VOLKSWAGEN MULTIVAN
Better get comfy if you’re going on a TVR stakeout
WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT
To see if the latest VW ’bus has all of the charms of its predecessors
From one large empty volume to another. I was in the VW Multivan and in the area of the onceproposed TVR factory in Ebbw Vale so dropped by to see how it looked.
Last time I did, two years ago, it was definitely supposed to be the new factory and appeared abandoned. Now TVR isn’t necessarily the new occupier (on the gate they say they’ve “no idea” who it’ll be and the company said it’s still deciding where to go), but it looks spick and span.
And so back into the Multivan’s cavernous interior. Not factorysized, but it’s big enough for me not to see a half-finished milky cocoa left behind by a colleague and discovered only via its whiff some time later.
Airing the van out is just one practical use for being able to leave the sliding doors open, then closing them remotely via the fob. Electric doors add weight and in normal use don’t save time, but I appreciate the practicalities on a family wagon like this: you can open the doors up, then fill both your hands and load the car. Ditto hauling kit inside, then closing it up from your house.
Mostly, though, I’ve been in the Multivan on my own. I like the comfort: the driver’s seat has two folding armrests and the Harman Kardon audio system is among the best I’ve heard. I prefer to listen to music at home without the 60-odd DBA of superfluous noise that any car will give you (at various musicconflicting frequencies), but techies from Burmester tell me the interior environment matters: two-seat coupés, say, are worse than bigger interiors with more litres and seats to them. I wonder if the carpet/ glass/space combo of this Multivan gives it a particular advantage.
The Multivan has a car platform, but while it’s mostly car-like to drive, there are a few rattles and resonances that belie what’s behind that chilled driving position. I think it’s inevitable, given there are five seats and a unit and all of them can be removed or slid – at some point their mechanisms are going to chime in alongside an engine frequency. That it does this and has vast orifices yet doesn’t feel like a commercial vehicle is a success.
The ride and noise levels improve if you load it heavily, although on 235/55 R17 Bridgestone Turanzas, there’s always generous compliance to it that makes it a very relaxing drive for however long a trip you want to make it.