Caddy Life Camper

[Wino]

I went out and test drove some cars yesterday .. my wifes Bora is nearing the end of it's lease.
She really liked the turbo forester she had before the Bora .. so I test drove some similar cars.. prices are what I was told after asking for a drive away price

Mazda CX-7.. bottom of the pile... turbo lag, poorly timed shifts , vauge steering (great seats and interior space, but the dash is a love it/hate it ..futuristic type thing .. not bad value $44k

Forester XT luxury... great little car, but just not refined enough (rattles and squeaks, road and wind noise) and the seats are just terrible ... pricey for a small car @ $48k

Territory Turbo ..best of these three... I had driven a standard territory before and hated it.. it felt like a boat and the brakes were awful .. the turbo is a different animal though.. felt like a grownup forester .. alot of fun to drive.. maybe too much fun.. and it sucks down the fuel in a major way .. think about an average of 20L/100km !!! and only has a 74L tank (my wife travels about 400km per week).. and they're very keen to sell them.. priced at $52k ... I got the feeling they'd drop it well under $50k without much trouble

This was all on a Thursday and all the dealerships were quiet.. deserted ... except for the VW dealer .. they were flat out!

I took my 8yo Daughter along for the day.. and she she straight away wanted to look at the VW Caddy Camper ... so together we took it from standard "car" mode to the full camper setup .. installed the tent .. had a little lay down in the bed .. all on our own it was very easy.

Now we've bought 3 brand new Vw's from this place (Lennocks) and they treat us very well and this is a prime example .. the sales guy says to me.. why don't you just take the caddy home and drop it back at the end of the day tomorrow (Friday) and if the detailing guys aren't busy they'll slot the Bora in so it's nice and clean when you drop the caddy back.... that's good.. no, great customer service!

So myself and 8yo Daughter get our gear out of the bora and jump in the Caddy Life Camper (1.9 Tdi DSG and a few extras above standard) and head off (we live outside of Canberra, about 40km of country roads.

About the car, plenty of go outa the little engine and the gearbox works very well.. I was surprised at how well it handled and that it's pretty quiet on the road. The stereo system sucks balls the head unit is fine.. just crappy sound from too few speakers.

Seats are good and comfortable .. although I'm going to miss the bora leather/heated seats .. the kids are all comfortable in the back, plenty of room and they loved playing with the sunroof!

The folded bed takes up alot of the rear space.. so to get full use out of the camper aspect I'd install roof mounted storage (Thule) and you'd have plenty of space for a summer weekend at the coast. And I'd remove the bed (easy to do) for week-in, week-out use.

some random stuff

• storage bags that hang in the rear window are great, quite alot of storage and they're well made, quality items
• this one had the darkest tint on the rear windows
• sliding doors are awsome for kids, they can operate them no problem and they don't bash them into other cars
• the 6stack CD is in the centre console.. I'm not sure that it's such a good idea .. it's a car made for traveling .. please VW put a decent sound system in it!

I didn't discuss price as I will prob want some extras fitted .. but I'd say $45k will be close to the mark. My wife and Daughters all love the car, they keep saying things like "cute" and "fun" although it'll never be accused of being "pretty" it dose have a certain character that grows on you.

[phaeton]

I'd love a Caddy Life Camper

Seems like your family have good choices in vehicles Wino

Would you get the colour coded bumper package ? (looks nicer IMO)

[Wino]

I'd love a Caddy Life Camper

Seems like your family have good choices in vehicles Wino

Would you get the colour coded bumper package ? (looks nicer IMO)

no, won't bother with the bumper.. the unpainted plastic is a plus for us as we sometimes take our cars on some rough roads (and my wife touch parks )

[phaeton]

That makes sense then

Now VWCV when are you guys going to bring out a 4Motion Caddy ?

[Wino]

That makes sense then

Now VWCV when are you guys going to bring out a 4Motion Caddy ?

ya know that'd make alot of senseand it'd place the car (4MOTION Caddy Life/Camper) in a very unique position with no competition.
Also of note, I don't think VGA bring in the 'eco fuel' engine that runs on petrol and natural gas.. that thing would be sooo cheap to run (I'm happy enough with the 1.9TDI though)

[CaddyShack]

Wino,

I go down to Canberra every month, and then across to the Bay, then back up the Hwy.

Did it last week in the Caddy, and it went great. The sound system in the Life is very good. The Life has 6 speakers, the camper doesn't?

Anyway, yes, very quiet, the engine is getting better, and it's so versatile to have.

CaddyShack

[Wino]

Wino,

I go down to Canberra every month, and then across to the Bay, then back up the Hwy.

