Lotus Exige vs Volkswagen ID. Buzz

What's the difference?

To say the Lotus Exige 350 Sport exists at the very pointy end of motoring is a sharp understatement. It is, in essence, a track car that you’re somehow allowed to drive on the road, which means it's hugely compromised in various ways as a vehicle for day-to-day use, yet it's not really fair to criticise it for those failings, because commuting was never its intended purpose.

While it would obviously shine in its natural environment of a race circuit, the fact is you could also enjoy it enormously between track days if you pointed it at a suitably smooth and winding bit of country blacktop.

The performance, handling, steering and stopping are all fantastic, in the right conditions, and you can see how someone might justify it to themselves as a far cheaper version of a ($327,100) Porsche 911 GT3. The difference being that a Porsche doesn't make you fold yourself up like a pocket knife every time you get in.

The Lotus, then, is a car for the extreme enthusiast, only. And possibly for nudists, too.

Fleet managers and tradies are notoriously pragmatic when it comes to shelling out on a new vehicle. In which case, the Cargo’s relationship with the charm-offensive people-mover version of the ID. Buzz counts for little.

Fortunately, there’s some real meat in the Cargo’s make-up and the powerful, torquey driveline is just part of that. The driving experience is also a refined one, with the now well-understood benefits in driver stress-levels that implies.

Never the biggest van out there, the Cargo nevertheless makes the most of what size it does boast, and there’s enough cargo space for it to be a serious contender for a lot of small and large businesses.

Finally, while it costs more than some of its competitors, it still boasts the potential for ongoing low running costs, depending on how and where it’s charged. Horses for courses, we believe it’s called.

Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer, with travel, accommodation and meals provided.

The Lotus philosophy is summed by this slightly absurd mission statement: "Simplify, then add lightness". In the words of the great Barnaby Joyce "you don’t have to be Sigmund Freud" to work out that lightness is not something you can 'add', but you get the idea.

Everything about a Lotus is focused on the power-to-weight ratio, and this 350 Sport version takes the Exige to the ultimate degree, weighing in a full 51kg lighter than the S version, at just 1125kg, and with its hefty 3.5-litre supercharged V6 it is capable of lapping the company’s Hethel, UK test circuit a full 2.5 seconds faster.

Lap times, rather than road manners, are what this car is all about, and as such there are no creature comforts of any kind.

The Exige is an eye-catching beast, though, looking a bit like Darth Vader's helmet strapped to a skateboard. Everything about it is a statement of intent, and while the interior is as bare as Barnaby's brain, the gear lever, with its exposed workings and shiny silver knob, is a thing of strange beauty.

As the working version of the ID. Buzz, VW has paid more attention to practicalities than extra backsides on seats. So, the Cargo is a three-seater with a conventional driver’s seat and a two-person bench for the passengers. There’s no walk-through function between the cabin and cargo area, either.

You can also forget fashion-driven stuff like alloy wheels; the Cargo proudly wears 18-inch steel rims, shod with old-school 80-inch 60 series front tyres and 8.5-inch 55 series rears.

It might sound like some kind of a backward step, but the Cargo makes use of a combination of front disc brakes and drum rear brakes. And while the latter sounds like extremely old tech, when you consider how much of an EV’s braking is done regeneratively (without the use of the friction brakes at all) the switch to simpler, cheaper drums doesn’t sound so retrograde.

But even with that philosophy of practicality over all else, those charming retro dimensions still shine through, giving the Cargo a character and personality that elevates it beyond being a mere appliance. Fleet managers won’t care; owner-operators just might.

Both the words 'practical' and 'space' have no place in a road test of this Lotus, so shall we just move on?

Oh, all right. There is no shoulder room to speak of and to change gears you have to fondle your passenger's leg. You're also in danger of breathing into each other’s mouths accidentally, you’re sitting that close.

Speaking of impractical, the door apertures are so small, and the whole car so low, that getting in or out is about as much fun as attempting to hide in a child's suitcase.

