I’ve done the northbound road trip to Malaysia more times than I care to admit, sometimes for the scenery, sometimes for the satay, and almost always with the silent mission to “beat the GPS estimate”.

But this particular trip was different. This Audi-led drive wasn’t about making good time. It was about making good kilometres, a fuel efficiency challenge stretching from Singapore to Ipoh, and looping back to Kuala Lumpur.

No gimmicks. Just one car, one tank, and a surprisingly competitive bunch of automotive journalists with too much pride and too little sleep.

Flag-Off at Dawn and the Battle of the A/C

We began, as all sensible efficiency drives do, at an ungodly 5am, flagged off at Shell Jalan Ahmad Ibrahim. My co-driver for this journey was James from Oneshift, armed with caffeine, caution, and the quiet hope that the air-conditioning would stay on.

Fortunately for him (and our friendship), I was determined to keep it on as well; low fan speed, Eco mode, windows up.

Our competitors? Far braver. Or madder. They have opted to go the entire way without A/C. Windows up. Cabin sealed. The car effectively became a convection oven with leather upholstery.

Major respect, though I’m fairly certain at least one member emerged from their car medium-rare afterwards.

We, on the other hand, kept things civilised. Tyres inflated to near bursting, trip computer reset, pep talk given.

We figured we needed our belongings for check-in, too, so no unnecessary luggage or cabin dumping was conducted. Just good, honest efficiency.

Meet the Machine

The car we were preparing to set off in was the Audi A3 1.5 TFSI. Showroom stock and untouched, save for a full tank of fuel. Its secret weapon was a refined mild hybrid system, a clever coasting mode, and an uncanny ability to sip fuel like a polite guest at a wedding tea ceremony.

From the get-go, the A3 impressed. Even without engaging the Efficiency mode, it was eager to slip into coasting, the revs dropping like a well-timed mic. Within the first hour, we were already seeing fuel figures north of 20km/litre.

Acceleration was measured. Braking, minimal. Speeds hovered around 70–80km/h, torturous in a country where 110km/h is legal and tempting. But in the pursuit of consumption glory, restraint is the real flex.

Snacks, Sun, and Surprises

To keep our spirits up, we turned to a predictable playlist of cheesy pop hits and suspiciously preserved snacks. James even rewarded himself with a Ramly burger, half for sustenance, half for morale. Stopping was rare; momentum was precious.

Even with the sun climbing and temperatures rising, the A3 soldiered on without complaint. Eco mode air-conditioning set at 26 degrees kept us cool enough, and more importantly, it didn’t seem to punish us fuel-wise. Quite the opposite, in fact. The further we went, the better our consumption got.

Credit where due, Audi’s mild hybrid system is leagues smoother than its predecessor. Engine stop-starts were barely perceptible, and noise levels stayed muted throughout.

Up North to Ipoh

The journey towards Kuala Lumpur was relatively smooth, but as soon as we hit the big capital of Malaysia, our efficiency took a hit thanks to traffic congestion. It was tempting to weave through traffic, but keeping our dainty little A3 behind larger vehicles was always going to be better for efficiency.

After tackling suburban sprawl, expressway monotony, and the barrage of impatient lorry drivers wondering why we were the slowest moving thing that morning, we approached Ipoh after almost 9 hours of driving, fatigued, famished, but proud. The GPS said we’d arrive early. It lied.

Turns out, when you’re trundling along well below the posted limit, that ETA shrinks faster than your enthusiasm in a jam. We rolled in with 15 minutes to spare.

Just enough time to marvel at the ingenious optimisations our rival team had done to their car; they taped their A3 to within an inch of its life in a bid to reduce drag.

The Plot Twist

Ah, but the journey wasn’t done. You see, this was a tag-team challenge. From Ipoh to St. Regis Kuala Lumpur, our teammates who first took the Audi A5 (used in a concurrent photography challenge) took over the A3, while we, blessedly, took over their air-conditioned lounge for photography duties.

Did our teammates stop for a break as scheduled? No. Rather, instead of heading straight to the pre-determined lunch spot, they instead opted to head straight for the final meeting point at the hotel, and doubled back for food in the A5 after we picked them up.

