Coming for to Caddy you home

For me, a true MPV is a car that has the capacity to carry more than the standard five people. For some there are compromises around that, but the essence of the name is in the M or multi. Volkswagen has adopted its Caddy van to a life as an MPV in a new incarnation called the Caddy Maxi Life. This is a factory developed conversion with big specification changes over the van version and it"s based on the long wheelbase Volkswagen Caddy van. This van is 470mm longer than the standard Caddy van and this extra space is put to good effect in this new people carrier. The target for any MPV is seating capacity with room for the luggage. And Volkswagen hits the target well. The Caddy Maxi Life is a seven-seat MPV with more ample leg-room in the rear than most of the other seven-seat units on the market. The rear row of seats gives reasonable leg-room, there is excellent leg-room in the mid-row and there is good enough space, too, for the bags in the space behind that. So, the Caddy Maxi Life obviously delivers when it comes to space. The second MPV requirement is one of comfort. The seating is classically Volkswagen, firm but not too hard. The driver"s seat adjustment is good and, combined with good steering wheel adjustment, it is easy to get comfortable behind the wheel. The seat positions give good visibility. There is ample headroom to give a comfortable atmosphere with a full load on board. The rear seats are not for easy removal, as you might find in some of the other more compact MPVs, these are bolted to the floor. The Caddy comes with sliding side doors for good, wide access and you value sliding doors once you start to enter a regular car park area. These doors come with a child-lock system. Once inside, the middle row folds forward for access to the rear seats in a simple process. For extra load carrying, the rear seats fold forward but not flat to the floor, limiting, in some ways, the load-carrying ability when you are passenger-free. Additional comfort is provided by a great supply of storage areas. There are side-pockets for each seat section plus, along the top side panels and overhead the driver and front passenger area. The rear tailgate is big and could be a shade heavy. It opens up with a slight effort and has the advantage as doubling as a shelter and that was put to good use during my wet August test drive. The Caddy Maxi Life comes with comes with a relatively high specification for creature comfort. This car is designed to appear to both MPV-buyers and the commercial taxi market where passenger comfort is important in both cases. That"s why the higher standard specification of the Caddy Maxi Life includes 'Climatic" semi-automatic air-conditioning, electric front windows, carpet, sliding windows and childlocks on both sliding side doors, four luggage nets in the roof lining and a 12v socket in the luggage area. There are two engine options for the Caddy Maxi Life, either a 1.9 litre or 2.0 litre turbo-diesel. The entry model 1.9 litre turbo-diesel unit delivers 104bhp plus plenty of torque at 250Nm. That"s enough power to drive the Caddy Maxi Life to achieve a zero-to-100km/hr speed-rating in just over 13 seconds. That"s a shade slower than the performance of the Ford Galaxy with an equivalent engine. The Caddy MPV delivers a good economy level at 6.3 litres/100km (about 43mpg). That"s impressive for a vehicle that carries a lot of weight before you even pack in the passengers. The Caddy starts with a kerb weight of around 1.7 tonnes and it has an impressive towing rating of 1.5 tonnes with a braked trailer. The entry price for the Caddy Maxi Life is €27,070 before delivery charges. That"s more expensive than the smaller van conversions based on the Fiat Doblo and Citroen Berlingo, but the Caddy Maxi Life offers more in terms of space, comfort and features. At the other end of the price spectrum, the Caddy Maxi Life offers better value than the seven seat Citroen Picasso or the Ford Galaxy, all of which are close to or over the €40,000 price range. So, for the Caddy Maxi Life value is real; the comfort is good and the performance very acceptable for what is a big-capacity people carrier. Finally, on aesthetics the Caddy Maxi Life looks well looks well; its van heritage is not that obvious while its value is.