Cupholders? Forget it, nor is there anywhere to put your phone. There are two tiny oddment storage holes just near each well-hidden door handle, and a kind of slidey, slick shelf where a glove box might be, on which it’s not safe to leave anything.

Put things on the floor and they will slide under the super low seats and never be seen again.

The Lotus people pointed out a parcel shelf behind the seats, but I think they imagined it, and there is a tiny boot at the rear, behind the engine, which is smaller than some actual boots.

Twin sliding side doors will be popular with those making multiple deliveries into sometimes tight spots. And even though there’s power latching, the Cargo lacks the powered side doors of the people-mover version of the same vehicle.

But for many operators, manual doors are quicker to open and close and, when you’re doing it dozens of times a day, those seconds can add up. Like the side doors, the Cargo’s tailgate is a manually operated one.

The default tailgate is a single piece, top-hinged unit that forms a handy umbrella when it’s opened and is also high enough for most adults to walk under without stooping.

The option tailgate is a pair of barn doors which open out and back, allowing loading via a forklift. The only catch there is that if you choose the barn doors, you lose the rear window altogether.

Inside the load area, which VW says will accommodate two standard pallets, there are rails for use as tie-down points, and a wooden cargo floor.

To be honest, though, the rails are too high to secure dense, heavy items, so there are also six beefy tie-down points around the floor’s perimeter. Protective plastic trim also extends half way to the roof on each side panel.

For safety, there’s also a partition to separate the driver’s compartment from the load, and there’s an access port for longer loads that require the full length of the interior. Under-floor storage areas are located on each side, accessed from inside the door opening.

With a load-space length of 2232mm, and a minimum cargo-bay width of 1230mm at the pinch-point (the rear wheel arches) the Cargo is pallet-friendly, and the load bay height of 1279mm means a cubic capacity of 3900 litres.

However, payload is limited a little by the vehicle’s own mass. The kerb mass of 2352kg is pretty brutal (batteries are heavy, right?) and the Gross Vehicle Mass limit means the payload tops out at 774kg.

While the batteries’ typical location under the floor makes for a flat cargo area, the electric motor between the rear (rather than the front) wheels means that the Cargo may not be quite as suitable for a rear-mounted wheelchair ramp as some of its competition.

Phone charging on the go is taken care of by four USB-C ports in the cabin. There’s a single 12-volt socket in the cargo bay and a couple of neat touches such as four coat hooks behind the seat and illuminated door handles and convex rear view mirrors, recognising the fact that many delivery vans spend a lot of time reversing into tight spots, too.

There are loads of storage nooks and cupholders around the cabin, including a full-width tray on top of the windscreen. The three-seat layout is going to work very well for some businesses, too.

The only catch there is that the fixed cargo barrier imposes a very upright backrest when the seats are moved all the way back for taller drivers. Move them forward a little and the backrest angle can be eased.

The big downside is the lack of a spare tyre of any sort. Instead, you’ll need to rely on the tyre sealant and 12-volt compressor with which VW equips the Cargo. At least there’s a tyre pressure monitoring system to give you early warning of an impending flat tyre. There’s a tool kit, as well.

The Cargo is capable of towing a 1200kg braked trailer.

With a starting price of $79,990, the ID. Buzz Cargo is hardly the cheapest of the mid-sized EV van bunch. The LDV eDeliver 7 undercuts it by plenty at $63,990 and has more payload and cargo space into the bargain.

The Peugeot e-Partner matches up with the VW more closely in space terms, but has much less range, offset by a brilliant special offer price of $49,990, right now. Ford’s E-Transit Custom will probably be much closer to the VW’s price-tag when it finally arrives Down Under.

So, what does the extra money get you? Fundamentally, the Cargo presents as a pretty classy version of a van. The twin side doors and choice of single or split tailgate are part of that, but even the timber floor in the load area suggests somebody has put a bit of thought into this car’s specification.

