VW Caddy Locksmith Parramatta

Locksmith Van VW Caddy

For the past four or five years the locksmith community  seem to take a liking to the VW Caddy, A number of Sydney locksmiths drive this type of van everyday and they seem like a good choice for a small van.

The truth is that the VW caddy is not an ideal choice of van for a locksmith. When you next buy a van and it’s for the use of a locksmith, some of the factors to consider are, the weight the van can carry, the amount of doors the van has, the type of motor & gearbox, and repair cost.

The VW caddy is a nice looking van and with the amount of locksmiths that drive one, you could quite easily think it was the right way to go. When you compare the VW caddy to another brand such as the Citroen Berlingo or the Hyundai iload, you will find a number of differences in the strength and also under the bonnet.

This blog was inspired by the one VW caddy that Dr Lock has in our fleet. To give you a good understanding of how durable the van is we will explain some of the troubles and also some of the benefits of the van to allow you to make your own mind, if the VW Caddy is the right van for you.

Lest start with a new van with 0km on the clock, the first 20,000km was all smooth sailing as you would expect, the next step is to have shelving and stock added. None of the equipment is very heavy but it does add up when you add the stock, even small keys can add to the weight. So now with the van setup we noticed the rear end of the car was lower and that the ground clearance was reduced.

This is a huge problem when you go over a speed hump or driveway and scrape and brake parts under the car. SO the next step is to talk to VW and let them know that we have less than the 850kg rating in the car and see if they have a solution to lift the car. Let’s just say that it was a waste of time talking to VW and we went to Pedders.

After spending more money they were able to install air big under the back to lift the back to the normal height and even higher if needed, It makes a huge difference and no damage has been done under the car since.

The next problem is the clutch at 30,000km the clutch pedal was worn out and moving left to right, and after 3 attempts from VW it was finally repaired at 50,000km, the clutch plate has been ok, but now at 60,000km it seems to crunch when put back in first gear and the clutch plate of gearbox may need looking at.

One more unpleasant experience that we encountered was after a service the gear selector came loose from the gearbox, making it impossible to drive and left the car stuck in the middle of a 3 point turn blocking traffic. Hard to believe from a new car that is always serviced and has only been in service for a few years.

With the front end of the car the bumper is quite low and if you park the nose in, you may get your bumper stuck on the concrete stop that most parking lots have, Once you are lodges on you will most likely damage or rip you bumper bar off trying to dislodge it.

We did do some research when purchasing this car and the worst thing that we could find was that another locksmith who had the same car had a turbo replaced at 50,000km, this could have been a once off fault. The choice of motor for us was the 1.6 Petrol, it is under powered and you do need to ride the clutch to take off on a big hill, but it does the job “Just” and when you have the air con on it feels like you are driving with the hand brake on.

Some of the good points are the look of the car is nice, the interior is nice and power windows are helpful, The car does handle like a small car and it’s easy to drive and park, The 2 sliding side doors give you more access to stock and tools and this is an advantage.

Keeping all this in mind its worth looking at cars that will stand the test of time, not just cars that other locksmiths use not what looks nice.

The Citroen berlingo is a nice car that has been very reliable, good clutch, punchy little motor and a better choice and price. We cannot tell you about the Hyundai Iload as we have not yet added one to our fleet, the reviews are very good and I would expect that it will be the next van of choice for locksmiths.