What Van? Britain's biggest and best van buyers' guide

4th Report

During its time on the What Van? fleet, the Volkswagen Multivan has proven its worth both as a versatile and luxurious people carrier and also, when called upon, as an effective load lugger.

But what’s it like for the person sitting behind the steering wheel?

I have now driven the Multivan in a variety of settings including city streets, A roads, B roads, motorways and country lanes, and the overall impression is favourable. 

With many new, battery-powered vans coming to market and with the vast majority of light commercial vehicles on the road being diesel, it stands to reason that most of the LCVs What Van? reviews are either electric or oil burners.

It makes a change, therefore, to spend so much time in a petrol-propelled vehicle such as the Multivan. One of the main differences compared to a diesel van is the much wider span in fuel consumption between urban and extra-urban driving. 

Out on the open road, the Multivan turns in mpg figures up in the high 30s but in busy city traffic this can fall to around 15mpg, despite the presence of a stop/start system that takes a while to kick in, particularly in cold weather. In a diesel van the gap between high and low consumption environments would be far narrower.

The driving experience itself is of a high standard across the board. With 204hp available there is always ample power on tap, meaning the Multivan can more than hold its own in the fast lane of the motorway. While VW’s seven-speed DSG transmission may have been around for a long time, it still stands up well against newer arrivals on the market, although Ford’s ten-speed auto installed in the Transit has raised the bar.

The steering is on the light side but reassuringly accurate, there is never a sense the Multivan will not travel in the direction you point it, even when pushed quite hard. 

Having said that, as befitting a vehicle of this size, the drive is relaxing and comfortable rather than dynamic, which makes me wonder why VW bothered to install gear shift paddles on either side of the sporty-looking, multifunction steering wheel. Far more useful and frequently used are the armrests on both sides of the driver’s seat. The front seat passenger and those in the second row of seats get them too. Heated front seats go without saying but particularly welcome during the March cold snap was the heated steering wheel, activated by a button on said steering wheel.

The Multivan is equipped with a wealth of ADAS to make life safer and easier for driver and passengers. Along with the likes of Side Assist with rear traffic alert, all-round sensors and an excellent rear view camera, the Multivan features adaptive cruise control and VW’s Travel Assist, which takes it some way towards autonomous driving by controlling speed, distance to the vehicle in front and even the steering function, although if the driver does not keep at least a light grip on the wheel a message soon appears in the dashboard reminding them to do so. Most of these systems work well and are without doubt helpful but I did find a stretch of the M3 with temporarily narrowed lanes  succeeded in confusing the Lane Assist function. 

The Park Assist function, activated by a button on the dashboard, finds parking spaces and then takes over the steering, leaving the driver to control brakes and accelerator, as it manoeuvres into the space. Aside from its initial novelty value this is useful in urban situations, although I have found the sensors can be prone to identify what it thinks are perpendicular spaces as well as parallel spaces in busy city streets when only the latter are available. 

Report card: Performance = 4/5