In the cabin, the three-across front seat is trimmed in tough cloth, and there’s a dual-zone climate-control system. A 12.9 inch touchscreen is the major interface, and the driver information is conveyed via a smaller, animated dashboard.

Volkswagen has also figured out that not all vans need to be white and plain, so there’s a range of metallic and pearl paint options, a 19-inch wheel and tyre upgrade, and the forklift-friendly wing doors are a snap at $390 extra.

You can also upgrade the side and rear doors to fully electric operation and there are upgrades to LED matrix headlights as part of the same option package.

In the past, Lotus engineers were satisfied with the power they got from tiny four-cylinder Toyota engines, but this Exige 350 Sport is a Very Serious Car and thus has a relatively whopping 3.5-litre, supercharged V6 shoehorned into its backside, which makes 258kW and 400Nm, and that's enough to fire this tiny machine from 0-100km/h in just 3.9 seconds, although it feels, and sounds, a lot faster.

The six-speed gearbox feels like it's been stolen from an old racing car and is an absolute joy to snick shift at speed.

Because it’s based on the short-wheelbase version of the ID. Buzz people mover, the Cargo gets the short wheelbase body and a single electric motor driving the rear wheels. Outputs are 210kW of power and 550Nm of torque which, even on paper, promises pretty stout performance.

The electric motor is mounted between the rear wheels and there’s a single-speed transmission because that’s all the torquey electric motor needs to offer a full range of road speeds. Speaking of which, the Cargo has a top speed of 160km/h (more than adequate in Australia) and VW claims it will get from rest to 100km/h in about 8.0 seconds. Which feels about right.

Lotus claims a combined fuel economy figure of 10.1L/100km. We don't believe that would be easy to achieve, because the temptation to rev the hell out of it and hear it roar would be too great, and too constant.

Power comes from a 79kWh battery which, thanks to the official maximum consumption figure of 22.2kWh per 100km, gives a theoretical range of 402km.

Again, that’s plenty for a last-mile van. And in the real world, we recorded a figure of just under 20kWh/100km, so you’ll get closer to the claim than most EVs out there.

Charging from an 11kW socket should take about seven-and-a-half hours to get the Cargo from 0 to 100 per cent charge while the VW will also charge at a maximum of 185kW from a commercial DC fast-charger. In that instance, charging from five to 80 per cent should take about 30 minutes.

VW equips the Cargo with a Mode 2, Type 2 charging cable and there’s also a DC to DC converter. A CCS Type 2 charge port is included as standard as is a household power-point-friendly charge cable which should take the Cargo to full charge in just under 23 hours.

It's rare to find a car that is such an improbable mix of furious fun and infuriating annoyance. The Lotus is rattly, noisy, hugely firm to the point of punishing, with seats that offer encouragement but not support.

It is the opposite of comfortable and so hard to see out of that driving it around town, in any sort of traffic, feels borderline dangerous. There’s also the distinct sensation that you’re so low and so little that all those people in their SUVs won't see you.

Throw in the fact that it's so painfully, stupidly difficult to get in and out of and it's definitely not the sort of car you take if you're heading to the shops. I got so sick of its hard-edged annoyances at one stage that I became too grumpy to even take people for joy rides in it. I just couldn’t be bothered with the hassle, but then an inner-city suburb with high kerbs and even higher speed humps is not the Exige's natural environment.

The gearbox is a thrill a minute, as is the engine.

Making it even more of a challenge around town, at low speeds or in parking situations is the steering, which isn't so much heavy as wilfully obtuse. Doing a three-point turn is the equivalent of 20 minutes of bench pressing your own body weight. At least.

Out on a winding bit of country road, however, the steering becomes one of the best things about the car, because its pure, unassisted weighting feels so alive in your hands. There’s a sense of actually wrestling, or finessing it around corners that makes you feel a bit Ayrton Senna.

Indeed, the whole car comes alive, and starts to make some kind of sense, once you're on a smooth, perfect piece of tarmac. It is fast, noisy, thrilling, utterly and overtly involving, stiff of chassis and firm of ride, with brakes capable of pulling you up with indecent haste. It’s also, thanks to its low centre of gravity and mid-engined layout, beautifully balanced.

