Modern Thrills: VW ID. Buzz Cargo

Before the ID Buzz and commercial brother Buzz Cargo had even turned a wheel with an owner it had already been awarded best in class.

Still not really a regular sight on the roads, the trophies have just kept on coming. It doubled up at the prestigious WhatCar? Awards by adding Large Electric Car of the Year before the one everyone wants: Car of the Year.

It was the first time in more than a decade a VW had won, and it wasn’t the highly marketable ID.4 or .3 or even a Golf that ended the drought. It was an MPV that looks and can act like a van.

That is probably unfair, on the looks front. Few at the Workhorses Assembly in November would have been able to resist the new all-electric Cargo.

The lack of an engine in the nose has resulted in a look closer to the second generation with hints of the original T1, but it's unmistakably Transporter like. An even endearing and appealing.

Like its forebears it also has the uncanny ability to suit its purpose without ever being truly utilitarian: it looks like a natural van, a natural minibus MPV, and will be a natural camper when the conversions inevitably happen. The same cannot be said of all its contemporaries, now or then.

For £58,000 your Buzz comes loaded with seats, or as here the rear is a flat-loading expanse for £10k less. The rear is not huge, what with the high floor owing to its rear-axle-mounted motor, but it’s certainly big enough. On a surprisingly short wheelbase of 3m, it packs in 2.2m of loading space.

This isn’t really a van with high loads and high mileage in mind, though the quoted range of more than 250 miles would make that tempting. Yet…

Strategically parking near some builders wrapping up for the day reveals the Buzz Cargo's biggest problem, one not unique to it: range anxiety. Or rather charge cynicism.

The convenience of petrol pumps doesn’t delay getting to and from job after job, except for perhaps five minutes. Finding that your next job will leave you without the range to get home without a lengthy stop-off at a charger, having been out and about all day, is a tough obstacle to overcome. Track down a working and available 170kW charger and 75% will take around 30 minutes, though, so when such infrastructure is properly rolled out then that’s easier to swallow.

But vans such as the Buzz, in the short term at least, will require user experience before they can conquer the working world like the Transit.

It certainly has its place now, and no shortage of admirers. More than 20,000 placed orders before they're even in showrooms and a quarter of those had to wait until at least the new year before theirs even begins manufacture.

Inner city van drivers should lap the Buzz up. It is amusingly nippy – 0 to 62mph takes just 10 seconds – it is well appointed inside with touchscreen and a cabin that feels durable but not cheap.

Best of all, though, it is engaging to drive thanks to its quick steering and stable ride. The days of the drab diesel van wheezing about could be numbered. It’s just a case of waiting for the world to catch up.