Volkswagen Transporter 2.0I TDI 2010 car review

The 2010 AA ENERGYWISE Rally kicks off from the Ellerslie Convention Centre in Auckland on 11 October. It’s a 4 day affair stretching some 1600km around the North Island and provides an opportunity for new vehicle distributors to go head-to-head with their competitors to find the most fuel efficient vehicle.

The two person crew in each vehicle also competes for the “Driver Award” which is presented to the team who can beat the manufactures claimed fuel consumption figures by the widest margin.

Volkswagen New Zealand has always supported this biannual event in the past and this year is no exception with their frugal Polo TSI, Golf TSI and Golf TDI Blue Motion range of vehicles confirmed starters. Included on their entry sheet was their base model short wheelbase 2.0l TDI 5-speed manual Transporter Van which happened to be the sole entrant in the Commercial vehicle class.

Grant Doull, Manager of Commercial vehicles for Volkswagen NZ, is always keen to promote the fuel saving attributes of the Transporter and is not fazed by the lack of competition in this year’s Rally.

“We see the AA ENERGYWISE Rally as an opportunity to showcase and promote our commercial range of vehicles” says Grant. “Fuel efficiency and high specification levels have always been high on VW’s priority list and we see the Rally as an opportunity to beat our chest and promote the fact we have a commercial vehicle that ticks most boxes. We are up for the challenge and are not afraid to enter into an event that will judge our vehicles in an independent and unbiased environment”.

We decided to put their claims to the test

Carrying out an independent pre-Rally run to see if the Transporter was as good as the paid employees of VW claimed, we figured we'd apply a wee bit more pressure and asked for a model which is not entered in the Rally to eliminate any doubts they only had one fuel efficient commercial vehicle in their fleet.

The model Transporter we were given, courtesy of Giltrap Prestige, was a short wheel base 2.0l TDI which produces an impressive 103kW of power @ 3500rpm along with a staggering 340Nm’s of torque between 1,750 & 2500rpm and with a claimed fuel consumption of 7.4L/100km. This model is fitted with 7-speed Direct Shift Gearbox or DSG which has been hailed within the auto industry as the transmission of the future for its smoothness and fuel saving attributes.

To add some extra reality to our test run we embarked on a 400km round trip from Auckland to the eastern side of the Coromandel and back with the van loaded to the gunnels for half the distance. Commercial vans are never purchased for their comfort levels but we were pleasantly surprised at the road manners and noise levels of the Transporter.

Tons of torque

The most positive impression by far however was the amount of usable torque the vehicle delivered especially over the Kopu Hill a climb lasting around 14km and topping out a 425m in height. The combination of the DSG transmission and the diesel engine made the drive effortless.

The drive was undertaken in appalling conditions with heavy rain encountered on the first half of the journey. The addition of Electronic Stability Control (standard across the entire Transporter range) and the fact the van has a four star safety rating was added peace of mind to both driver and passenger.

Diesel vehicles are never easy to fill due to the foaming of the fuel and constant kickback from the pump trigger so our consumption calculations may have a wee margin of error. However after several years of carrying out fuel tests over the same terrain for various new car distributors we are very confident the 7.2L/100kms we achieved is pretty close to the mark. The lack of a in-dash fuel consumption read out was one of the few criticisms we could find with the van overall.

Spending a mere thirty bucks to travel nearly 400kms were bragging rights once reserved for the new small to compact range of passenger cars in the Kiwi market. While the VW Transporter is not the vehicle of choice for the average motorists it is hard to beat if you have the need to move heavy and bulky loads and want to do it in comfort and keep running costs to a minimum.

It’s little wonder that the people at VW want to showcase their product during the upcoming AA ENERGYWISE Rally.