Volkswagen Crafter Review & Buyers Guide

Volkswagen Crafter Review & Buyers' Guide

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£18,500 – £31,710

Available as	Engine options	Volume (m³)	Payload (kg)	MPG
Van, Crew Cab, Window Van, Chassis Cab, Double Chassis Cab, Dropside, Tipper, Luton, Minibus	2.5TD 88/109/136/163hp (All Euro 5)	7.5 – 17.0	1,011 – 2,932	TBA

Our Verdict

A tough workhorse that’s unlikely to disappoint. Shame about the AdBlue nonsense, though.

With its aggressive-looking snarling front grille and square-shouldered demeanour on the highway, there’s no danger that you’ll mistake Volkswagen’s rear-wheel drive Crafter van for anything else.

Grossing at from 3.0 to 5.0 tonnes, it offers payload capacities ranging from 936kg to a hefty 2,528kg. Load cubes extend from 7.5m³ to 17.0m³.

Pop open the bonnet and you’ll find a 2.5-litre Euro 5 diesel at 88hp/250Nm, 109hp/300Nm, 136hp/330Nm or 163hp/360Nm. Odds are that it will be married to a six-speed manual gearbox. A Shiftmatic automated manual transmission is, however, available as an option.

Crafter is unusual for a light (ish) commercial in having to be topped up with AdBlue every so often. A mixture of urea and water, it’s sprayed into the exhaust gases as part of a process called Selective Catalytic Reduction aimed at reducing the output of harmful pollutants.

The tank only needs to be refilled once every 10,000 to 14,000 miles but it is a job that really shouldn’t be necessary on a vehicle of this size. Forget to do it, however, and you’ll have to deal with a massive reduction in power and torque the next time you start the engine.

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On the positive side it’s good to see that all Crafter vans feature Electronic Stability Programme as well as ABS and that a full-height steel bulkhead is a standard feature.

Out on the highway Crafter rides and handles well and noise isn’t a significant issue.

We’d opt for the 136hp engine if possible; the lower-powered versions can struggle on long, heavily-laden trips although they’re fine on urban delivery runs.

Crafter is covered by a generous three-year/unlimited-mileage warranty while oil change intervals are set at 12,500 miles if you’ve opted for the Time/Distance maintenance regime. Stick with the LongLife Service regime, however, and the intervals between visits to the workshop are allowed to vary depending on how you drive your vehicle.

Don’t forget that Crafter is available as a chassis cab, a chassis double cab, a window van and with a variety of ready-to-go-to-work bodies under VW’s Engineered to Go scheme. The line-up includes tippers, dropsides and Lutons.