The gearbox is a thrill a minute, as is the engine, particularly once you explore the upper rev ranges, at which point the scenery really does become a scary blur out the ridiculously small windscreen.

Sure, you can't see anything behind you other than the engine, but what a lovely sight that is, and nothing is going to catch you anyway.

It does feel edgy, of course, and sharp, and it’s not as easy or refined to drive as some cheaper sports cars; an MX-5 makes for a far more pleasant companion. But this is an extreme Exige, a machine built by and for genuine enthusiasts.

And, above all, for the sort of people who will take it to a race track, which is where it both looks and feels completely at home.

Unfortunately, on public roads, it would be annoying more often than it would be thrilling, but the truly hardcore Lotus aficionados would never admit such a thing.

First impression of the ID. Buzz Cargo is that it’s a very sophisticated piece of equipment for a tradie van. That’s largely down to the silent operation of the electric powertrain, but also because we suspect the suspension has been tuned for a little more comfort than some of the competition.

The upshot of that is that when it's relatively heavily loaded, you can feel the difference, and while the Cargo absolutely coped with the 500kg of breeze blocks we drove it with, there’s no doubt there was a load on board.

Even walking up to the loaded Cargo revealed the ride height had dropped a few millimetres, and speed humps could be felt making the rear multi-link suspension earning its keep.

However, there was never any bottoming out, the steering never lost its accuracy and that stonking driveline was more than capable of getting it all rolling in a fair hurry.

Forward vision is great with that huge, deep windscreen framing the view, and even though there are two A-pillars on each side, they don’t contribute to a terrible blind spot thanks to clever placement.

The Cargo’s steering is sharp and pleasantly accurate without being hyper-active and its fair to say driver stress levels would be a lot lower in this van than many of the diesel-burning, hard-riding alternatives. Owner-operators are likely to love it.

Commercial vehicles have come a long way in this department in a few short years, so the ID. Buzz Cargo needs to be up there with the best of them in this age of OH&S compliance.

As such, there’s standard autonomous emergency braking that works at all speeds and also incorporates pedestrian and cyclist identification. This has all been made possible because the Cargo shares the same current-gen platform as the rest of the ID. Buzz range, and is not an afterthought model spun off last year’s platform.

Other drive-assistance gear includes lane-keeping assist, rear-traffic alert and an exit warning system. Combined with emergency assist, swerve-support and oncoming vehicle braking (when turning) VW calls its driver-aids package a "semi-automated driving assistance system" (their words, not ours). There’s a rear view camera as well as multi-function camera set-up.

The usual front airbags are also standard, as well as side-curtain airbags in the front compartment, although there’s no centre-front airbag thanks to the three-seater arrangement.

The passenger’s front bag can be disabled in the case of the front seat being used for extra luggage space. And while the front seat consists of a driver’s pew and a bench for two passengers, the central seating position gets a proper three-point seat-belt. All three belts also feature pretensioners.

You also get adaptive cruise-control, multi-collision braking, a driver fatigue monitoring system and even tyre pressure monitoring.

Volkswagen Australia has no intention of crash-testing an ID. Buzz or Cargo locally, and is instead relying on the car’s Euro NCAP score of a maximum five safety stars.

Your Lotus comes with a three-year unlimited kilometre warranty and three years of roadside assist. A service costs $295, plus parts.

VW offers its five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty on the ID.
Buzz Cargo, as well as an eight-year/160,000km warranty on the batteries.

Down-time is a dirty word in the transport industry, so fleet operators should appreciate the 24-month/30,000km service intervals which reflect the relative simplicity of the BEV platform.

Also of interest to fleet managers will be VW’s offer to bundle the lease repayments, charging infrastructure and charging costs into a single monthly payment.

There’s also up to 10 years of capped price servicing on the ID. Buzz Cargo.