Why? Because why waste fuel when the competition’s this tight?

So, Who Won?

Let’s be real – our stock, weighted, and air-conditioned A3 was never going to win the other team, and they deserve every inch of victory for braving the sweltering heat in their makeshift aerodynamic sauna.

The question now is, how close were the two teams?

Here’s where it gets interesting. After more than 750 kilometres of driving with luggage, functioning air-conditioning, and two moderately sleep-deprived adults onboard, our A3 returned 26.689km/litre.

The winning team, in their minimalist, A/C-free chariot of sweat and sheer willpower? 27.645km/litre. That’s a difference of just under 1km/litre.

Was the heat worth it for the other team? Absolutely, they walked home with a stack of vouchers and smiles, and you’ve got to hand it to them for going through the“torture”.

But, for all the efforts to strip weight and endure tropical self-basting, we came within touching distance using… creature comforts, which proves an interesting point. Modern cars like the Audi A3 are absurdly efficient by default. You don’t need to turn your car into a wind tunnel or sacrifice sanity to go the distance.

The A3 was composed, capable, and criminally efficient, even under real-world, real-human conditions. It proved that range doesn’t have to come at the expense of ride, refinement, or the divine blessing that is air-conditioning.

Photo Credits: Al Han (@sgcarshooter)

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Around the mid-2000s, it was possible for private buyers to own panel vans without the need for company registration. At that time, there were many who sprung for just such an option, with the Volkswagen Caddy being among the more popular choices.

A couple of car-enthusiast friends got themselves Volkswagen Caddys, and one of them sneakily went off to have his van ‘tuned’. And so our group was regaled with tales of excellent fuel economy and being able to outrun most cars on the road whenever we met up for kopi sessions, much to the green-eyed envy of everyone else. For perspective, this was back in the day when diesel prices were nearly half that of petrol.

And so we come to the present, with the Caddy in its fifth iteration and now based upon Volkswagen’s MQB platform that also forms the basis of VeeDub vehicles like the Polo, Golf, Jetta, Tiguan, T-Roc, and other similarly-sized vehicles in the Volkswagen Audi Group.

Outside

One walks up to a face that’s unmistakably Volkswagen. Sitting here in a cheerfully bright shade of Costa Azul Metallic brings a smile, compared to the vans we usually see on the streets in boring black, white, silver or grey.

Those colours are available too, should one prefer to remain low-key, but that VW would offer fun hues such as Bright Orange, Golden Green Metallic and Cherry Red as part of 13 colour choices speaks volumes about the Caddy’s character.

Unpainted bumpers may be a bummer to some, but potential scrapes during tight parking and cargo operations can be easily brushed off as battle scars worn with pride.

Not that the Caddy is difficult to manoeuvre at all. At 4,500mm in length and 2,100mm in width, it fits comfortably into a standard HDB parking spot. 1,860mm height means the majority of multistorey carparks are a non-issue to get in and out of. That the Caddy comes standard with a reversing camera and Park Distance Control both fore and aft makes things that much simpler in carparks and tight spaces.

See those wheels? Those are not alloys but alloy-mimicking hubcaps covering steel rims. I did a double-take when this realization set in, and the look works really well. The test vehicle’s steelies are shod with 205/60R16 Maxxis Mecotra 3 passenger vehicle tyres, meaning tyre changes should be much easier since commercial vehicle-rated tyres are not needed.

Otherwise, we get what we expect of a panel van of this size here – a sliding door on each side and split rear wing doors that…

Inside

… open wide enough to accept a Euro pallet that can be loaded by forklift if need be. The load floor is rubber-lined to keep from scuffing and scratching painted metal up.

3,100-litres of cargo capacity is available here at a maximum payload of 710kg, so carting around goods for delivery should be a cinch for most intents and purposes. Six lashing rings are provided in the cargo compartment for the obligatory ratchet-strappery to keep your barang-barang from sliding around while on the move.

With cargo operations completed, it’s time to jump into the cab and move off.

Seat adjustments for both driver and passenger are manually done, with each seat receiving an armrest toward the centre of the van. This is a nice touch, especially for longer highway cruises where one can just rest their elbows on both the seat and door armrests and relax en route to the next destination.

