Mini 3D Hatch vs Volkswagen ID. Buzz

What's the difference?

The Mini Cooper surprised me. I didn’t expect this little car to be electrified with such success. It’s fun to drive, easy to charge, and aside from its range, which is naturally limited by its size, the remaining drawbacks are no different from the rest of the Cooper range.

Who is the Cooper SE Electric best suited for? Probably a buyer who is looking for a second car to use primarily as a runabout who also happens to love the art of driving. Few EVs fit that bill so well.

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 Cooper SE, at least in this ‘Yours’ trim, is iconic Mini. Like the concurrent Fiat 500, the Mini is one of those cars which does ‘modern classic’ so well it’s hard to tell how old it is underneath.

The commitment to the core shape of this car is admirable, but to me this is a particularly rare case of everything clad in black working brilliantly.

The little green bits which hint at the electrified nature of this variant contrast so well, and are much more subtle as a flourish on these ‘Tentacle’ wheels than they are on the somewhat ham-fisted ‘Power’ rims which normally come with the SE.

This extends to the inside of our test car, which also had black seats and black headlining to match the black dash.

Again, normally this would be a recipe for undue claustrophobia, but in this Mini it just feels right.

The seats are more comfortable than they look, and adjust for a low-slung and sporty feeling arrangement. The dash is a little clumsy, though, with its lumpy design and plethora of material choices, perhaps shaped more for style than to induce a feeling of spaciousness.

I’m still not a particular fan of it, but when you combine it with things like the toggle-style buttons and Union Jack imprints in the tops of the front seats, there’s no question Mini is committed to unique styling.

This is particularly true of the huge round centre panel, which in its original incarnation used to house the speedometer, but now houses a multimedia suite.

The positioning of the screen doesn’t feel entirely right for the driver to use as a touchscreen, and the software is overcomplicated at best, and downright painful to use at worst.

Thankfully, once you’ve managed to get the wireless Apple CarPlay working, you’ll be forced to use it less often.

This is beginning to sound overly critical, but the context is this car isn’t designed to feel spacious or function seamlessly. It’s designed to be a statement all on its own.

When you combine the unmistakable exterior presence with this particular colour scheme and wheels, the whacky interior falls into place to make for one somehow completely charming package.

It has so much charisma I found myself constantly forgiving, or at least overlooking, its flaws to enjoy it as an experience – just as intended.

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.

Does anyone buy a car called a Mini for practicality? I hope not. How does this little hatch line up with the segment or the EV market, though?

The answer is still not well. Even compared with design-led cars like Mazda’s MX-30, the Mini is smaller again, having hardly any boot space (211 litres to be precise) and only four seats. Even then, the rear two seats are difficult to access and no good for adults.

There’s a handy space under the boot floor for charging gear, although as the Cooper uses run-flat tyres, there’s no spare.

It is worth noting this electric version doesn’t actually lose any room compared to the standard combustion variants.

As driver-focused as this little car might be, it’s hardly a better story up front, as the Cooper SE trades away practicality to stay true to its retro design.

The driver's seat is comfy, low, and sporty, clasping your sides nicely and I like the trim a lot. But, as mentioned the space feels quite claustrophobic due to the proximity of the A-pillars and up-close dash features.

Functionally, the dash layout is a little awkward, with the small digital instrument display being partially obscured by the wheel in my driving position. The exaggerated centre screen panel and other trimmings feel as though they close in what little space is available, particularly if you’re tall and have knees.

There’s hardly any cabin storage on offer, either, with a small wireless charging bay in the armrest console, a tiny bay below that for loose objects, two small cupholders with another small bin in front of the shifter, and tiny pockets in the doors.

To make things worse, the two-door Cooper design has enormous doors, making it hard to slide in and out of in tight parking spots. Ironic given how easy it is to park this compact car in the first place.

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.

This electric Mini takes the best bits from BMW’s late i3 hatch, and one of those is its electric motor. With 135kW/270Nm on tap, it’s a punchy little thing, and in a package this small it feels energetic.

There’s a single-speed transmission with an integrated front differential, and this version of the Cooper will sprint from 0-100km/h in 7.3 seconds.

The motor also uses a particularly aggressive regenerative braking profile, which is strong by default but can be adjusted down by the driver.

