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VW Caddy Maxi
Posted: Mon May 11, 2026 6:10 pm
by Gavster
As the prospect of some major renovation work looms, I'm considering swapping my car for something a bit more utilitarian for a year or so while I get the projects completed. Ideally want it to be London-friendly which means compact-ish and happy to pootle around town doing low-speed journeys. Will be used for shifting building junk and picking up materials when needed, and will double up as my car for occasional motorway journeys to see family etc or if I decide to do a silly YouTube challenge again.
A bit of quick research last night around compact vans led me to the VW Caddy Maxi which looks like a sound choice and one of the more car-like vans. Budget is <£6-8k max (That's a hard upper limit on the budget BTW, I know what you lot are like
)
Does anyone have any experience of driving these, or know what they're like? If they're loosely based on the Mk5 Golf I figured they're proabably a pretty sound bet.
Example:
https://ebay.us/m/JFlZJF
Re: VW Caddy Maxi
Posted: Mon May 11, 2026 6:28 pm
by V8Granite
You need to be able to fit an 8x4 sheet on the roof or in the back.
Dave!
Re: VW Caddy Maxi
Posted: Mon May 11, 2026 6:32 pm
by Rich B
a 2011 diesel isn’t going to be euro 6 - is that an issue for you in London?
Re: VW Caddy Maxi
Posted: Mon May 11, 2026 7:20 pm
by Gavster
V8Granite wrote: Mon May 11, 2026 6:28 pm
You need to be able to fit an 8x4 sheet on the roof or in the back.
A few sheets is possible on the diagonal or if they're ply, with a little bending and wiggling. Alternatively, roof bars are an option too.
Rich B wrote: Mon May 11, 2026 6:32 pm
a 2011 diesel isn’t going to be euro 6 - is that an issue for you in London?
Ahhh yeah my bad, that's an older 1.6, if I get the 2.0 then it's Euro6
Re: VW Caddy Maxi
Posted: Mon May 11, 2026 7:28 pm
by Mito Man
Don’t be boring
https://ebay.us/m/1pxy8J
This one won’t be hopelessly slow
https://ebay.us/m/HWqxGm
Just like a Ute, but shitter in every way.
https://ebay.us/m/v8Loss
wtf is this
https://ebay.us/m/S1Lb6U
Re: VW Caddy Maxi
Posted: Mon May 11, 2026 7:52 pm
by ZedLeg
I wouldn’t bother getting one with back seats unless you know you’ll need them tbh.
Should lower it and put it on 19s though. You and Rich can start a roomy vag appreciators club.
Re: VW Caddy Maxi
Posted: Mon May 11, 2026 7:54 pm
by Rich B
Gavster wrote: Mon May 11, 2026 7:20 pm
V8Granite wrote: Mon May 11, 2026 6:28 pm
You need to be able to fit an 8x4 sheet on the roof or in the back.
A few sheets is possible on the diagonal or if they're ply, with a little bending and wiggling. Alternatively, roof bars are an option too.
Rich B wrote: Mon May 11, 2026 6:32 pm
a 2011 diesel isn’t going to be euro 6 - is that an issue for you in London?
Ahhh yeah my bad, that's an older 1.6, if I get the 2.0 then it's Euro6
yeah, worth going for euro 6 if you’re only planning on keeping it for a couple of years - resale will be severely affected otherwise and the ULEZ zone is bloody huge these days.
i also found it useful across Europe - driving in Paris and Brussels as well as Bristol and birmingham were all cheap/free with the van being euro 6.
