103 vs 128 vs 132

[Ivo]

I am thinking of trading my 128 in for a new multivan. I have not had a chance to get to a dealer yet to test drive and compare. Who has driven all 3 and how do they compare? Around town, freeway and with a load?

[T5Pete]

get the 132. unless you fancy chipping the 103. if your 128 is 'just enough' then I'd say the 132. I find it very easy to speed in the 132, it cruises at 1200rpm and the torque and pickup will see you 20kph over the limit without noticing.

anyone else getting torque steer on the 132 when putting the boot in?

[swingn]

Very interested in seeing the comments as I'm in a similar situation

[baldy]

Very interested in seeing the comments as I'm in a similar situation

i am looking at doing the same. looking forward to the results

[mikinoz]

After driving them all in the process of making a purchase, the 132KW new is quite a nice bus, but, that being said, I could not justify upgrading from a 128KW model simply to get the more powerful/newer engine if there was no other reason for it.

After doing my research in the end I actually decided to buy a 128KW Multivan second hand in preference to buying a new 103KW Comfortline one (as unfortunately the financials did not allow a new 132KW Highline) and have some research showing a few ways to juice out some more ponies from that motor.

I'll be sure to start a thread about that vehicle soon.

The other consideration you have is that the new model is DSG compared to the traditional tranny in the previous model.

[Ivo]

I drove a 103, with DSG. Power was good, but not great. No where near the 128. DSG was very good. Are there chips available for the 103? Does the 103 loosen up with a few 1000k's on it and perform better?

[Sharkie]

I drove a 103, with DSG. Power was good, but not great. No where near the 128. DSG was very good. Are there chips available for the 103? Does the 103 loosen up with a few 1000k's on it and perform better?

103 power is certainly acceptable .... it does loosen up over time, ours now have 5000km and it pulls really well. Recently had 7 people and luggage on a 500km round trip including 400km highway and it cruised supremely at 110km/h with enough to go to 140 if needed for overtaking relatively quickly ..... does not feel slow at all even in city driving .... I have no issues with it apart from the fact it runs on filthy crude oil .....

the 103 can even be chipped, most commonly to 125kw/390NM, certainly to 128 specs in reality.

I testdrove the 103 v the 132 and did not see the value in the 132 over the 103 TBH. For our purposes as a family van its quick enough in 103 form. When the 2.0TSI petrol arrives I may rethink the purchase, but definately not for the 132 TTDI.

And remember my daily driver is a 200kw+ Tiguan ..... so I like power ...... and the 103 has enough for me atm.

[Silver Caravelle]

I reckon I will stick with my 128Kw Mulitivan (black!) for the next few years. Coming up to three years old and 45,000 K's on the clock. Recent trip to ACT from Melbourne (including up to Goulburn) and back to Melbourne over Easter returned 7.3 l/100km average - I think about a tank and half roughly. I also prefer the 6 speed tiptronic over the DSG. The 128K also flies up hills!

Cheers,

Scott

[swingn]

Landed up taking a 132kw DSG for a spin last week. Coming from the 77kw Caddy (Which I would assume will go about the same as the 103kw - Performance specs (0-100km/h etc) on paper are near identical) it was much easier to drive with the extra power as it performed more like a small car rather then a massive van.

As others have suggested, it depends on your use. If your running around with a large load all the time 100% agree it's the way to go... If your running around with small loads (Which would be my situation) then it comes down to how much you want the extra performance.

If this was a "car" I would 100% pay the extra $$$ to get the better performance, but isn't really required in the van.

Have to admit as it's the first time I've driven a Transporter on the street, the Caddy is much nice to drive... Transporter really does make you feel like your driving a truck & the steering is fairly numb... I've only really been driving vans etc the passed 2 years, so to some degree this is still new to me.