Test Drive: VOLKSWAGEN Caddy Kombi 1.9 TDI 4Motion - 2009 - "New Cars Collection"

Soon after releasing what was going to become its official trademark through the upcoming three decades, the Golf, Volkswagen made a bold move and entered the North American market, in 1978. No European automaker had produced a single model/vehicle in the United States since Rolls-Royce in the 1920s, yet Volkswagen had taken the chance with their successful MK1 Golf. However, the model was not introduced under its European name, but as the Volkswagen Rabbit.

Enfolding on the US public’s needs, the New Stanton plant in Pennsylvania introduced the pick-up truck variant of the Rabbit two years later. The new model was based on the same A1 platform as the MK1 Rabbit and would be later known in Europe as the Volkswagen Caddy. The first 3 years of production – in the US – were not controversy free, as the North American factory chose to use cheap materials for interior trims and decided to soften the suspensions in an effort to both reduce production costs and bring the pick-up truck to American-like demands.

The German representatives of Volkswagen decided to intervene immediately in the production process and the situation was rectified starting with the 1983 year model. It was in the same 1982 year that the Rabbit pickup made its debut on the European market, as the new Volkswagen Caddy. It continued to be produced and sold in the US as the Rabbit Pick-up, as the term “Caddy” could have been mistaken by the American public for the slang terms for Cadillac motor car division.

In Europe, the Caddy was based at Volkswagen’s plant TAS in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia & Herzegovina, until 1992. Of course, this was only the first of the four models that were to retain the Caddy badge through the upcoming decades. Following Volkswagen's taking over of Skoda and Seat in the upcoming decade, the Caddy was built on the platforms of Skoda Felicity Utility and Seat Ibiza, although the latter was mostly sold in Latin America.

Finally, the model appeared with a much-improved exterior and interior design during the 2003 RAI Commercial Vehicle Show in Amsterdam. The new generation Caddy, borrowing several modules from the Golf MK5 and Touran models, was introduced with an initial panel van body style. One year later, Volkswagem Comercial Vehicles decided to add a new body to its Caddy range, a 7-seat passenger version called Life (which later featured a Maxi version, presented during the 2007 Frankfurt Motor Show, benefiting from a longer wheelbase).

As far as our tested model is concerned, the new Caddy 4Motion was introduced by Volkswagen at the 2008 IAA Commercial Vehicle Show in Hannover. The revised Caddy now featured Haldex four-wheel-drive for the first time, available for Van, Kombi and Life configurations. The model's high points, as announced by the German manufacturer, were the better stability at high speed, improved maneuverability in difficult terrain conditions and lower fuel consumption.

The Caddy we've decided to test was a Kombi 4Motion, benefiting from the proven 105 PS-worth 1.9 TDI engine, coupled to a 6-speed manual gearbox.

In terms of exterior look, the Caddy 4Motion doesn't show that many changes as compared to the 2005-launched model. It's still a combination of styling cues between the Volkswagen Golf Mk5 and Volkswagen Touran (to which it resembles the most), featuring several aerodynamic elements.

As before, the windshield of the car is more horizontal, aiming to improve visibility. The side windows between the A and the B pillars are comprised of two parts: a small section linking the A-pillar to the side mirrors and the second part, your regular side windows. What this does is both help the driver feel like he's not being robbed of a significant part of his visibility angle and make the car look nicer, more visual-correspondent to the outside world.

The single sliding door, on the passenger side of the car, doesn't bring many clues on what is the particular target of the Caddy Kombi. If it was a people carrier, it was supposed to have sliding doors on both sides of the car. On the other hand, a load-carrier Caddy 4Motion wouldn't have necessitated rear-side and rear windows (which, by the way, make for a good visual effect while slightly tinted).

As compared to the panel van configuration of the Caddy, the rear door is hatch-style, a common feature for family-orientated MPVs.

To be honest, the car's exterior styling didn't gave us many discussion topics, as it's rather unattractive and boring. But then again, despite the slight modifications targeting the creation of a properly-designed people-carrier, the Caddy Kombi 4Motion is, in fact, a van. Us calling it a beautifully-curved piece of machinery would simply be nonsense.

