Optional safety in Caddy Maxi Life

Volkswagen has long promoted its safety credentials in the volume-selling end of the market. The importer was among the first companies to equip passenger cars with standard dual front airbags, to use one example, and Volkswagen offerings have been at the forefront of active and passive safety in this country since.

But Volkswagen's latest model, the Caddy Maxi Life (more here) is not a passenger car, strictly speaking. It's fully lined with all the plastic and cloth to conceal stark sheet metal and it's sold with alloy wheels and body-coloured bumpers, but it's still based on the Caddy Maxi 'Kombi' van -- a light commercial vehicle designed to tote goods behind the front seats.

Short of re-engineering the donor vehicle from top to bottom for the new role, Volkswagen was left with making some compromises. Not least of those is the lack of side-impact protection for the five passengers that occupy the second and third-row seats. There are no side curtains or thorax protection for the occupants of the Caddy Maxi Life -- unless they're sitting in the front.

Nor is the new VW without issues on the active safety front. It offers ABS and four-wheel discs, but stability control is an option ($690), in a vehicle that retains the donor's relatively high roof, long wheelbase, all the drivetrain weight in the front and a leaf-spring-equipped dead axle at the rear. That combination of weight distribution and basic suspension could easily result in undesirable handling characteristics during an emergency.

Priced at $34,990 for the entry-level model or $37,990 with the DSG transmission, the Caddy Maxi Life is just about at its upper limit for the price people will pay for such a vehicle. Stability control was left out of the specification because consumers have shown an indifference for the safety feature that is regarded by ANCAP as virtually a 'silver bullet' for the road toll (more here).

It's a particular balancing act for Volkswagen to bring in the appropriate specification of Caddy Maxi Life at the right price. That has to take into consideration cars such as the reasonably-priced Peugeot 308 Touring or the sensibly packaged Kia Rondo7, both of which can seat seven and offer stability control for an all-up price lower than the Volkswagen's.

"At the end of the day," explained Phil Clark, Volkswagen's Director Commercial Vehicles, "in any package... There's a price point that people will pay".

"One of the things we set out to do with this is to offer up a very competitive package with all the basic safety features in place and all the basic creature comforts."

"What's important to us is that we offer up additional safety features over and above what we've put in as standard, so that the people, if they want to make those choices in taking on those additional ones, that they will make the choice.

"And in saying that, a lot of the vehicles we're bringing in with Park Distance Control and ESP -- so we're not saying that it's an option that you're going to have to wait three or four months for. We've got vehicles in the country with that option.

"It's a matter of having something that covers all the basic safety features, but at the same time, is market-competitive."

The whole issue of whether stability control should or should not be a standard feature provokes debate on both sides of the fence. Car companies recognise that when stability control is offered as an option, up to 80 per cent of buyers don't insist on it. Those who don't opt for stability control typically claim they can't afford the additional cost.

So it becomes a vicious circle... and you don't get much more vicious than snap-oversteer into a light pole.

To comment on this article click here