- Doors and Seats
4 doors, 2 seats
- Engine
2.0DT, 4 cyl.
- Engine Power
103kW, 340Nm
- Fuel
Diesel 8.2L/100KM
- Manufacturer
FWD
- Transmission
Auto (DCT)
- Warranty
3 Yr, Unltd KMs
- Ancap Safety
NA
2018 Volkswagen Transporter TDI340 review
Having invented the one-box van way back in 1950 with the original Kombi, Volkswagen has a rich heritage to uphold, not to mention a reputation for quality.
The latest T6 Transporter lands with a slight premium price tag but its intentions are clear with the longest load area of this group and plenty of room everywhere else.
For those who like to access the load area from the cabin, the VW is the only one of this lot that offers such an arrangement in as-tested form.
The VW T6 has a semi-trailing link, coil-sprung rear axle and is front-wheel-drive.
- Rational, comfortable driving position.
- Relatively low noise levels.
- Walk-through layout.
- Engine vibrations under load.
- Laggy dual-clutch transmission.
- Hard plastics in cabin.
What does it cost?
As tested here with its optional reversing camera, heavy-duty suspension and rubber mat for the load floor (with an illuminated step) the VW tips the dollar-scales at $44,920.
The factory warranty is a competitive three-years but has the bonus of being of unlimited kilometres; a real consideration in vehicles that work for a living every day of the week.
VW’s fixed-price servicing over those same three-years should cost $545 per service.
Service intervals are every 12 months or 15,000km the latter of which is a lot shorter than some of the competition.
What are the standout features?
The element that sets the Volkswagen apart from the competition here is its walk-through layout.
That enables the driver to reach the cargo area without leaving the vehicle which is great on rainy days and could, in some situations, be considered a personal security measure.
It does, however, leave the occupants without a solid barrier between them and the load on board.
A nice touch is the roof lining in the cargo bay as recognition of the entire interior being one space.
How comfortable and convenient is it?
Our test car was fitted with an optional reversing camera but the screen on which it’s displayed is tiny and difficult to see compared with the others here.
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You do get Bluetooth and USB connectivity, but AppConnect is an extra-cost option as is navigation.
The two seats are comfy, but obviously, the lack of a third pew will be an issue for some operators.
And while the cabin has a distinctive, if somewhat generic, VW look about it, when you actually feel it, the magic disappears with lots of hard plastic touch points.
How safe is it?
When some of the cheaper alternatives here have standard reversing cameras, it’s a bit hard to fathom why VW charges extra for the same thing.
But you do get front and rear parking sensors and the basic driver aids such as stability control and traction-control.
That said, you can forget about autonomous braking or the more sophisticated driver-assist systems such as blind-spot monitoring or rear-cross-traffic alert.
There are six air bags and the T6 has not yet been given a score on the basis of independent crash-testing.
Drivetrain and performance
The T6 has a turbo-diesel engine with stop-start technology and 103kW of power and 340Nm of torque.
The seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox is VW’s wet-clutch design which has proven much more robust than the dry-clutch variant used in some of the brand’s passenger cars.
Thanks partly to the inherent efficiency of that transmission, the T6 scores a combined fuel economy figure of 7.7 litres per 100km and the vehicle has an 80-litre fuel tank.
Space, practicality and payload
As well as having just a single sliding side-door, the T6 also misses out on barn doors at the rear.
Instead, it gets a huge, single door which is hinged at the top, making forklift loading and unloading more difficult.
The tie-down system is excellent and the load area is one of the best finished of our test group.
Again, the walk-through feature is interesting, but limits the vehicle to just two occupants.
How does it drive?
Engine noise is well controlled in the T6, but that doesn’t stop a couple of resonant patches occurring as the vehicle accelerates hard from rest.
A bigger problem is a level of delay in the transmission that manifests as a feeling of a time-lag between putting your foot down and having the vehicle obey the command.
Performance otherwise is more than adequate, even when the 850kg test load was placed on board.
But even with the optional heavy-duty suspension of our test van, the load did make the VW’s rear end 'pogo' a little over bigger bumps.
Verdict
The VW T6 offers the walk-through layout that the others here can’t match (in as-tested form) but in other ways it doesn’t really seem to move the game along.
In fact, you could argue that some important things are missing (a standard reversing camera, for instance) and the more cutting-edge things like autonomous braking that we’ve come to expect from VW as a brand.
But disregarding that baggage, there’s plenty to work with here if the single side-door and single-piece tailgate don’t compromise the end result in your particular circumstances.