From thrifty budget stars to towering double-cab bakkies, the motoring team examines all manner of wheeled creations.
But none in recent memory has enchanted observers as much as the all-electric commercial vehicle from Volkswagen: the ID.Buzz Cargo.
It is not yet on sale — the marque is still doing its homework to see if official market retail is feasible.
Part of this included a trial run in the fleet of a prominent logistics firm. We managed to get our hands on one such example, battle-hardened with over 20,000km of test mileage, for a week of evaluation.
A minivan is not usually the subject of fascinated stares and doting remarks from onlookers.
But this is no ordinary commercial vehicle, with its clear kinship to the legendary Volkswagen T1 birthed several decades ago.
So strong is the charm of the Transporter lineage, even such a radically modern interpretation can be recognised by the man in the street as having ties to the famed original.
While you are not going to find a thrumming boxer engine in its rear end, the ID.Buzz Cargo harks back to the spirit of its grandfather in a number of ways.
In a sea of aggressive crossovers, with heavy pleats, furrowed gazes and more exaggerated aerodynamic trinkets than the first Fast & Furious movie, the ID.Buzz is clean, simple and friendly.
It dons a smirk that comes across as being completely at ease with the world, as if it knows it has the approval of its ancestors. And that it is doing what it can to break the generational curse of the Dieselgate era.
Behind the wheel of the ID.Buzz one became more aware of how many white Transporter examples exist on the roads, all powered by the robust, but old-fashioned TDI motor.
A plumber with a well-scuffed example from a decade ago spoke to me. He was impressed by the execution of the ID.Buzz but said he had no plans to retire his trusted steed.
Indeed, the brains at Volkswagen's commercial vehicles arm would need to embark on a thorough education campaign to win over such buyers. Then there is the matter of just how much an ID.Buzz Cargo would cost. These days the cheapest Transporter panel van comes in at just under R700,000.
The cabin of the ID.Buzz is as you would expect of the contemporary Volkswagen crop. No analogue dials in sight, with a digital instrument cluster and infotainment screen taking centre stage. The materials leave an impression of durability, from hard-wearing plastics to the tough polyester seat upholstery that still looked tidy, despite the accelerated usage seen in that logistics firm's fleet.
The most significant new-age element to get used to is the twist-stalk gear selector, positioned right of the steering wheel. Everything else is textbook Volkswagen.
And that includes the driving characteristics. The hushed operation of the electric powertrain brings a level of quietness and refinement that the TDI-powered Transporter will never match.
It also lends the vehicle a sprightly edge. Sure, the claimed 0-100km/h of about 10 seconds may not impress on paper. Yet the availability of its 150kW/310Nm output right from the instant the power pedal is deployed makes a difference in the realities of day-to-day traffic flow.
The ID.Buzz has a gross battery size of 82kWh with a claimed range of 425km. In the real world that proved closer to 350km, especially when making full use of the heater, as we did during the recent cold front.
Not bad if the bulk of your commercial operations are based within provincial boundaries — and there is certainly no dearth of public charging facilities these days.
Sliding doors and a twin-panel, swing-out tailgate grants access to the business end of the ID.Buzz, providing a 3,900l capacity and payload of 648kg.
A fixed bulkhead separates the front cabin and load-bay. This leads me to the main gripe encountered with the vehicle — limited visibility — as there is no central rear-view mirror. Our tester did without an optional reverse camera.
While having a moan, let me also note the weak audio system: playing K.O's Caracara with distorted bass did little for my street cred.
Those are the practical considerations the automaker will need to consider when specifying the versions that might eventually go on sale here. And that would inevitably include the family-friendly version of the reincarnated bus.
Some might want to buy a red pair of veldskoen for that encounter.
