which multivan, auto or 4 motion etc

[wandaria]

Hi folks I am looking to buy a multivan comfortline prabably sometime around November December and will salary sacrifice it. I am looking for those experienced in the vw van lineup about what they reckon is a must have option etc and why if possible.

Also I live in the country and travel a few dirt roads sometimes, so I am considering buying the 4 motion. Would prefer the ease of auto by simply putting in gear but where I live I would not have to do an awful lot of gear changing too often, but I believe the safety aspects of the 4 motion would be
better. Reason I need the multivan is that I will shortly have 5 kids under 9 and the new tarago is a pice of crap.

There are no multivan dealers around me ( I live in country Queensland) so I have to travel quite a few hundred k's to do test drives which I have done a couple

Any ins and outs I should be aware of etc.

I appreciate any feedback

thanks

Tim

[phaeton]

Welcome to VWwA Tim

shogun (Rod) should be able to give advice on 4Motion Multivan, he has a TDI Highline with 4Motion

[Seano]

Wandaria.........the 4motion on dirt is the way to go. So so stable.

Coupled with the flexibility of the 6 speed it's what I'd go with....

[shogun2]

Hard to say what the difference would be as I haven't done any direct comparison between FWD and 4Motion on dirt. All I can really say is the 4Motion works well, and I would not be without it. (and we enjoy the manual driving)

[wandaria]

thanks so far guys, yeah I favour the idea of the 4 motion myself, although on normal roads the fwd seems allright to me, however I drive dirt roads a bit so it seems like 4 motion.

Anyone got any problems with their multivan or idiosyncresis that I should be aware of. It is hard buying a car when all the options are't really availble options in Australia and most of the dealers can't or won't tell you that.

[BobD]

A few problems with my Multivan Comfortline September 2006 build.

In the first week the drink holder on the front of the table fell apart after jamming so it wouldn't spring out when pushed in to release it.

Also the passenger door courtesy light switch disappeared in first week.

Both problems fixed under warranty but took some time to get parts.

Rain sensing wipers now don't work. They are now just normal intermittent wipers and run at the same speed regardless of the rain intensity or complete lack of rain. They used to work properly when we got the car in June 2007 but I haven't tried to get them fixed yet.

Today I couldn't move the rear seat forwards or backwards. It is very hard to clip the back rest down flat when folded forward and once I bounce on it to lock it down the lever to move the seat forwrds and backwards still doesn't work. This happened a few weeks ago for my wife but when I had another go later it worked. Now I can't get it to release either.

Anyone else had this seat problem?

I will get these fixed also when I get a chance.

One thing I didn't know when I bought the car is that in the newer builds, such as mine, the three trays under the rear seat are no longer supplied. In fact the tracks for them to run in have been deleted except for the middle space under the rear seat.

[Seano]

My only concern with the T5 (apart from the cost - which explains why I still have a T4!!) was the alloy fluid cooler found under the vehicle on the passenger side behind the front wheel. I think it might be unique to the TDI models but I'm guessing here. It's about the size of an A4 piece of paper and looks vulnerable to flying rocks and the like.....

[BobD]

My only concern with the T5 (apart from the cost - which explains why I still have a T4!!) was the alloy fluid cooler found under the vehicle on the passenger side behind the front wheel. I think it might be unique to the TDI models but I'm guessing here. It's about the size of an A4 piece of paper and looks vulnerable to flying rocks and the like.....

I didn't discover this until a month or two after I bought it. I do some gravel driving so I hope it doesn't get destroyed. Looks to be in a very vulnerable position for Australian driving.

Anyone know of anything to protect it?

[coastie]

I've had my T5 Comfortline Multivan since June 06. I have had some idiosyncrasies with the automatic where if you go through a dip in the road at 90-110 kmh the vehicle decides that the change in inertia or direction requires the auto to change down to 3rd and then have a bit of difficulty in selecting the right gear for the speed and revs. I have had it back to the dealers for a couple of times and they acknowledge it happens and remap something and then after about 2 months it happens again. I now put it into the tiptronic and try to educate the computer.

If I had the choice again I think i would go the extra $1k and get the four motion but the auto for all my little issues is great and cruise control is brilliant. I did Sunshine Coast to Mt Hotham last year in the first month of ownership and it performed excellently in the cold on icy roads for a fwd.

I have a white one but I'd like and off road grey of the champagne colour for the dirt reasons. The oil cooler hasn't sustained any damage yet but it hasn't had much dirt use in its 30000 kms.

Good luck with the purchase which dealer are you thinking of going to?

[wandaria]

Thanks folks, I will be salary sacrificing as that is the only way I can afford it, I have up untill mid december to technically decide which car I get, as that is when my old lease runs out, naturally enough depending upon what I want in my new car will decide how long before that I have to order it. The good thing is that I have since found out from Austral VW in Brisbane that I can have aftermarket seats (basically for children) fitted in the multivans, by a couple of different places.

Mind you I do believe that the new caravelle 8 seater will arrive in Australia sometime in Ocotber November this year, so that is the other option, however ultimatley it will come down to the deal I get. As standard fleet discounting you get 10% off the multivan (at least that is what I have been advised).

It amazes me that prices you see on the web and dealerships for the demo models which some of the dealerships have, some of them have 2006 demos that they still want almost full pricing for. They must be planning to keep them forever as demos.

The only other real car option for me was the tarago, but now that they have bought out the new model it has a great engine but the seats etc are crap. The tarago is now a no hoper for large families.

Sounds to me like I will be going with the 4 motion. What amazes me is how people think. I know some people who saved some money on the cars they bought because they are cheaper to buy hence the repayments are less, but I know in real world driving that I will save between 1500 and 2 grand a year by driving the diesel as against my current unleaded petrol beast. That money basically makes up the difference in repayments and yet they would have a far more suitable car with the VW, well at least is my thinking.

My current car which is a ford territory (love driving it, but not comfortable enough for a big family) chews between 14 and 15 litres per 100ks and I reckon the multivan wil do about 10-11 give or take, anyone disagree with that sort of mileage. Most of my driving is done on 100 k an hour roads.