Volkswagen Caddy Cargo 2022 Review

The 2022 Volkswagen Caddy is so ubiquitous it is almost transparent. Seriously, it’s not till you’re paying attention it becomes obvious just how many are on our roads, zipping about here there and everywhere delivering their loads.

The Volkswagen Caddy first arrived in Australia in 2005 and it’s been a constant here ever since, expanding its line-up from a van to a people-mover and camper, and adding a longer-wheelbase Maxi.

We’re driving the Caddy because the range went through a generational overhaul in 2021, finally updating from its PQ35 (circa VW Golf V) underpinnings to the current MQB modular architecture that you can already find under front-wheel drive VW Group models ranging from the latest Volkswagen Golf to the Audi TT.

We’ve got the Caddy Cargo TDI320 on test here. The short-wheelbase van is fitted with a 90kW/320Nm 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel engine mated to a seven-speed dual-clutch (or DSG in VW-speak) automatic transmission.

Pricing is a hefty $39,990 plus on-road costs. That’s a rise of over $6000 in just a couple of years from the old model’s closest equivalent, the TDI250 auto.

You can get a manual diesel for $36,990 and a petrol engine in the low $30K range. The VW is substantially undercut by the Peugeot Partner and Renault Kangoo on price. The latter actually outsold the Caddy in 2021 in the under-2.5-tonne van segment.

So what do you get for your $40K? We’ll get to all the space and payload detail in a moment, but in terms of equipment there’s not that much to mention.

Outside it’s all workhorse with steel wheels, halogen headlights and black-pack door handles and mirror housings.

Inside there’s air-conditioning, cruise control, an electric park brake, power windows, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto accessed by a new 8.25-inch infotainment screen, Bluetooth, FM radio, cloth seats, two USB-C connectors, two 12V outlets and – incongruously considering how basic the rest of it is – a leather-wrapped steering wheel.

Remote central locking includes a separate system for the load compartment.

There’s no AM radio and digital radio is optional. So if you want talk, stream a podcast.

The Caddy Cargo is protected by a five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty, 12 months’ roadside assistance and a capped-price service plan that tallies up to $2731 over five 12-month/15,000km service intervals. You can save a few bucks by prepaying on a three- or five-year plan.

The safety specification of the 2022 Volkswagen Caddy has been significantly upgraded. Importantly, autonomous emergency braking (AEB) is standard across the entire range.

All up, VW says the Caddy range now offers up to 17 driver assist systems, although most of them are optional for this model.

Tyre pressure monitoring, adaptive cruise, blind spot monitoring with rear traffic alert, park assist, rear cross traffic alert and braking, and lane keep assist are all optional.

It also costs more if you want pedestrian and cyclist detection added to AEB.

The Caddy comes with a suite of airbags. It also gets a reversing camera and sensors. It does not get front parking sensors. LED headlights and fog lights are optional.

A 2021 five-star ANCAP rating only applies to people-mover models.

The shift to VW’s MQB platform is important in terms of modernisation, but the 2022 Volkswagen Caddy Cargo remains similar in size to its predecessor.

The overall vehicle length is 4500mm (+92mm), the wheelbase is 2755mm (+73mm) and the cargo space maximum length, width and height is, respectively, 1797mm (+18mm), 1614mm (+58mm) and 1272mm (+28mm). The width between the wheel-arches is 1230mm (+60mm).

Given all that it’s perhaps surprising total load space is rated at 3100 litres, or 100 litres less than the old model. Total payload is given as 724kg, which is also reduced compared to the official 780kg number for the old TDI250.

The braked towing capacity is 1500kg with a 75kg tow bar rating. The roof load is rated at 100kg. All up, unladen mass is 1526kg.

An 1165x1165mm Aussie pallet or 800x1200mm Euro pallet can fit through the barn doors but not the 703x1096mm kerbside sliding side door.

Powering all this is VW’s EA288evo 2.0-litre turbo-diesel engine, making 90kW at 4250rpm, an all-important 320Nm between 1500rpm and 2500rpm and claiming a 4.L/100km fuel consumption average.

A common-rail direct-injection engine with belt-driven double overhead camshafts and 16 valves, the EA288evo meets the Euro 6 standard with the help of a twin-dosing Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) system with double AdBlue injection for reduced nitrogen oxide emissions.

Drive to the front wheels is via a DQ381 wet-clutch shift-by-wire DSG gearbox and an electronic diff lock. The gearbox provides auto, sport and manual shifting, the latter via steering wheel paddles as the gear lever is now just a stub in the centre console.

Underpinning the Caddy cargo is MacPherson strut front suspension and a rigid axle with coil springs (previously leaf) and a Panhard rod at the rear.

Power steering is electro-mechanical with a claimed 11.4m turning circle. All-round disc brakes are housed inside 16-inch wheels that are backed up by a full-size spare.

We drove the 2022 Volkswagen Caddy Cargo across all sorts of roads unladen and then loaded down with more than 400kg worth of cargo.

Both the drivetrain and the chassis coped with the various challenges very well.

Without a load the Caddy bops along very much on top of the road, sometimes popping off the top of the rough stuff, but never feeling like the rear-end is about to disconnect.

Loaded down it simply bites into the road that bit more, smothering the rough stuff impressively. No doubt the load in the rear raises the Caddy’s nose a little and it steers a bit lighter, but it’s still accurate enough.

The drivetrain also buckles down and gets on with the job when presented with the load-hauling challenge. It loses a little of its zing, but is still lively.

Fuel consumption barely changed with or without load and a 5.8L/100km average across a week of testing was encouraging. Mated with a 50-litre tank that’s a decent range.

The only letdown was the traditional VW-DSG intermittent hesitation at tip-in throttle. It’s not as bad or frequent as it once was but it is still unpredictably there.

Combine that with an automatic engine idle-stop system that was sometimes still stopping when you wanted to be starting and there were moments of annoyance.

In a practical sense, it lowers your confidence when commitment to a busy intersection or roundabout is required. There’s a tendency to over-compensate on the throttle, which can result in a tyre-squealing launch. All very unedifying.

The other key issue is visibility from the B-pillar back. With no rear-side windows or blind spot or lane keep assist sensors, changing lanes and merging can be pure guesswork.

It doesn’t help that the exterior mirrors are now smaller – something VW actually brags about (for aerodynamic efficiency reasons).

Then there are other lesser annoyances. There is nowhere to rest your left elbow, no way to adjust air-con except through the touch-screen, every surface is hard to the touch and there’s no recline for the seats because of the hard-up composite partition.

However, the upside is the partition plays an important role in reducing noise. It’s not Golf-quiet up front, but it’s a lot better than it could be.

There is also plenty of room in the cabin to throw extraneous stuff, including an overhead storage compartment.

The key thing when it comes to the 2022 Volkswagen Caddy Cargo is it can deliver stuff competently. In that chore it ticks the boxes – as well as carries them.

Fundamentally, it drives very well while going about its work. It’s more car-like than van-like.

Those concerns noted about tip-in balkiness and the rearward vision are not necessarily deal-breakers but they are disappointing.

More concerning is the amount of gear that’s optional – especially driver assists – in what is already a pretty expensive small cargo van.

That potentially makes this a challenging purchase because the more you have to spend on a work vehicle like this up front, the more you have to recoup down the track.

This might be the best small van ever made – it is certainly very good. But if those sums don’t add up, don’t expect to see as many examples of the Caddy scurrying around our roads.

How much does the 2022 Volkswagen Caddy Cargo TDI320 cost?
Price: $39,990 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel
Output: 90kW/320kW
Transmission: Seven-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel: 4.9L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 130g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Not tested