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Volkswagen Caddy 5 vs Volkswagen Transporter

What's the difference?

VS
Volkswagen Caddy 5
Volkswagen Caddy 5

$42,888 - $69,888

2023 price

Volkswagen Transporter
Volkswagen Transporter

$39,989 - $47,992

2021 price

Summary

2023 Volkswagen Caddy 5
2021 Volkswagen Transporter
Safety Rating

Engine Type
Turbo 4, 1.5L

Diesel Turbo 4, 2.0L
Fuel Type
Premium Unleaded Petrol

Diesel
Fuel Efficiency
6.4L/100km (combined)

7.5L/100km (combined)
Seating
2

3
Dislikes
  • No standard blind-spot monitoring (or rear cross-traffic alert)
  • Fiddly touchscreen
  • Poor engine-braking

  • No ANCAP rating
  • Small kerbside mirror
  • Noise levels at highway speeds
2023 Volkswagen Caddy 5 Summary

Australia’s small van class (under-2.5 tonne GVM) is a three-way fight between the Peugeot Partner, Renault Kangoo and Volkswagen Caddy Cargo.

All are well designed for light delivery work but in 2023 Germany’s sole contender enjoys a dominant lead over its French rivals.

Recent industry sales figures show the current Caddy 5 (or fifth-generation) range commands 74 per cent of sales. In other words, three out of every four new small vans sold in Australia are displaying a VW badge!

Clearly, the Caddy must be doing something (many things) right to maintain this level of dominance. We recently spent a working week with a petrol-powered Cargo, equipped with the latest MY23 safety upgrades, to find out why.

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2021 Volkswagen Transporter Summary

The VW Transporter has been in production for more than 70 years, as its bloodline can be traced back to the original rear-engine split-window ‘Kombi’ launched in 1950. So, during those seven decades, the German manufacturer has no doubt learned a thing or ten about building light commercial vans.

The current T-series of Transporters was launched in 1990, which was the first of six generations culminating in the current T6 range, that comprises not only work-focused vans but also people-mover, campervan and cab-chassis variants.

VW recently released a 6.1 version of vans and people-movers. That decimal point brings significant upgrades of standard safety equipment, headlined by City Emergency Brake (CEB), plus new variants. We recently put a Transporter 6.1 to work for a week and discovered a very capable mid-sized (2.5 to 3.5-tonne GVM) van with few flaws.

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Deep dive comparison

2023 Volkswagen Caddy 5 2021 Volkswagen Transporter

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