Re: VW Caddy Maxi
Posted: Mon May 11, 2026 8:45 pm
by jamcg
If you get the 1.6 you also need to budget for replacing injectors, they’re a known issue
Re: VW Caddy Maxi
Posted: Mon May 11, 2026 9:01 pm
by Gavster
That needs tubbed rear raches, massive tyres and a huge V8 with blower sticking out the bonnet
Re: VW Caddy Maxi
Posted: Tue May 12, 2026 3:25 pm
by Jimexpl
Gavster wrote: Mon May 11, 2026 6:10 pm
As the prospect of some major renovation work looms, I'm considering swapping my car for something a bit more utilitarian for a year or so while I get the projects completed. Ideally want it to be London-friendly which means compact-ish and happy to pootle around town doing low-speed journeys. Will be used for shifting building junk and picking up materials when needed, and will double up as my car for occasional motorway journeys to see family etc or if I decide to do a silly YouTube challenge again.
A bit of quick research last night around compact vans led me to the VW Caddy Maxi which looks like a sound choice and one of the more car-like vans. Budget is <£6-8k max (That's a hard upper limit on the budget BTW, I know what you lot are like
)
Does anyone have any experience of driving these, or know what they're like? If they're loosely based on the Mk5 Golf I figured they're proabably a pretty sound bet.
Example:
https://ebay.us/m/JFlZJF
We had two at my last place. Both were bought at about 6 years old / 60,000 miles from different places and parts of the country and the clutches on both were clearly very tired. Our (2019) petrol Berlingo is a nicer drive, and has been reliable, but has a dreaded wet belt that we changed as soon as we bought it. The VWs do feel more substantial as you'd expect though.
Whatever you buy find one with a/c (lots of the VW Caddy vans don't have it) as they're tough to sell on without when you want to go back to a car.
Re: VW Caddy Maxi
Posted: Wed May 13, 2026 6:52 pm
by simon_g
It's pretty much what I use my Honda Stepwgn for. Petrol imports just need to be first registered in 2007 onwards for Euro 4 equivalence and thus ULEZ compliance. 1.7m wide, 4.7m long and auto so easy to drive and park. £365 pa tax, mine costs me £400 to insure. Absurdly reliable K20, no diesel Euro 6 nonsense to worry about. Plus it's not a van so no problems at the tip.
When the seats are flat I can just chuck an air mattress on top and have plenty of space to stretch out for camping. Back row up and middle row tumbled forward is about 1.9m diagonal on the floor (so bikes etc fit). For the odd longer bit of wood, pipes, etc you can get 3m+ easily under the seats.
It won't get an 8x4 sheet in but then nothing in the smaller van class will, if it's plywood/MDF and I just need one sheet I get the local timber yard to cut it once, more than that and they deliver. Plasterboard, insulation, etc then Selco deliver even on quite small orders.
I kinda wanted a Caddy Maxi Life at the time but Euro 6 was way out of budget then and still is now. You can buy a similar 2007 Stepwgn to mine for sub £5k and easily get £4k for it in a years time.
Re: VW Caddy Maxi
Posted: Wed May 13, 2026 7:36 pm
by Rich B
simon_g wrote: Wed May 13, 2026 6:52 pm
It's pretty much what I use my Honda Stepwgn for. Petrol imports just need to be first registered in 2007 onwards for Euro 4 equivalence and thus ULEZ compliance. 1.7m wide, 4.7m long and auto so easy to drive and park. £365 pa tax, mine costs me £400 to insure. Absurdly reliable K20, no diesel Euro 6 nonsense to worry about. Plus it's not a van so no problems at the tip.
When the seats are flat I can just chuck an air mattress on top and have plenty of space to stretch out for camping. Back row up and middle row tumbled forward is about 1.9m diagonal on the floor (so bikes etc fit). For the odd longer bit of wood, pipes, etc you can get 3m+ easily under the seats.
It won't get an 8x4 sheet in but then nothing in the smaller van class will, if it's plywood/MDF and I just need one sheet I get the local timber yard to cut it once, more than that and they deliver. Plasterboard, insulation, etc then Selco deliver even on quite small orders.
I kinda wanted a Caddy Maxi Life at the time but Euro 6 was way out of budget then and still is now. You can buy a similar 2007 Stepwgn to mine for sub £5k and easily get £4k for it in a years time.