Did it last week in the Caddy, and it went great. The sound system in the Life is very good. The Life has 6 speakers, the camper doesn't?

Anyway, yes, very quiet, the engine is getting better, and it's so versatile to have.

CaddyShack

the camper has 4 speakers, however, both rear speakers are covered by the lugage bags that hang on the rear windows.
I think the sound system seems lacking to me because I inevitably compare it to what's in our Bora

[CaddyShack]

Wino, thats a shame, I wonder why VW have made it that way?

CaddyShack.

[Wino]

your guess would be as good as mine

the price of the caddy camper was abit of a shock though!
it has some factory options on it that added quite abit to the price ...

but $51k on the road all done ... it's a great little car .. but not $50k worth IMHO
plus other manufactures/dealers are falling over themselves to win new business ... some of the other quotes I've got have been crazy cheap .. for example a Mazda Tribute V6... $33k on the road all done!
I'm still looking though.. and hoping that VW can come back with a good price on the 7 seat caddy

[CaddyShack]

Wino,

My other car is a Mazda Tribute 03 Classic. I love it to bits. I no longer drive it, as I have the Caddy as a company car. My wife drives it whilst the kids have ruined it
But it goes like the clappers, is excellent to drive, holds the road better than most cars, and is extremely safe with 4wd.

I am a Mazda fan from way back, but VW has won me over as well. Have driven a Mercedes Vito for 3 years, and I am definetly not a Benz fan.

Good luck with looking for the right car, it gets very confusing

Just remember, you only need 4 things: Aircon, automatic, cupholders, cruise control. Diesel is 5 things. Everything else is just a luxury.

CaddyShack

[Wino]

Wino,

My other car is a Mazda Tribute 03 Classic. I love it to bits. I no longer drive it, as I have the Caddy as a company car. My wife drives it whilst the kids have ruined it
But it goes like the clappers, is excellent to drive, holds the road better than most cars, and is extremely safe with 4wd.

I am a Mazda fan from way back, but VW has won me over as well. Have driven a Mercedes Vito for 3 years, and I am definetly not a Benz fan.

Good luck with looking for the right car, it gets very confusing

Just remember, you only need 4 things: Aircon, automatic, cupholders, cruise control. Diesel is 5 things. Everything else is just a luxury.

CaddyShack

it sure can get much more complex than it needs to be!
We've been changing over our cars every 3 years for ..umm 9 years with a couple of short term cars in the mix. I'd say that this year has been the most confusing.. well maybe not confusing, just not a straight out easy choice
This new car will be my wifes car (I'm still happy enough with my TDI syncro Dualcab transporter) I do think that some of the VW range is over priced.. actually no, not over priced .. I think there are some large gaps in the VW range that must be hurting sales in some way. Mid sized 4wd's make alot of sense for active young families .. and I'd love to buy a new Toureg but I simply can't justify that kind of money ( I think they start at about $75-80k) I put a cap on prices at $60k and I think that's a pretty generous budget, however just because a car falls under that price dose not mean it's automatically good value, naturally this is just my opinion, many will take a different view, as is their perogative (sp).
So far in my shopping around it's been the Mazda (V6 Tribute) that has ticked all the boxes and offered what I consider to be value for money. Also the Turbo Territory seems a good deal ($51 drive away) but high..uhh.. huge fuel costs soon move it to being an expensive car (the standard uses less fuel.. but it needs better brakes IMHO)
The Forester XT Luxury is an good example of what I consider to be an over priced car.. I think it's a good car for what it is (we've had a Forester GT in the past) but it simply is not refined enough for an almost $50k car. During the XT test drive I felt like I was straight back in our old GT and this was both a good and bad thing.. but not really the feeling you want when buying a new car. I feel that the XT would be priced right (from a customers point of view) at $40k on the road all done.

[CaddyShack]

I'm not a fan of the Territory, it is a huge petrol chewer... as you have said. The Subarus are ok, but the Tribute is the pick. The Subies are do not give enough ground clearance for my liking. I have taken the Tribute off road a few times, and it will get you further than the Subies. It gets me as far as I want, any further and a dedicated 4wd is the go.

Good luck!

CaddyShack

[phaeton]

Wino if you can wait 1-3 years

Tiguan should be here next year.
&
RPU is due 2009/10 (VWs HiLux Competitor)

[Lams]

Phaeton, your knowledge of VW models makes me think you work for VWA!!

[phaeton]

Phaeton, your knowledge of VW models makes me think you work for VWA!!

I wish

On that subject if anyone from VGA is reading this and want to hire me send email to vwphaetonfan<at>hotmail.com