Volkswagen Transporter Kombi review

This latest Transporter is arguably the most stylish yet, but beneath the fancy frock it is fundamentally still based on a van, even if it’s now more car-like to drive than ever before. It steers tidily and the ride is pleasingly compliant, though we found it much more settled when fully loaded.

But even then, it never quite manages to fully shake the feeling that it’s a van with a load of seats lobbed in the back – there’s still quite a bit of shaking and rattling throughout the cabin, and on British roads a fair amount of chassis shudder too. It lacks the refinement of an MPV or SUV conceived as such from the get-go.

Remind me of available powertrains...

The bread and butter Transporter is still a 2.0-litre diesel, available in 108bhp/229lb ft, 148bhp/266lb ft or 168bhp/288lb ft tunes. They’ll see off the 0-62mph sprint in 16.9s (manual only), 13.4s (manual, 14.7s auto) and 14s (auto only) respectively. Maybe order the troops to get out and push if you're in a hurry.

We’ve tested the range-topping option with the automatic gearbox. It felt a good fit, accelerating as briskly as you’d ever want fully laden with people. Same goes for tools, only with less polite conversation along the way.

Of course, the magic of commercial vehicles is their torque, and the 288lb ft never leaves you feeling short changed. The eight-speed gearbox can be a little hesitant but is probably the better fit as an urban runabout.

Next up is the plug-in hybrid, which pairs a 2.5-litre petrol engine with an electric motor and 11.8kWh battery. Total power amounts to 230bhp and e-range up to 35 miles, making for a tax-friendly CO2 emissions of 95g/km.

Alternatively, there’s an electric one. Again it’s available in three variants, 134bhp, 215bhp and 282bhp, though torque stands at 306lb ft across the board. 0-62mph is covered in 12.8s, 8.6s and 7.4s respectively. We haven’t tried any of those in the Kombi yet, but we’ve found there’s a lot to like in the e-Transit Custom.

What about efficiency/range?

Not this van's (vancar’s?) strong point, truth be told. On paper the official WLTP figure is in the high 30s; we averaged 35mpg over 1,000 mainly motorway miles, which is really the diesel’s happy hunting ground, but still pretty pants by today’s standards. And you can expect considerably less if you’re just bumbling around town.

VW says the e-Transport Kombi will do up to 220 miles (spec dependent) from its 70kWh (usable) battery; in the real world expect about two thirds of that. A 10-80 per cent recharge takes half an hour on a 125kW fast charger, or it’s 10-and-a-half hours flat to full using a wallbox at home.