The Volkswagen Bus is part of an elite group of vehicles that are instantly recognizable to almost anyone on Earth. Vehicles like the Bus and the Beetle, and non-VWs like the Ford Mustang, transcend the sphere of car enthusiasts and have found homes in the hearts and minds of all different types of people. Volkswagen’s long-awaited revival of its iconic blunt-nosed bread box on wheels, the fully electric ID Buzz, excites normies and car nerds alike, but Volkswagen has the chance to take things one step further and revive the rugged, all-terrain Syncro. The ID Buzz is already offered with all-wheel drive, so why not lift it a bit and offer another flavor of nostalgia with an ID Buzz Syncro? Or Zyncro?
Volkswagen brought the first four-wheel-drive Vanagon Syncros to the U.S. in 1986. They were never intended to be go-anywhere rock-hopping mountain goats or desert-dominating Dakar stars, but they offered buyers increased traction for bad weather and an optional locking rear differential for the really challenging stuff. Despite not being designed for intense off-roading, the Vanagon Syncro set a record in 1985 for driving around the globe, covering 27,000 miles in 131 days and hitting five different continents.
While the Vanagon of the 1980s and ‘90s didn’t quite rise to pop culture fame like the original Volkswagen Bus, it is still one of my favorite cars ever. In fact, one of the first questions I get when I tell people what I do for work is “what’s your dream car?” People expect me to say something like a Bugatti Chiron or a Bentley Continental GT, but I have much, much weirder tastes than that. My dream car is an early ‘90s Volkswagen Vanagon Westfalia with a Porsche or Subaru motor swapped in to give it some guts.
I’m not usually a fan of automakers lifting their cars and adding black plastic trim to create an off-road-focused spec of their cars, but the Buzz is begging for a Syncro revival. In the era of crossover-crazed consumers and car companies that cater to them with specialized Wilderness, Rock Creek, Raptor, and AT4 trims, it’s a no-brainer in my eyes. Kia recently released a lifted Adventure Van concept that was pretty rad, too. I truly believe that Volkswagen can capitalize on the ID Buzz’s nostalgia and land a real sales hit with an ID Buzz Syncro.