It can also make use of an array of drive modes: 'Sport', 'Normal', 'Green', and 'Green+' (which maxes out regen and won’t let you use the air-con!).

I spent the majority of my time in the car using Green or Normal modes, with a stint in Sport. It was nice that each mode seemed to give the steering and accelerator response a distinct but not overtly artificial character.

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.

The Cooper SE draws its power from a 32.6kWh Lithium-ion battery pack, one of the smallest of any mass-market EV on sale today.

This grants it an official combined cycle range of 233km on the realistic WLTP testing protocol, but you can expect a real-world range of around 200km. My car was reporting around 180km at 100 per cent charge.

The WLTP-rated energy consumption for the SE is 16.8kWh/100km, and I saw 14.0kWh/100km. That's better than the 16kWh/100km I’m getting from my MX-30 electric long-termer, but still not as adept as the smaller Hyundai electric offerings.

I drove it around with regen maxed out aside from a stint on some back roads in Sport mode which dials it back a little. As the battery is very small, expect every little change in road conditions or regen usage to have a bigger effect on the range remaining.

The Cooper SE has a single European-standard Type 2 CCS charging port on the rear driver’s side. For a car with such a small battery, the Cooper charges very fast which helps make it more convenient to use.

On the slower but more readily-available AC chargers it will charge at a max rate of 11kW which will see a charge time somewhere in the range of three and a half hours, while on a fast DC charger it will get to 80 per cent charge from 10 per cent in 36 minutes.

The 11kW AC inverter is particularly welcome, as with a battery this small, it means you can realistically rely entirely on AC charging which is an increasingly common feature of council parking locations.

No other car with a battery this small offers AC charging this fast, and it’s convenient to avoid the need to seek out a DC charger for a full juice every once in a while.

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.

The Cooper SE not only nails the Mini brief of feeling “like a go-cart” on the road, but to me this car particularly proves electric vehicles can have distinct and engaging characteristics.

Immediately, all the Mini cornerstones are present. This car feels low-slung, firmly sprung, with heavy and direct steering ensuring you really feel the road.

Few electric cars have come close to something so engagement-oriented. The Model 3 is firm and fast, but somewhat removed from the road with its unusual cabin and heavily computerized steering, while Mazda’s MX-30 is a similarly lightweight and engaging EV, just with the ride height and pleasantries of an SUV.

The Cooper has more the personality of a track-ready hot hatch. It leaps into action with the responsiveness of its electric motor, and the steering tune gives it a dart-like feel in traffic.

The firm ride won’t be for everyone. It’s a little hard on the day-to-day, and its lack of wheel travel compared to, say, an SUV gives it more trouble balancing out bigger bumps and corrugations which can get unpleasant in the cabin.

Carving up a curvy road on the weekend, though? There’s no EV better than this bar Porsche’s Taycan, and even then, you’ll need one hell of a road to make the most of it.

The tightly-wound little Mini simply comes alive in the corners. Anyone who doubts electric vehicles can still be fun needs to drive one of these before they settle their mind.

The downside? While the Mini will put a smile on your face, the electric drivetrain here feels a bit like cheating. No transmission and an instantly responsive regen brake makes it all too easy to carve corners without the need to even take your foot off the accelerator pedal.

And having the weight so far down in an already low car makes it stick to the road like glue. You never really feel like something can be done wrong in this car.

While it’s so much more fun than most electric cars, it’s still missing the engagement of the need to grab a gear yourself.

On the topic of regeneration, the Mini’s aggro little motor will slow you down as quickly as it can accelerate, and in Green mode in particular it can be driven as a ‘single pedal vehicle’ around town.

You have to watch its bite, as a minimal release of the accelerator will bring you to a halt. This is good for economy though, and you’ll need it to make the most of this little hatchback’s short range.

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.

Mini, like its BMW parent, persists with an off-the-pace three-year and unlimited kilometre warranty promise. This includes roadside assist, and the battery components are covered by a separate industry-standard eight-year and 160,000km warranty.

Minis have ‘condition-based servicing’ whereby the car will decide when to send you back to the workshop, so intervals could be variable.

A ‘basic cover’ service program will set you back just $940 for four years, or $1280 for six years, which includes a vehicle check, fluids, and an air conditioning filter.

The more comprehensive ‘Plus Cover’ which has location-based pricing will also include brake pads and discs and wiper blade replacements where required.

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.