News

May 22, 2023

What's the deal with the little side windows in the VW ID. Buzz?

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. — You might have had the same thought I did when first

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. — You might have had the same thought I did when first seeing the three-row 2025 Volkswagen ID. Buzz: what's the deal with that little window?

Encased within a whole bunch of other tinted glass on the Buzz's sliding rear doors is a small window. It was immediately apparent that this small window exists because the rest of the window clearly doesn't go down like they do on other vans, but what's the deal?

Well, for starters, it's a sliding window. Volkswagen points out that its previous busses had sliding rear windows. Fair enough. The main reason, however, is that the Buzz's rear side windows fit perfectly flush with the body work to achieve that oh-so-cool look and slippery aerodynamics. If you want perfectly flush windows, they can't roll down into the door. The solution is a sliding sub window like this.

However, it's important to see what this window looks like from inside.

From the second-row, the sliding window portion takes up 100% of the viewable area. You'd have no idea there's all that glass above and below on the outside. In other words, it's not as strange inside. The windows themselves may be a tad small in height, I suppose, but the overall glass area in the Buzz is immense and the cabin is airy in general.

The windows are controlled, obviously, through switches on the doors themselves. You can also control them from the driver's door, but here's where the facepalm comes in ...

Volkswagen uses the same ridiculous controls as the ID.4, which omits rear window switches altogether. There are just two window switches, and to control the rear ones, you first have to brush the "rear" icon, hope it acknowledges you, and note if the "rear" illuminates. If it does, you can roll down the rear windows. Sorry, slide open the rear windows.

Related video: