Our Vans: Volkswagen T5 Transporter Kombi Sportline
10 November 2014: Can you really have performance and economy?
The Details
| Current mileage | 4871 |
|---|---|
| Claimed economy | 37.2mpg |
| Actual economy | 32.6mpg |
When you own a van - and use it for actual work - economy is a critical factor. While the initial outlay of the van ia of course important, along with your running costs, the cost of fuelling your van is something that's far more noticeable on a weekly basis. That's why Volkswagen offers the Transporter BlueMotion. Powered by a 114PS version of the trusty 2.0 TDI engine, it's capable of 48.7mpg according to the official figures.
Our Transporter Sportline has considerably more power with 180PS and a hefty 400Nm of torque compared to 250Nm in the BlueMotion. In fact the Sportline is genuinely quick with a 0-62mph time of just 10.3 seconds. Not bad for a van that weighs two tonnes. But it's all that torque which makes the Transporter Sportline so rapid and it really shifts on dual carriageways and motorways.
It's not the quietest engine of course and seems quite noisy compared to the new 2.2 TDCi in the Ford Transit Custom. But the TDI does have plenty of flexibility and with the snappy and shirt-shifting six-speed manual gearbox you can really exploit all that power if you so wish. Naturally I never do that...
Having plenty of torque is good for performance - and helpful for things like brisk and safe overtaking - but it's more useful when you have a fully loaded van. Having recently helped a friend move house (something I'm seemingly very popular for these days) and with a fully laden Transporter, the extra torque means it's easier to drive smoothly at lower speeds without having to work the engine too hard.
All that red means it must be sporty.
But the question is - does this extra power mean poor economy? For most Transporter owners, the Sportline version with the BiTDI engine is an unneccesary extravagance and the 140PS version of the TDI will be more than enough. In fact even the 102PS model has a handy 250Nm of torque. For me the Sportline version stands out enough with its styling, although I'm not exactly going to deny that the 180PS engine isn't great.
When it comes to fuel economy, Volkswagen claims the Sportline will return an average of 37.2mpg. That's not at all bad when you discover that the 140PS engine is hardly any better at 37.7mpg. These figures are for the Kombi version of course rather than the standard panel van. In my time it's hovered around the 32mpg mark and I've not gone out of my way to drive it economically.
Most of my driving at the moment is rural and A-roads so there's little chance for gentle cruising which would help the economy figure. So I'm quite happy with 32mpg. Given that the Transporter has an 80-litre fuel tank that gives me a range of 563 miles although as I've discovered, fuelling it up from empty can lead to some eye watering figures when you go to pay.
As the weather turns cold I'll be looking to fit some winter tyres to the Transporter so that it's better prepared for worsening conditions. Over Christmas it will be on duty to such glamorous places as South Wales and Kent, and I don't want to be caught out if it snows. It looks doubtful whether winter tyres will fit on the current wheels, so it may be a case of getting some steel wheels with winter tyres fitted.
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