Road Test

Seventh heaven

ne of the last new vehicles we travelled abroad to test in those dimly-remembered pre-Covid days was a new version of the Volkswagen Caravelle, in VW parlance the “T6.1” version. This was an extensively facelifted version of the familiar Transporter-based MPV – the closest market rival to the Mercedes-Benz V-Class, but still very much a panel van derivative, for all its two-tone paint and well-appointed interior.

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Mark Bursa

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Two years later, we’re in Frankfurt, looking at a “T7” Volkswagen MPV – but all is not as it seems. The Caravelle T6.1 had a very short run in the range, as the T7 replaces it – though the T6.1 Transporter van will be around for some time yet, until it is replaced by an all-new van range co-developed with Ford.

Finally, the need for joint ventures and scale economies have caught up with the two monoliths of the European van market – VW Transporter and Ford Transit – and from 2024, the two vans will share a platform. Already the VW Caddy and Ford Transit Connect are built on shared mechanicals.

But the T7 we’re driving here is not part of that collaboration. This is a pure VW product, with a distinct identity and a new name – Multivan. What it doesn’t have is a van version. Multivan is a passenger vehicle through and through, and its role is to provide a large MPV for the Volkswagen brand.

In this respect, it’s more of a replacement for the now-defunct Sharan and Touran MPVs rather than a Caravelle successor. And it’s not the only MPV lurking in Volkswagen’s future, with the ID.Buzz allelectric, retro-styled van due next year.

Volkswagen certainly sees some life in the MPV concept, which in the past decade has been eclipsed by the SUV as the main high-volume family transport in most car ranges. But VW’s board member responsible for sales and marketing Lars Krause said he thought the move toward electric vehicles would see a return to less aggressive shapes on the road, with the familiar MPV providing a “softer” environment.

Krause also believes the internal combustion engine’s demise has been overstated. The UK’s decision to end petrol and diesel sales by 2030 is seen at VW as political grandstanding, and only the Netherlands has adopted a similar stance. “This is not happening in Germany,” Krause said. “Volkswagen’s policy is to keep a foot in both camps. We will have a full electric range and a full conventional-engined range.”

Indeed, Krause feels the 2030 deadline might end up being extended, as the practical difficulties of an all-electric future become evident. He also points to developments in fuel technology, which could see “clean” petrol/diesel replacements that would give the IC engine a new lease of life. Indeed, VW is still working on Euro 7 petrol and diesel engines, to meet a standard due to be introduced in 2027. This work would be pointless if the technology is only going to have a three-year lifespan. Krause believes Euro 7 engines will be around for a lot longer than that.

Which brings us to the Multivan. It comes with petrol and diesel engines, but the model of interest to the UK private hire world is likely to be the plugin hybrid. PHEV means London-licensable, though sadly TfL’s intransigence over seven-seaters means even something as clean and modern will still be landed with a £15-a day-congestion charge bill.

Nevertheless it provides a high-quality sevenseater alternative, and one that can legitimately claim not to be a “van derivative”. It’s substantially lower than a T6.1 Caravelle – with an overall height of 1.90m, it’ll fit inside most multi-storey car parks, as well as offering much easier entry and egress for driver and passengers.

At launch there are three trim levels: Multivan, Multivan Life and Multivan Style. There are three powertrain choices: two petrol and one petrolelectric PHEV. The petrol choices are 1.5-litre 136PS or 2.0-litre 204PS, both with a 7‐speed DSG gearbox driving the front‐wheels. A 2.0-litre 150PS TDI is scheduled for 2022, though it’s probably not going to come to the UK.

The PHEV uses the powertrain of the Passat GTE, mating an even smaller 1.4-litre petrol engine to an electric motor, giving a 218PS system output, using a 6‐speed DSG box, again with front‐wheel drive. Pure electric range is around 30 miles on a full charge. The PHEV has a 13kWh lithium-ion battery mounted under the Multivan’s flat floor, saving interior space and lowering the vehicle’s centre of gravity to improve handling. The charging point is located on the right-hand side of the front wing.

