Volkswagen Caddy 1.6 TDI Black Edition – Long Term Test Month 5

THE final month of Caddy ownership finishes the way it started with last-minute miles added to the Volkswagen CV’s odometer- and a trip near Volkswagen UK’s headquarters for the launch of our van’s replacement – the Mk4 Caddy. Driving the all-new Caddy almost felt like cheating with your best-mate’s girlfriend, after five months with the Caddy Black. The good news for current Volkswagen Caddy owners is that there’s not a gulf of difference between how the Mk3 and Mk4 drive, but with added polish.

The Mk4 Caddy models we drove were really early vans, so none could compare to the hi-spec of our special edition van. However, the Bluemotion model has a good selection of standard kit, such as the touchscreen radio with DAB (really wish ours had that!) and the dashboard design looks more Golf-like, even if the plastics still aren’t quite up to car standards. The new Caddy highlighted why we’ve really appreciated the Black Edition’s full bulkhead, as the van we drove had a half one and all we could hear was the din being created in the empty load area. On top of the new interior, Caddy 4 features lots of clever safety kit, that’s also been raided from Volkswagen passenger cars. These include Automatic Post-Collision braking, front and curtain airbags, Electronic Stability Control and ABS. Volkswagen kindly let us park our Mk3 with a black Mk4 at the launch, to get some pictures and check out the exterior differences.