VW Caddy will move you
A BAKKIE NO MORE: NEW DIESEL VAN TAKES A FAMILY EVERYWHERE – FOR CHEAP
Model is not marketed as luxury number, but still has all the modcons.
For the past eight years I have been the owner and driver of a VW Caddy bakkie. Now this isn’t any normal Caddy, this bakkie contains my sweat and tears and, of course, I poured a lot of my hard-earned money into it. Why did I do this though? Because I love cars and I saw an opportunity to breathe some new life into an old rust bucket, so it could have many more happy kilometres on the road instead of going to the scrapyard.
So when I got the opportunity to test the 2022 VW Caddy Maxi, I was very excited to see what new life Volkswagen had breathed into the Caddy.
Of course a lot has changed with the Caddy. All that it has in common with my Caddy is the nameplate and the fact that it has four wheels. This is mainly because the Caddy is now more of a panel van/people mover, and no longer a bakkie.
So if you were hoping to move your buddy’s furniture in the new Caddy Maxi, you will definitely not be able to load his fridge in the back; but if you fold down all 7 seats, you will certainly be able to load it, along with all sorts of small appliances, boxes and suitcases.
The way the seats are designed to fold down are reminiscent of the VW Combi of the ’90s and if you fold all the seats down you would certainly be able to fit a double air mattress in the back, like my colleague Jaco proved to us.
When I got into the driver’s seat for the first time, the first thing I realised was that this Caddy is manual. Which was quite a shock because in recent years VW had been using an automatic gearbox and, boy, let me tell you, it took a while before I got used to that clutch. I must have stalled the engine at least 40 times.
The engine that this model had was a 2.0 tdi, which had more than enough power to pull this vehicle around, especially when you kept the turbo in boost, then she moved around town like a dream.
I have said it before and I will say it again, this diesel engine from VW is just magnificent. My consumption figures were amazing and it felt as though I just got so much more mileage because of using diesel instead of petrol. After my week with the car I was unable to finish the full tank I was given – I still sent it back with 270km of range, and I was by no means driving with consumption on my mind.
With the price of fuel at the highest we have seen in South Africa over the past few months the new
Caddy Maxi has already helped me make up my mind, that the next vehicle I buy will be a diesel so that I too can benefit from the joys of a longer-lasting fuel source.
Although this type of vehicle is not a luxury model, it still brings a level of sophistication with the added features such as hill assist, the Bluetooth media system with Android auto and Apple carplay. The park-assist features also make it much easier to park a car of this size. The interior reminds me alot of the VW Polo where some parts may have been shared amongst the two vehicles.
Overall, I rate this car high – my family loved it.