of a drive. And the first and second rows are full reclining seats with leg rests — not a bed, but a genuinely comfortable way to wait out weather or a charging stop.
It also has independent rear climate control, which is more useful than it sounds if one of you sleeps warm.
The one built for this
Rivian R1S
Rivian took camping seriously enough to build software for it. Camp Mode keeps power and climate running while you sleep in the back — and, uniquely, levels the vehicle on uneven ground using the air suspension. Anyone who has spent a night slowly sliding toward the tailgate will understand why that's worth more than it sounds.
There are controllable 120-volt household outlets inside, meant to be left on overnight for a fridge or a CPAP, plus three 12-volt sockets. Second and third rows fold to a two-person platform with storage beneath and beside it.
And Rivian owners have produced the one real-world number nobody has for the Volkswagen: eight hours of holding the cabin 35°F above outside temperature cost under 20% of the battery. Our Overnight Mode page lists "what a night costs in range" as unknown for the ID. Buzz. On a Rivian, people have measured it.
The catch is money: around $78,000 for the dual-motor 260-mile car, about $92,000 for the 321-mile quad-motor.
The obvious one
A used 2025 ID. Buzz
It's worth saying plainly, because it's the only option on this page that is actually the bus: you can buy one today. The 2025s exist, they are on the used market, and no amount of Volkswagen scheduling affects that.
The pricing is more complicated than you'd expect, and worth understanding before you shop. Forecasts written before today's delay projected steep depreciation — around 54% over five years, with 2025s appraising in the mid-$40,000s to mid-$50,000s. But those are trade-in numbers. Dealer asking prices run well above them, and checking real listings tends to be a surprise: used ID. Buzzes are not being given away.
There's a decent argument they get firmer from here rather than softer. Reportedly only 38 new 2025s remain in the country, no new ones arrive for over a year, and everyone who was waiting to buy a 2027 was dropped into the used market this morning. Fixed supply meeting displaced demand is not how prices fall.
So don't shop expecting a bargain, and don't wait expecting one either. If you want this van, the case for buying sooner is stronger today than it was yesterday.
What you give up: the Tourer camping package, Overnight Mode, vehicle-to-load, the updated IQ.Drive suite, and the included NACS adapter — in 2025 that was a $200 accessory.
What you can buy back: most of it. A conversion shop will sell you a far better bed than a mattress over folded seats, and a portable power station does more than 2 kW of vehicle-to-load ever would. What you can't retrofit is the driver assistance, and you can't add Overnight Mode — though you can leave the climate running, at a cost in range nobody has published for either model year.
If the reason you want this van is that it's this van, a used 2025 with a conversion is a more direct route to that than waiting for 2028 and hoping the Tourer survives the delay.
Side by side
The comparison
| Kia EV9 | Hyundai IONIQ 9 | Rivian R1S | ID. Buzz Tourer | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buy one | Now | Now | Now | 2028 model year |
| Climate while parked | Utility Mode | Yes | Camp Mode | Overnight Mode, trim availability unconfirmed |
| Vehicle-to-load | ≈1.9 kW | 15 A / 125 V outlet | 120 V outlets, controllable | Not until 2028; output unstated |
| Sleeping floor | ≈81 in flat | 86.9 cu ft | Two-person platform | Mattress over folded seats |
| Self-levelling | No | No | Yes, air suspension | No |
| Architecture | 800 V | 800 V | 400 V | 400 V |
| Conversion ecosystem | Thin | Thin | Thin | Real — pop-tops, galleys, shops |
| Is it a bus | No | No | No | Yes |
If it has to be a van
The van-shaped options
If what you want is a box you can stand up in, none of the above helps — including the Buzz, which has never offered standing room. The honest answers are unchanged. A Ford Transit gives you 81 inches of standing height and the largest conversion industry in the world. The Ford e-Transit is the electric version, and it's one of the chassis Grounded now builds on after GM cancelled BrightDrop.
The honest part
None of these is a bus
On capability, the argument is not close. The EV9 does the three things you were waiting for, costs less, charges faster, and is sitting on a lot right now. On a spreadsheet it wins and it isn't particularly near.
But nobody has ever wanted a three-row electric SUV the way people want a Volkswagen bus, and pretending otherwise would be silly. If the reason you're here is that you saw a picture of a two-tone microbus with a pop-top and felt something, an EV9 will not do that, and you'll know it every time you walk up to it in a parking lot.
So the real question isn't which vehicle is better. It's whether you're buying a capability or a feeling. If it's the capability, buy the Kia and go camping this autumn. If it's the feeling, buy a used 2025 and have it now — somebody else already paid the depreciation, and a conversion shop will sell you a better bed than Volkswagen was going to.
Waiting for 2028 is the one option that gets you neither. This van has missed two dates, sold 6,140 units in its best American year, and has no public reason attached to the latest delay. That's a lot to bet a year on.
Sleeping in one of these already? Tell us what it's actually like — we'll publish it and credit you.