This seems like a decent idea to me - unless you’re going for a proper van sized van, you’re probably best off with something like this. And they’re quite cool looking.
Re: VW Caddy Maxi
Posted: Wed May 13, 2026 8:24 pm
by Gavster
Thanks for the info and point about AC
@Jimexpl
I'm tempted to go and look at wheelchair converted one, easy rear access for heavy itens, a winch for the lols, and I can put one of those stickers about leaving space for parking too. It looks like there's a panel that folds down to cover the cutout for the wheelchair, so I can't really see the downside. Plus they're cheap as chips because of the limited market. Win win
https://ebay.us/m/VBtxGf
The Stepwgn is a decent shout too. In fact, it solves one of the issues I'm a little cautious about, which is that getting a panel van is a bit risky when I live in a sketchy part of London. It feels inevitable that someone would break in checking for tools at some point.
Anything that's got windows and is more of an MPV/car avoid that problem.
Re: VW Caddy Maxi
Posted: Wed May 13, 2026 8:48 pm
by Rich B
If it’s mostly 8x4 sheets and lengths of timber i could definitely recommend my old van. It was less than £8k too…
Re: VW Caddy Maxi
Posted: Thu May 14, 2026 6:37 am
by jamcg
Ok for ULEZ, has ramp and windows, pull all the seats and it’s a decent size van
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-detail ... product=HP
Re: VW Caddy Maxi
Posted: Thu May 14, 2026 8:23 am
by Gavster
Looking further, I've started wondering if something like a cheap old £3k Berlingo could be a good answer if the engine is good. Something cheap that I won't mind thrashing around and chucking any old shite in the back for a year. Just need to remove the bulkhead.
https://ebay.us/m/hCiRaq
Re: VW Caddy Maxi
Posted: Thu May 14, 2026 9:12 am
by John
The extra section on the LWB always looks to have been grafted on as an afterthought to me
I had the previous shape, the cockroach of the van world
Don't forget there is the car version too if you'd need more passenger seats
Re: VW Caddy Maxi
Posted: Thu May 14, 2026 9:27 am
by Rich B
As a daily van driver, i don’t think i’d want a LWB. Mine is big (4.9m, so slightly less than a Range Rover) but it fits parking spaces and normal use, i definitely wouldn’t want it to be another 40cm longer.
What materials are you actually going to be carting about? Are you doing the work yourself?
Re: VW Caddy Maxi
Posted: Thu May 14, 2026 10:44 am
by Gavster
John wrote: Thu May 14, 2026 9:12 am
The extra section on the LWB always looks to have been grafted on as an afterthought to me
I had the previous shape, the cockroach of the van world
Don't forget there is the car version too if you'd need more passenger seats
The car version, if I can get a cheap petrol that's ULEZ might be ideal in fact. The diesels which are Euro6 seem to be a lot more expensive.
Re: VW Caddy Maxi
Posted: Thu May 14, 2026 10:52 am
by Gavster
Rich B wrote: Thu May 14, 2026 9:27 am
As a daily van driver, i don’t think i’d want a LWB. Mine is big (4.9m, so slightly less than a Range Rover) but it fits parking spaces and normal use, i definitely wouldn’t want it to be another 40cm longer.
What materials are you actually going to be carting about? Are you doing the work yourself?
Which version are you saying is longer than your van? Google is saying the LWB berlingo is 4.7m, so smaller than your van.
I'll be getting trades in to do the work, I'm going to manage the project. Part of the reasoning for this is simply that my Ateca is fairly pristine inside and out, so using it to carry random stuff which could quickly damage the interior seems pointless.
I guess it will be used to carry any random building materials, waste or items that are needed urgently or cannot be delivered/collected for some reason. One benefit of where I live is having a good trade wood yard about 250m from my house, they even let me borrow their trolleys, so can rely on them for any urgent wood needs and also means it's less likely that the van/car will need to carry 8x4s. Doing occasional tip runs would also save me a fair few quid over the course of the project too.
