Volkswagen Caddy vs Mercedes-Benz V-Class

What's the difference?

The venerable VW Caddy was launched in 1979 and after five generations and more than four decades of service, it remains one of the world’s most popular range of small vans.

In Australia’s light-commercial vehicle market, the Caddy’s work-focused Cargo model competes in the small van (under 2.5-tonne GVM) segment against the Renault Kangoo and Peugeot Partner.

The VW range offers Cargo (SWB), Cargo Maxi (LWB) and Crewvan (LWB) models with a unique choice of petrol/diesel engines and manual/auto transmissions.

We recently revisited this German workhorse to find out why it remains such a strong seller in Australia from a business perspective.

The Mercedes-Benz V-Class van isn’t made for ferrying parcels from point to point. No, even though it is based on the Vito courier van, the V-Class is all about human cargo.

And let’s be clear, here: we’re not talking about chucking people in the back and hoping they get to their destination without cracks or breakages. This is a luxury van made to move people in comfort and style, with all the trimmings you’d expect of a vehicle bearing the three-pointed star badge.

So, is it any good? I played hire-car driver to find out.