VW Caddy

Potentially looking at getting one of these (new or very near new) for a work van for my new employee.
Are they any good?
Do they have any common faults to look out for?

Any information is appreciated.
Thanks

I drive one as part of a community shuttle service. It is a 7 seater diesel with 6 speed DSG. It does drive every nicely and very economical. It has travelled 50000 ks so far, Other drivers say similar however a couple of them have experienced some transmission slip however I have not. It i serviced regularly but not by VW dealership as one not available in our area. I believe that the transmission is not due for service until 65000 ks. It is basically a Golf but in people mover or Van style. Personally I would have gone for a Japanese people mover as there is many bad stories around the DSG transmission or go for a manual shifter

Yes being new it will be under warranty anyway, also big depreciation, other than that should be good.

http://www.productreview.com.au/p/volkswagen-caddy-2005-present.html

Jeesh. Even the average Greek punter has nicer things to say about the Fatherland.

Wow don't like those reviews. A lot of different problems there. I won't be buying one of those. Terrible such a modern vehicle can have so many problems.

Thanks for the replies so far, my research so far says avoid the DSG (limp mode issues and catastrophic failure issues) and diesel (injector issues), my preference is petrol manual anyway.
Other than that I cant find much in the way of common faults and don't know much about the 1.2 tsi motor.

vivac, what you probably don't realise is that this forum features the same group of trolls every time who just rubbish anything European with the same nonsense complaints. They dig up any bad press they can find and parade it around like clowns at a circus.

It's a crying shame as real people like yourself trying to make expensive and important decisions don't realise this is going on unless the take a considerable amount of time to research the history of similar posts on this board.

For what it's worth, as someone who has owned, serviced and repaired a number of Golf based vehicles. They are phenomenal cars. The DSG is a fantastic transmission with the wet clutch 6 speed having been in production for well over a decade now, and I think it's a fair assumption to say the DSG is likely the most popular automatic transmission in the world. They are very robust, ultra efficient and a real joy to use. I wouldn't have a manual one over the DSG in any application. The DSG also has a 5 year 150K warranty (just check this applies to commercial applications if that is you, but I would expect so)

The Diesels are also great engines, as are the TSI motors. The TSI is effectively a Diesel engine with spark plugs in terms of design, so don't fool yourself in to thinking you are getting a simpler or more reliable engine. Both options are good. Both options have similar ultra high pressure injector setups.

What I would be concerning myself with is choosing one that has been properly serviced, run on the correct fuel, not run on biofuel blends (in my opinion) and continue with the servicing EXACTLY by the book including using the CORRECT vw fluids.

Do that and your chances of reliability are excellent.

BTW, correct fuel for any TSI engine means BP Ultimate 98, if no 98 is available then the next best thing is 95. Never ever run 91 and in my opinion especially not biofuel. The owners manual may say different but this is my advice having run these vehicles, pulled them apart and having a good understanding of their design principles.

If you want to understand the nuts and bolts as to why the fuel is so important or what I mean by the diesel and petrol engines being equally complicated just ask. If I have the time I will go in to it for you.

Best of luck with it all.

Question is do you have a vw specialist workshop you trust? because what ever you buy you need a shop repairer whom knows what they are doing
There is so much different electronics on modern cars and only factory capable scanners and people whom know the engine managment designes or who can work it out from looking at what is on a car and whats on a wiring diagramm will be capable to repair it correctly no matter what make it is.
If its a caddy a combo opel a renault kangoo essentially these all will do the same thing but if you dont have a shop to repair it correctly you will be having no vehicle sooner or later for weeks or months with 1000s of $ in repair bills for stuff that is not even faulty on the vehicle.
Short trips = only buy a petrol.
Personally id favour a opel-holdon badged combo its essentially a berina-holden-opel corsa with a box on the back .
but it just depends whom you have for servicing . toyota fun cargo is also a option if you only have somone who knows toyota diagnostics. tis-techstream is the oem toyota scanner if they dont have that or a launch -tech etc . also close to factory capable on toyotas.
if they tell you we dont need all this we can do without this then find a better shop quick-smart. Because no one can diagnose anything without a factory level scanner and extensive engine managment knowhow on 2005 onwards vehicles including toyotas its way to complext to start guessing on any of these.

I object to you staing that all who have different opinion to you is a troll. I have never trolled in my life unlike yourself who has a one track diatribe. VW themselves have acknowledge proplems with DSG and have in many cases have extended the warranty on them to pacify purchasers of them . There are thousands of threads throughout the internet vilifying some of ther products. They all cant be wrong or would be trolls but from personal experience. Personally I own both a Euro (not a VW but a Ford) and a japanese car and very happy with them both.

That's no problem, since I never stated such a thing.

Actually, I thought yours was the one decent post up until that point. Pity you have ruined that now.

Vivac, My feeling is that you are far too sensible to buy one of those vehicles for your business.