The attractive two-tone paint that has been a feature of the Caravelle range for some time is carried across to the Multivan, and enterprising operators could actually adopt a “fleet” colour by specifying one of these – we particularly liked the black-over-red of the vehicle tested in the pictures. The “signature” launch colour is a silver-and-orange combo, and even single colour Multivans have a

data

price as tested

warranty ved £TBC TBC TBC

performance

powertrain 1.4-litre Petrol-electric PHEV transmission 6-speed DSG, FWD systempower 218PS systemtorque 350Nm 0-62mph 11.6sec

topspeed combinedfueleconomy 118mph TBC

co2 emissions electricrange (WLTP)

TBC 31 miles

dimensions

length width height wheelbase loadspace 5,173mm 1,941mm 1,903mm 3,124mm 763 litres

strong chrome trim line down the side, which has the effect of elongating the body.

The Multivan has three powertrains and comes in two lengths, both built on to the same wheelbase. The 200mm longer body extension is all loadspace behind the rear axle, though it also allows the third row of seats to be positioned further back, giving more legroom if the vehicle is being used as a shuttle without the need to carry lots of luggage. Luggage capacity, roof-high aft of the third row is boosted from 469 litres on the short-body Multivan to 763 litres on the stretched version.

While it’s not billed as a van, you can remove all the seats, which in long-body guise gives more than 4,000 litres of loadspace, giving flexibility to offer deliveries of bulky items if needed.

The seats are all individual captain’s chairs – there’s no rear bench option. Everything is mounted on sunken rails in the floor, leading to a very flexible interior that is simple to reconfigure – second and third-row seats can be set in conference layout, and there is a new version of the VW sliding table that we’ve seen in the Caravelle.

This slides back and forth and opens up into a full-width work surface, allowing two passengers to run laptops at the same time, for example. The flat floor has been made possible by dispensing with manual gearboxes and handbrakes – everything is now “by wire”.

The driver’s position is a big advance on previous VW MPVs, with a crystal-clear digital dashboard comprising two 10in screens. There’s also a headup display, a first for a VW commercial vehicle. The gearshift takes some finding – it’s a simple DRN switch placed high on the fascia between the screens. This allows easier access across the front cabin without intrusion.

The front cabin is a pleasant piece of styling too, with options including a “skater’s trails” formicastyle insert reminiscent of a 1950s diner, coupled with a choice of lighter, more airy colours rather than just the usual charcoal grey. An optional twopart panoramic glass roof allows plenty of natural light inside the car too.

It’s a surprisingly nimble drive for a relatively large vehicle. While there’s not a lot of steering feel, the turning radius is tight, great for narrow city streets. Multivan is based on the VW MQB platform, so in terms of footprint, it occupies roughly the roadspace of a Passat: 5,137mm long for the stretch-body version and 1,941mm wide, excluding wing mirrors. The lower stance makes for a more comfortable driving position, and especially on the PHEV, the low centre of gravity gives a feeling of stability at motorway speeds. Fuel economy is decent if not earth-shattering. We achieved 36.7mpg on a mainly urban, 80-mile test route at an average of 21mph. Not bad for a heavy MPV, though this did include an 80% battery charge. As there was still 275 miles of petrol range in the tank, the figure for a 350-mile drive would be worse unless you could top up the charge en route.

verdict

IN VOLKSWAGEN’S EYES, TALK OF PETROL AND DIESEL’S DEMISE IS PREMATURE. THE UK’S

decision to end sales of standard ICE engines cars in 2030 is seen as an outlier, not an indicator of pan-European policy. It’s certainly not on the agenda in Germany, and VW is bound to pay more heed to its domestic market than what it sees is Boris Johnson’s grandstanding in Brexit Britain. Thus vehicles such as the Multivan are still being developed and launched, as indeed are new Euro 7 petrol and diesel motors. Governments might make precipitous decisions, but car companies are more cautions, with good reason. And who’s to say that something won’t come along to force a U-turn on ICE? The government is no stranger to such manoeuvres. It’s a shame that the T7 wasn’t launched a little earlier – London operators are desperate for clean 7-seaters. However, TfL’s continued failure to listen to the industry about the need for a different approach on people-movers means this ultra-clean vehicle will be subject to C-charge if licensed as a London PHV. This might encourage London operators to wait until VW’s full-electric MPV hits the showrooms next year. But outside London, Multivan PHEV might offer a better bet, especially if you’re routinely doing longer daily mileages. It’s certainly a versatile and attractive vehicle, and we particularly like the availability of distinctive two-tone colour schemes. It’ll be available for UK delivery next March, and prices are expected to be in the £45,000- £55,000 region. Not cheap, but significantly less than the prestige market leader in the large MPV sector.