There are plenty of things to talk about in terms of the car's interior. First of all, there is the slightly-common and rather classic dashboard, featuring only the basic buttons: semi-automatic duel climate control, radio/CD player (which, by the way, was aftermarket in our case) and... well, that's practically it. Nonetheless, it makes for some decent ergonomics from the driver's point of view, as all placed at plain sight and quite easy to reach.

Sir May B. Bach's Opinion

Sometimes I feel like you guys are just... ahem... trying to pull my leg. What is this Volkswagen Caddy 4Motion... ahem... thing? All I can see is a German piece of … ahem... you know what, with a clear case of schizophrenia. Let's just digest its name for a minute. So... ahem... it's actually a “people's car” which thinks it's a pimpin' “Cadillac” and... ahem... it's built “for moving”. Are you kidding me?
Read more >>

In terms of fuel consumption, the new Caddy doesn't have a much improved economy in the city. Although is now features the 4th generation 4Motion all-wheel-drive system, the car continues to behave as a front-wheel-drive vehicle in the city, where difficult terrain and bad road conditions (to trigger the function of the all-wheel-drive system) are hardly the case.

Lou Cheeka's Opinion

The Volkswagen Caddy 4Motion is one of those cars. The kind which I most definitely miss since I moved across the ocean, in search of the land of opportunity. By the way, everyone said that this land is somewhere in America, but I can't seem to pin-point it exactly. Do you have any hints? No? Oh well, back to this German Caddy.
Read more >>

The first indicator telling us that the Caddy 4Motion wasn't built for the open road was its overall petite size. The second indicator, which was also the dead giveaway, is the car's shape. Or should we say aerodynamics. We don't possess any official drag coefficient numbers, bust considering the amount of wind noise it creates at speeds exceeding 80-100 km/h (50-60 mph), it shouldn't be a very slippery vehicle.

Mary's Opinion

Even if it not easy for me to say it, this is a car that makes me feel ashamed for being a Volkswagen fan for so long. To be honest, I have always appreciated the vehicles designed by the German automaker but this one is the greatest disappointment ever. I have never felt that disappointed in my life since... my cat scratched my Naf Naf dress when I was 15. Read more >>

Do we really need to? When we first set foot into the car, we admit it wasn't such a bad feeling. As far as the driver is concerned, the driving position is not bad at all, as he has the adjustable seat and steering wheel to make use of (unfortunately, both manual) in order to secure a comforting drive. Heated seats are available, only not present on the model tested by us, and would add to the driver's comfort.

Also on the good side, we should add the adjustable front passenger seat and the considerable amount of space for both front and rear passenger. The rear seats are placed at a considerable height, thus improving the passenger visibility.

However, the model we tested did not benefit from grab handles for the rear passengers. In case you find that odd, know that the driver DOES have one, in case he might need it for keeping his balance while driving...

Also, the modifications brought to the rear suspension for the accommodation of the Haldex all-wheel-drive system makes it unbearable to sit in the back. Every little bump on the road turns into a baby-earthquake – and we're really far from exaggeration – due to its jumpy configuration. Imagine you want to take a few friends for a short trip to the mountains during a sunny weekend. Better take our word for it and change your mind quickly, in case you don't want them to hit the doctor's office for back pains afterwards.

Also on the downside, we couldn't help noticing that the glove compartment is not closed. It actually resembles an usual door storage compartment, only featuring less depth that usual. Often you might find that some of your stuff will be thrown down the floor, given the suspension package we've been telling you about in the aforementioned paragraph.

The undisputed news about the new Caddy is the 4th generation 4 Motionall-wheel-drive system. Being the first ever Caddy model to benefit from all-wheel-drive, the new Caddy can now successfully tackle the difficult off-road conditions, and our tests were pretty convincing of its effectiveness.

The use of the four generation Haldex coupling came at the expense of several technical modifications at the rear section of the car. First of all, in order to accommodate the 4Motion system, Volkswagen had to revise its exhaust system, fuel tank and rear shaft. In day-do-day traffic, the 4WD system usually turns into a front-wheel-drive one, as the road conditions don't require traction on all four wheels.

In off-road or other extreme road conditions such as these, the power is distributed to all four wheels and, in case needed, the system could turn the Caddy into a rear-wheel-drive vehicle.

