What's the news?
Volkswagen Commercial Vehicle has unveiled its new Caddy van, which will be available in both commercial and passenger versions. The new model will feature even more safety-related systems than before with the passenger version of the Caddy from Trendline specification featuring side and curtain airbags as standard. Another standard feature is cruise control, which also incorporates a speed limiter and, around town, the City Emergency Braking helps to prevent collisions at lower speeds up to 30 km/h.
Exterior
In what is very much an evolution of the outgoing Caddy design, the new model comes with sharper lines and a front-end style that is in keeping with the Volkswagen passenger car division. The new grille design flows into the headlight units, which themselves feature design elements that carry back along the van's wings in what is, overall, a cohesive style. At the rear, a new, sharper looking tailgate echoes the clearly defined lines that appear at the front.
The Caddy will come in two body styles as before, with the short version built on a wheelbase of 2,681mm, while the Caddy Maxi wheelbase is 3,006mm. The cargo space in the standard Caddy measures 1,781mm in length and 1,257mm in height. Although the images shown here only depict the single door tailgate, there will be twin doors offered both with and without windows. These open to 90 degrees and open further to 180 degrees by unlatching the rear door hinges.
Interior
Both the commercial and passenger variants of the new Caddy will get unique dashboard designs, which are more in line with the needs of each type of customer. Buyers will have the option of ordering a reversing camera that is compatible with the Composition Colour, Composition Media and Discover Media navigation systems.
There are plenty of storage areas dotted throughout the cabin, including in the door panels, between the seats and under the centre console. The passenger version is available with up to seven seats, which can also be folded down flat, or removed in some cases, in order to accommodate bulkier cargo items. The five-seat Caddy is capable of carrying a luggage capacity of up to 2,850 litres, while the seven-seat Caddy Maxi, which is 47cm longer overall, can swallow up to 3,700 litres. Removing the second row of seats increases cargo capacity to 3,030- and 3,880 litres respectively.
Mechanicals
Volkswagen will offer a range of new engines in the Caddy comprising of four diesel and four petrol options. The entry-level diesel will be the 75hp 2.0-litre four-cylinder, followed by a 102hp version. A highly fuel efficient version of this engine goes into the Caddy BlueMotion, which has an official combined fuel consumption figure of 4.2 litres/100km and emissions of 109g/km.
A more powerful 122hp diesel engine may be of interest to those who find themselves regularly carrying heavier loads, however this engine is only offered in the all-wheel drive Caddy 4Motion. There will also be a range-topping diesel with 150hp. All of the diesel engines offered are EU6 compliant and use Volkswagen's AdBlue system.
Although they are unlikely to be of as much interest in the Irish market, Volkswagen's range of petrol engines for the Caddy will start with a 1.2-litre four-cylinder TSI unit producing 84hp. Moving up from that will be a three-cylinder 1.2 TSI engine that produces 102hp, although this engine will not be introduced until the latter end of 2015.
Anything else?
The new Volkswagen Caddy will go on sale later this year, with the bulk of vehicles expected to begin arriving in early September. Pricing is still to be confirmed although sources have suggested that the new models should carry only a marginal price increase of between one and two per cent over existing prices.