German Car Zone

Impressive engine line-ups, a major emphasis on safety, huge ranges and six-speed manual gearboxes fitted as standard have all contributed to What Van?'s decision to award the Van of the Year award for 2006 — as well as the Large Panel Van award — jointly to the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter and Volkswagen Crafter.

We make no apology for giving our prestigious award to two vehicles for the first time. The decision was just too close to call as both Crafter and Sprinter represent the pinnacle of current large panel van design and drivetrain implementation.


Volkswagen Crafter



VW's Crafter has a number of components in common with Sprinter and is assembled by Mercedes on VW's behalf at the same factories that produce its own vehicle. But while Crafter covers approximately the same sector of the market as Sprinter in terms of gross weight, payload capacity and load cube, there are some marked differences between the two products.

There's the styling for a kick-off. While Sprinter's is perhaps a little understated, Crafter makes a bold statement in the high street.

It's distinguished by an aggressively styled V-shaped front grille with a large VW badge and four big horizontal bars framed by muscular-looking wings and prominent, clear-glazed, headlights.

Power comes courtesy of a praiseworthy 2.5-litre five-cylinder TDI diesel engine producing 88 bhp, 109 bhp, 136 bhp or 163 bhp.

Re-engineered from the 2.5-litre installed in the previous model, it features third-generation common rail fuel injection. VW has scrapped the unit injection system it used to favour, albeit with considerable reluctance.

All versions of the 2.5-litre come with a variable geometry turbocharger. Exhaust gas recirculation, an oxidation catalyst and a maintenance-free particulate filter ensure compliance with the new Euro 4 exhaust emission regulations.

In line with Sprinter, a six-speed manual gearbox comes as standard with a dashboard-mounted gearstick. So do disc brakes, ABS and adaptive ESP. An electronic diff lock is fitted too.


Semi-Automatic
While the Mercedes is marketed with a full automatic gearbox as an option, Crafter is being offered with an automated manual gearbox instead. Similar in principle to the Sprintshift 'box that used to be available on Sprinter, Shiftmatic can be used either as a manual or as an automatic, and there's no clutch pedal.

Like Sprinter, Crafter features a well-designed cab with plenty of storage space. Facilities include roomy bins in each of the front doors with a moulding that will hold a flask or a big bottle of water, and lots of compartments in the dashboard — one of which will swallow an A4 clipboard.

Ford's excellent new Transit is this year's Van of the Year award runner-up and comes highly recommended, but that's not to dismiss the other excellent new vans that have appeared over the past few months, some of which were just too late to be included in the judging process. This year has been one of the busiest for new product launches we can ever recall.

So let's hear it for Iveco's new Daily, the latest Citroën Relay/Peugeot Boxer/Fiat Ducato and the revised Renault Master/Vauxhall Movano/Nissan Interstar; not to mention Vauxhall's new Astravan. They're all worthy of applause.
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For several years manufacturers have been searching for an alternative to the conventional manual gearbox in a bid to make the lives of drivers on stop-start delivery work in city centres a bit easier.

Some manufacturers have offered conventional automatic boxes as an option. Some have offered automated manual transmissions. Some have offered automated manual transmissions then scrapped them in favour of auto 'boxes instead.

But none of them have come up with a 'box that's as technically elegant — or as enjoyable to use — as Volkswagen's six-speed DSG; the winner of What Van?'s Technology Award for 2006.

The initials stand for Direct Shift Gearbox. It can be used either as a manual or as an automatic, and it's on offer as an option in Caddy van; we sampled it in conjunction with a 104 bhp 1.9-litre TDI diesel earlier this year.

It employs two wet clutches, in effect turning it into two gearboxes rolled into one. One clutch takes care of all the even-numbered gears while its stablemate looks after those with odd numbers, plus reverse. What this means is that there's no loss of traction when the 'box changes gear.

So how does it do that? The answer lies in what VW refers to as mechatronics. The word describes a hydraulic and electronic control system that works in collusion with twin input and output shafts. It allows the next gear that's going to be selected to be ready to leap into action in a mere fraction of a second.

It works like this. Say Caddy is accelerating in third gear in automatic mode, with fourth already engaged but not yet being used. Once the optimum shift point is reached the clutch responsible for third opens as the one responsible for fourth closes, and the 'box changes up with the driver barely noticing what has happened.

This approach means that the 'box's kick-down facility works remarkably well because the lower gear has already been selected and leaps in immediately.

The floor-mounted gearlever looks like a conventional automatic transmission shift, with D for Drive supplemented by S for Sport. Switch to that setting, and changes will occur at higher engine speeds.

Flick the lever to the left at any speed you like and you can use the 'box in the way you would a manual. Shove the stick forwards and you go up the gears, pull it back and you come back down again.

Nor do you risk stalling when you are in manual mode. If you are approaching a roundabout, say, and forget to change down, DSG will do it for you.

A dashboard display tells you which position you've selected when you're in automatic mode, and which gear you are in if you switch to manual. Manual or auto, don't forget that a van equipped with DSG will creep forwards when you might prefer to remain stationary in traffic.

Out on the highway DSG is a revelation. Leave it in automatic mode and the changes are so seamless that you barely notice they're happening. Switching to manual, and back to automatic again, is a jerk-free doddle at all speeds, but to be honest we reckon that most drivers will stick to the automatic option.

Initially we feared that low-speed manoeuvring would be accompanied by a series of judders thanks to an inability to gain sufficient control over the throttle. We needn't have worried. Parking was a breeze.

Fuel economy doesn't appear to suffer either. We averaged 48mpg.

Runner up? Sorry, but there isn't one in this category — because nobody has come up with anything quite as good.

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