Caddy Maxi Life packs seating for seven

The wheelbase of the Volkswagen Caddy Maxi Life is over three metres! That makes the seven-seater as long between front and rear wheels as Holden's now defunct Crewman dual cab.

No wonder then that it accommodates seven adults (Volkswagen's claim) in a car barely 35mm wider than the Golf. By measuring 350mm higher than the Golf, the Caddy Maxi Life can seat the occupants in a more upright arrangement to squeeze in the extra row of seats.

Volkswagen claims that passengers can easily access those second and third-row seats via sliding doors that open 700mm wide. The seating layout is a 2-3-2 configuration, with the second-row seats accommodating three occupants and able to fold up in a triple split.

With all three rows of seats in use, the Caddy Maxi Life will still accept up to 530 litres of luggage behind the third row, but will also double as a load carrier with the rear-most seating folded to provide a 1650-litre load capacity.

As is often the case with highly practical vehicles such as the Caddy Maxi Life, there is an abundance of storage bins and receptacles for cups, bottles and all the paraphernalia that goes with family trips to fast food restaurants. According to Volkswagen, there are storage compartments in both the driver's and front passenger's doors, each capable of holding one-litre bottles. The centre console features two cup holders at the front and one cup holder at the rear.

Storage pockets are located in the rear compartment, for the third-row seat occupants, as well as in the sliding doors and there are also cargo nets above the windows.

Given the primary purpose of transporting people to and fro, the Caddy Maxi Life is equipped with a comprehensive list of safety systems ranging from the active (ABS/EBD, traction control, ESP and Brake Assist) to the passive (dual front and side-impact airbags).

Motive power is derived from the 1.9-litre TDi turbodiesel engine shared with the Golf and driving through either a five-speed manual transmission or six-speed DSG box. Peak power is 77kW and maximum torque of 250Nm occurs as low as 1900rpm. Volkswagen advises that the combined-cycle fuel consumption figure for the Caddy Maxi Life is 6.3L/100km (manual) or 6.8 (DSG).

Standard features include: electric front windows, central locking, semi-automatic air conditioning and an MP3-compatible CD audio system with six speakers.

Prices are $34,990 for the manual variant and $37,990 for the DSG version.

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