Long-term wrap: VW Caravelle BiTDI

LONG-TERM WRAP

VW Caravelle 2.0 BiTDI AT

Johannesburg - Whenever I’m asked for a list of cars that would occupy my dream garage, I include something like a VW Caravelle among all the predictable high-performance exotics.

It’s not just for the amusement of seeing peoples’ surprised expressions; I have a soft spot for kombis and large people-carriers. As a family guy who likes a spot of cycling in-between all the car testing, and heading off to the beach or the bush from time to time, it fits my lifestyle like a glove.

There’s nothing like being able to fit your 29” mountain bike – fully assembled and standing upright – into the gap between a Caravelle’s front and middle seats, instead of fiddling with a bike rack or having to fold down the rear seats (and usually needing to remove the bike’s front wheel as well). You get spaced-out on that kind of convenience (even though that’s not what hippies referred to when they got spaced-out in the original 1960s Kombi), and now that our VW Caravelle 2.0 BiTDI automatic long-term test vehicle has gone back to its rightful owners, it’s left a big hole in our lives.

Over the past year our team of testers have roped-in this fifth-generation Volksie bus (or T5 as it’s commonly known) for an array of holiday and house-moving adventures, and the Caravelle’s keys were almost always in demand.

SUPERLATIVE LUGGER

It makes a superlative people-lugger, with plenty of stretch-out leg- and elbow-room even with all seven seats occupied (there are three rows in a 2+2+3 format). With armrests and adjustable backrests in the front two rows, it makes for a comfortable long-haul vehicle and the middle seats can be swivelled to face backwards if rear passengers wish to be sociable with each other.

The interior’s a giant Lego set of seat-adjustability. The rear seats can be separately slid fore or aft on rails, or removed altogether to turn the Caravelle into a cargo-gulping panelvan. It’s great having all this space at your beck and call, though removing the rear seats is anything but a simple exercise. Hauling out that heavy three-person bench feels like a hard boot-camp session; it takes at least two or three people to carry it amid sweating and grazed knuckles.

I would suggest that a rethink is needed in the seat-removal-friendliness department, Volkswagen.

VW offers its bus in two model line-ups: the Kombi and the more luxuriously-specced Caravelle. Standard fare across both ranges is quite generous and includes ABS brakes, stability control, power windows and climate control, but the pricier Caravelle goes the whole hog with additional items such as leather seats (the front two being heated), a three-zone climate control system, cruise control, park distance control, and those abovementioned swivel seats.

DOESN’T COME CHEAP

The luxury doesn’t come cheap: the two-wheel-drive Caravelle 2.0 BiTDI DSG automatic we tested is priced at R707 800, and the AWD version sells for R740 300.

All Caravelles are powered by a 2-litre turbodiesel engine with torquey, easygoing performance from a 132kW output and a gutsy 400Nm of twisting power. Once it shakes off some initial turbo-lag the big bus cruises and climbs hills like a champion, and even with a full load it’s smooth sailing, without feeling strained.

For a two-ton vehicle shaped like a block of flats, the Caravelle sipped diesel at a very respectable rate of between 10-11 litres per 100km during its stay with us.

It is a big piece of hardware to manoeuvre, but the fact that there’s no long nose to peer over makes parking easier than you expect. For the rear there’s that beeping alert.

With over 12 million sales since the original Volkswagen T1 hit the scene back in the swinging sixties, the original hippie van has grown into a sophisticated family bus.

The T5 has served its time well, but its T6 successor has now been launched overseas with a host of infotainment updates, an electrically-operated tailgate, and driver-alert features like Adaptive Cruise Control, Adaptive Chassis Control, Driver Alert System and City Emergency Braking.

The T6 is set to reach South Africa in the fourth quarter of 2015 and the local line-up and prices will be made known closer to the time.

FACTS

VW Caravelle 2.0 BiTDI AT

Engine: 2-litre, four-cylinder turbodiesel

Gearbox: Seven-speed DSG

Power: 132kW @ 4000rpm

Torque: 400Nm @ 1500-2000rpm

0-100km/h (claimed): 11.3 seconds

Top speed (claimed): 191km/h

Consumption (claimed): 8.1 litres per 100km

Price: R707 800

Warranty: Three-year/120 000km