Volkswagen Multivan Highline 132 TDI and Caravelle 103 TDI 2010 Review

Volkswagen Multivan Highline 132 TDI
Price Guide (recommended price before statutory and delivery charges): $73,990
Options fitted to test car (not included in above price): 18-inch alloys $1990; pearl effect paint $1590
Fuel: Diesel
Claimed fuel economy (L/100km): 8.1L/100km
CO2 emissions (g/km): 214

Volkswagen Multivan Caravelle 103 TDI
Price Guide (recommended price before statutory and delivery charges): $49,990
Options fitted to test car (not included in above price): metallic paint $1590
Fuel: Diesel
Claimed fuel economy (L/100km): 8.2L/100km
CO2 emissions (g/km): 216

Overall Rating: 3.0/5.0
Engine/Drivetrain/Chassis: 3.5/5.0
Price, Packaging and Practicality: 3.5/5.0
Safety: 3.0/5.0
Behind the wheel: 3.5/5.0
X-factor: 2.5/5.0

Now in its 60th year, the latest incarnation of Volkswagen's trusty light commercial van comes in a blinding array of specifications, with three versions of the same 2.0-litre turbodiesel engine, manual and DSG transmissions, front and all-wheel drivetrains and two different types of steering.

Back-to-back comparison of the midspec Caravelle and the top-level Multivan Highline peoplemovers yielded a surprise: the cheaper (in this comparison much cheaper) Caravelle proved the better drive. Unless you prefer Cadillacs to Volkswagens...

The difference is in the top-shelf Multivan Highline's Servotronic steering box. Volkswagen says it "makes for perfect comfort when driving at speed as well as when manoeuvring". I say it makes for feather-lightness, too little feel on-centre and less tactility in cornering than the Caravelle's excellent standard rack and pinion system. The latter retains Volkswagen's normal linearity and reassuring weight without undue burden.

Not that the Multivan's handling shortcomings are that much of a pity: people looking for a driver's car at a Volkswagen dealership don't emerge in a Transporter any more than people looking for a minibus emerge in a Golf GTI. But I suspect there are plenty of buyers who'd like to combine the Caravelle's reassuring road feel with the extra power in the Multivan's engine.

Such has been the shift in worldwide demand towards diesel power in the Transporter that for the 2010 model update Volkswagen dispensed with petrol engines entirely, replacing the old petrol/diesel choice with three interpretations of the ubiquitous 2.0 TDI. The Caravelle uses the midrange 103kW turbo version, the Multivan Highline uses the top-end 132kW biturbo. Base versions of other commercial Transporter models come with a 75kW version.

Both are a pleasure to drive, the 103 producing a healthy 340Nm from 1750 rpm, the 132 raising this to 400Nm from just 1500rpm. It's not that easy to feel the high-ender's extra wattage, however, with much of the sensation absorbed by the steering and 325 extra kilos the luxo version carts around. But both have loads of get-up-and-go, most noticeable once they're off the mark and into the mid gears. They have relatively slim peak torque bands, encouraging drivers to keep the revs down around 2500 -- not hard to do with the seven-cog ratio spread of Volkswagen's dual-clutch DSG semi-auto transmission, standard on both.

Although it's elicited a fair amount of grumbling for its low-end jerkiness and inappropriate shift timing in smaller Volkswagens, the DSG sits well on the Transporter platform, always making its way into an appropriate ratio.

To cope with the extra power, the 132kW engined version also comes with a front brake upgrade. Both vehicles have excellent anchors.

Both are as nimble in crowded urban and open road conditions as it gets in the high-riding box sector. With the engine out front rather than beneath the floor or between driver and passenger, they're very quiet, particularly for oilers. The Multivan is especially well insulated from road and wind noise at freeway speeds.

For this year's model, the company made substantial improvements to an already very safe vehicle, with revisions to its stability control electronics. Beyond the normal stability control and antilock brakes, the one program now incorporates hill start assist, active rollover protection, brake prefill, brake fade support, hydraulic brake assist and a brake disc wiper.

Secondary safety includes dual front airbags, but front seat side airbags remain an $890 option on the Caravelle. Full length curtain bags are standard on the Multivan Highline and not available on the Caravelle.

Day-to-day use comparisons between these two are contingent on individual needs and wants. Both use high quality materials inside and out, and impart that reassuringly solid feel the Germans do so well.

The Caravelle seats nine (2-2-2-3) in shuttle-bus comfort; the Multivan Highline seats seven (2-2-3) in something closer to grand tourer luxury. All rear seats are removable, allowing considerable flexibility in mixing people with luggage. The Multivan benefits further from the mounting of the seating on neat rails recessed into the floor.

We found both interiors ergonomically effective and well engineered, with the shifting, removal and refitting of the seats quick and easy. They're not light, but there's a certain reassurance in that, and nor are they impossibly heavy or cumbersome.

It was a two-minute job removing the Multivan's central armchairs and sliding the rear bench forward to make a five seater with prodigious luggage space astern. The resulting floorspace is flat and uninterrupted, the load sill nice and low.

With full seating, legroom is long-trip luxurious all round in the Multivan, satisfactory for adults going to the airport in the Caravelle.

The small table between the Multivan's mid-row seats proved useful. Mounted on rails, it slides forward far enough to allow the driver and front passenger access to its front end storage drawer -- a useful adjunct substitute for the central console box sacrificed for the convenience of being able to walk through from the driver's compartment to the rear.

Our Multivan had the full panoply of kit you'd expect of a near-$80K proposition: satnav with reversing camera, pull-up sunblinds in the back, seat heating up front, swivelling centre-row seats, climate control air, premium interior lighting, and electric sliding doors and tailgate.

The writer found a minor irritation in constantly selecting the wrong key-fob buttons for the Multivan's electrically operated sliding doors -- for the first couple of days I had them opening and closing in reverse sync like twin cuckoo clock doors. Eventually I worked it out.

While the basics are impeccable, they've not been notably generous with gear in the Caravelle. Side airbags, cruise control (a $590 option) and an auxiliary audio input would be nice in a $50K vehicle, and curtain bags should at least be available as an option.

While we've put both these in a back-to-back comparison, the question of which to go for isn't that relevant. It's horses for courses – no better evidence of that than the Multivan Highline's 50 per cent price premium.

Over our time with them, I found the Caravelle generally more pleasant, but that's only from the perspective of a driver -- as a suburban big-family transporter, it's the one to go for here. But if I was driving round Australia, it might be a different matter. If that were the case, I'd take a close look at the lesser 132kW Multivans, which start in the mid-$50Ks -- you don't have to spend anything like $77K to get that motor, and you get (what I think's) a better handler with the normal steering.

Oh, one other thing -- for those dubious (as I have been) about the substitution of tyre repair kits for full spares, may I say the Multivan proved to me the news is good. First up, when my rear tyre went down somewhere in the middle of Sydney, the only way I came to know of it was when a fellow next to me at lights informed me. I pulled into a servo, removed the tyre valve, squirted the container of Aquadhere-like goo into the hole, replaced the valve, blew it up a bit, drove a few metres backwards and forwards a couple of times and finished blowing it up. It was still holding fast when I returned the vehicle several days later.

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