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The What Van? Road Test: Volkswagen Transporter Kombi (2018)
Date: Tuesday, October 30, 2018 | Author: Steve Banner
Engine and gearbox
Our demonstrator’s transversely mounted turbocharged four-cylinder 16-valve intercooled common-rail direct-injection diesel produces maximum power from 3,250-3,750rpm.
Top torque of 340Nm makes its presence felt across a broad 1,500-3,000rpm plateau.
A diesel particulate filter is fitted plus a 13.0-litre AdBlue tank, which will usually need topping up at around 4,500 miles.
A six-speed manual gearbox is standard on this model with the superb seven-speed semi-auto dual-clutch Direct Shift Gearbox an option.
Driving
With 150hp on tap performance is not an issue. The Edition accelerates strongly away from rest, surges happily through the gears and contentedly rolls along at the maximum legal motorway speed – even with a bit of weight on board. Life is made easier by the gearbox’s slick change, which allows you to get the best out of the engine.
The In-cab noise levels are comfortably low, and wind noise is only really noticeable at maximum motorway speeds.
Drawbacks? The steering is over-assisted, which means its handling is not as sharp as it could be. Furthermore, the ride is too firm to be able to cope with pock-marked road surfaces with equanimity. As a consequence you feel too many bumps for comfort.
We can forgive the VW Transporter most things, however, given its exemplary build quality. Giving the impression that it has been carefully sculpted out of a solid block of metal, it neither squeaks nor groans nor rattles. All in all, it feels built to last forever – which helps explain why residual values are invariably healthy.
Our model’s combined official fuel economy figure is 45.6mpg. We were achieving around 43.0mpg over a mixture of motorway, A-road and city centre routes.
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