A van-tastic idea?

SINGAPORE — When you see the phrase “based on a vampire romance novel” in a movie’s description, you know you will have a less-than-enjoyable two hours ahead of you. Likewise, when “based on a commercial vehicle” is used to describe a car, you should probably lower your expectations a bit.

That is a useful way to approach the new Volkswagen Caddy and its longer, more booty-ful sibling, the Caddy Maxi.

It is marketed here as a multi-purpose car, which draws attention to the fact that it is not really a car. Instead, the Caddy is a panel van with windows and seven seats. This makes it Volkswagen’s cheapest seven-seat multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) at the moment.

With a 1.4-litre turbo engine, the Caddy costs S$126,400 with COE. If you want a car-based MPV, the next one up Volkswagen’s pricing ladder is the Touran, which starts at S$138,900.

Yet, while the Touran is based on the excellent Golf, there is little disguising the Caddy’s commercial vehicle origins. Its boxy shape and sliding doors are giveaways, and it has space-saving but bouncy leaf-spring suspension, the kind used in lorries.

CIVIL TRAPPINGS

But when you climb into the driver’s seat, there is no sudden urge to load cargo in the back or hide in a car park to nap in the middle of the day with the engine running. Instead, the Caddy’s cabin quality occupies your mind. Sure, some of the dashboard plastics are pretty hard and shiny, but the layout and design are as neat and logical as you might expect from, well, a VW.

The instrumentation is car-like, as are the controls and seating position. So, too, is the gentle hum from under the bonnet when you start the engine.

Maybe you would expect boisterous diesel clatter from vans, but the Caddy’s noise insulation and petrol engine mean it sounds very civil. Up to a point, it drives like a car. The turbocharged engine and twin-clutch transmission help it pick up speed with vigour, and the steering is nicely weighted.

Things get pretty sloppy if you try to tackle a bend hard, but no one buys a van-based car expecting loads of handling finesse anyway. What’s more relevant is the fact that at normal speeds, the Caddy is actually easier to handle than many MPVs.

The standard model is not very wide and is shorter than, say, a VW Jetta, so parking presents no real headaches.

Even the Maxi model should be a straightforward thing to drive, though it happens to be a good 47cm longer than the standard Caddy.

MAXI CAD

But that extra length makes the Caddy Maxi the one to go for. It only costs S$5,000 more, and the added metal creates luggage space behind the third-row seats, which is something the standard Caddy lacks.

It is less spacious than it first appears, at least in terms of legroom. The car’s height creates an impression of cavern-like spaciousness, the way a high ceiling makes an apartment seem bigger than it is.

But the body’s height enables adults to climb easily into the third-row seats. The lack of air-conditioning vents at the back row means journeys for seven should be kept short, but it is probably worth pointing out that the air-conditioning system is the most powerful in any VW I have ever come across.

COMMERCIAL ROOTS

The Caddy’s seats are pretty old-school. You can fold the middle-row chairs and store them upright to create cargo space, but when you do that, they send rattles through the cabin.

Or you could take them out of the car altogether, which also happens to be your only option for the third-row bench. But doing that is such sweaty work that you might as well cancel that gym membership and just lift the Caddy’s seats every day instead.

In a more modern MPV like the Touran, you can fold the seats flat by pulling a lever here and pushing there.

Then again, the Caddy does not feel like something for the regular MPV crowd. Family men may buy a Touran, but the Caddy seems more suited to active types who say “dude” a lot and want space to carry mountain bikes, Great Danes or a drum kit around.

The refinement and sharper handling of a car-based MPV are absent here, but if you keep the VW’s commercial vehicle roots in mind, it actually drives much better than you would expect.

It may be a van with seven seats, but unlike vampires in a dumb romance story, the Caddy does not suck.

VOLKSWAGEN CADDY

Engine: 1,395cc, turbo in-line four, 125hp, 220Nm

Performance: 183kmh, 0-100kmh: 10.9s, 5.8L/100km, 133g/km CO2

Price: S$126,400 with COE

On Sale: Now

PROS: Peppy engine, surprisingly quiet, easy to drive

CONS: Seats rattle when folded, bouncy rear suspension