Volkswagen chose not to replace their classic not-benefiting-from-common-rail-technology 1.9 TDI unit, aiming to keep fuel consumption down to a minimum (we'd assume quite logically). Hopefully, they'll make the transition to a more developed TDI plant in the near future, as it would boost the car's performances and help with that annoying noise we've been telling you about earlier on. Coupled to the 1.9 TDI is a 6-speed manual transmission, nothing special about that.

In terms of power steering, the Caddy features the same Servotronic system as implemented in the Golf, making it easier/lighter for the driver to steer at low speed and giving it a more direct feel at high speed. Also standard are the remote central locking with an alarm immobilizer and anti-tow.

We have to admit we really have to push the line in order to get something on paper here. But you can't really blame Volkswagen for that, as this is hardly a family-purposed car. If it were the Life model, they would have had some explaining to do, but from a Kombi that's usually used for carrying loads and rarely some people on the rear bench, high-tech gadgetry is not something one would expect.

Now that we've got that out the way, we still need to rate the Caddy on the “Useful Toys” category. However, the aftermarket audio/MP3 player did not help much. Nor did the poor configuration of buttons on the dashboard, whose purpose was only to control the semi-automatic dual climate control and defogging system.

Our Caddy was also equipped with a standard trip computer, controlled via the windshield wiper knob.

In order to preserve space in the back of car, the German manufacturer opted for a TireFit kit instead of your usual spare tire. The kit is comprised of a foam spray and an air compressor – either electric or manual – and is used to cover the holes in the tire for approximately 100 kilometers (62 miles). The spray is inserted into the tire through the tire valve and, while pumped in, attaches itself to the inner walls of the tire, sealing the holes.

The only disadvantage of the TireFit kit is that, once used, it has to be replaced. Other than that, it's great for saving space and also time while experiencing a flat tire on the road.

Here's where it gets tricky. The 2007 Caddy Life – passenger configuration of the new Caddy – scored a decent 4 stars at the EuroNCAP crash tests, including a 12.5 score for front occupants and 15 for the rear passengers. However, the Caddy 4Motion we've tested only benefited from front airbags for the driver and passenger (lacking side body airbags).

That can only lead to two conclusions. Firstly, the score for front impact might feature an improved figure when talking about the driver's side, as the left-hand side doesn't have a rear door like the Caddy Life (making it more compact in case of impact). Secondly, the rating for side impact will most likely be affected by the lack of side airbags. Either way, we can't possibly find a reasonable explanation why Volkswagen chose not to equip the Caddy 4Motion with standard side airbags.

On the good side, the new Caddy features standard Electronic Stability Programme (ESP) – which can be disabled via a central console button in front of the gear knob – as well as ABS, ASR and MSR systems.

Also new on the Caddy is the Hill Hold Assist, a function that we didn't get to test much since it wasn't part of the test-drive package we were offered.

At the end of the day, we didn't really figure out why Volkswagen launched a Kombi version for their Caddy anyway. With the risk of repeating ourselves, this particular version is neither an all-time player on the load-carrier market (the panel van seems more appropriate for that role) nor a family car (the Life surely covers that area in a more fashionable manner).

Reasons why one would buy this car certainly relate to its new 4Motion system, aimed to provide some feeling of certainty in difficult road conditions. Needless to say, the new Caddy 4Motion does very well in off-road and, as noisy as its engine is at high speed, provides better stability. Also the ESP is a very valuable asset for every driver out there and, although most of the car makers equip their models with ESP nowadays, it's still a high point for Volkswagen for including the system on their standard feature list.

On the downside, however, we couldn't keep ourselves from noticing that you don't get to talk much to a potential passenger at high speed, because of the noisy powerplant. Apart from the lower fuel consumption, we cannot find a perfect good reason why Volkswagen chose not to update their 1.9 TDI unit for the revised Caddy. It's old, noisy and soon to be discontinued by the German carmaker. So why use it in the eleventh hour?

The poor comfort, at least for the people sitting in the back, has already been covered in our “Feed me lies” section. Needless to say, you don't want to carry people in the back of your Caddy 4Motion unless you'll drive on perfect road or want to make enemies out of them.

All in all, we want to assure the Caddy enthusiasts that they will not be very disappointed with the revised model. After all, Volkswagen did bring some slight improvements to it, the 4Motion being the most significant of the pack, with our sole annotation that they could have done a lot better.