The only niggle I found with the Caddy is the grille in the high partition behind the seats. Over rougher roads and when the skies open up, the cargo compartment turns into an echo chamber of sorts, with the grille letting this amplified noise into the cab. Perhaps a clear glass panel would have been better at isolating noises from back there.

The steering wheel falls nicely to hand and is adjustable for reach and rake. Normal cruise control is standard fit and came in extremely useful on highways and in average speed zones.

The instrument cluster is mostly analogue and easy to read, with a smaller digital screen in the centre that can display a variety of information, but I suspect will be left showing speed for most folks.

The infotainment system is simple, straightforward and pretty easy to use. It is connected to an audio system that can bang out tunes sufficiently loud to drown out the speed-limit dictating beeper that’s regulation-fitted to every commercial vehicle on our shores.

An overhead storage binnacle is useful to hold all manner of shipping paperwork, and possibly a smaller laptop or tablet. I’d put down an anti-slip mat first before keeping a laptop or tablet up there, just in case.

Door bins are also sufficiently spacious and can swallow larger water bottles with ease.

Driving

One word – easy. Visibility out of the cab on the move is good. Sufficiently large wing mirrors aid lane filtering and reversing very well. The steering wheel is pretty light, and that it features physical buttons make it that much easier to use.

Despite being a van, the Caddy can handle corners very well. It managed to surprise a souped-up Scirocco in a tightening-radius bend. At a cruise, the suspension soaks up most bumps well, although larger bumps can induce some crashiness.

The tyres remain quiet over smooth tarmac and only become audible over coarser bits of highway. When pushed in corners, they do protest early on, but grip well and remain stable.

What was endearing to my friends back in the mid-2000s is still here – the two-litre turbodiesel engine. 122hp may not sound like much, but 320Nm is certainly a lot for a van this size. Put your foot to the floor and the Caddy can chirp its tyres while taking off with alacrity.

Helping things along is a seven-speed dual-clutch DSG gearbox that remains smooth most of the time. One can also opt to use the steering-mounted shift paddles to row through gears semi-manually.

However, this is a commercial vehicle, and the idea is to ride the mountain of torque and leave the gearbox to its own devices. Do that, and good fuel economy can be yours for the taking. Volkswagen quotes a combined economy figure of 4.6-litres/100km or 21.7km/litre, and I was able to better this slightly at 4.4-litres/100km or 22.7km/litre over a test-driven 620.6km with the Caddy unladen and with auto engine start/stop left turned on.

Given its 50-litre fuel capacity, over 1,000km on a single tank of diesel is not out of the question. Of course, depending on load and use case, your mileage may vary.

When esteemed industry colleague and dear friend Clifford got wind that I’d be reviewing this VeeDub van, he chimed in with, “See if you can clock 31km/litre hahaha” on WhatsApp, because that’s what he managed with the Caddy.

The ‘gauntlet’ had been thrown, throwing my obsessive compulsion into overdrive along with it.

Immediately after “general commute #3”, a 56km “eco run” was therefore undertaken. The Caddy managed an unbelievable 35.7km/litre or 2.8 litres/100km even with the aircon blowing nice and cool and the audio system blasting out my favourite tunes.

Folks, it’s safe to say that no one is going to drive like this on a daily basis in real life. This was done purely as an academic exercise to showcase how efficient Volkswagen’s EA288 turbodiesel powerplant can be. Therefore, this economy figure was not used in the overall average calculations.

The Caddy is well put together, versatile, flexible and likeable. That it can pull like a freight train, handle corners smartly and sip fuel along the way just adds to its appeal. Given skyrocketing COE prices, revisiting the van ownership vs. car matter becomes a tempting proposition indeed.

Photo Credits: Sean Loo (@auto.driven)

Technical Specifications

Volkswagen Caddy 5 Cargo NWB Panel Van
Engine:  1,968cc turbocharged inline four-cylinder diesel
Transmission: 7-speed dual-clutch automatic
Driveline: Front-wheel drive
Power: 122hp @ 4,250rpm
Torque: 320Nm @ 2,500rpm
0-100km/h: approx. 11 seconds
Top Speed: 186km/h (claimed)
Fuel Economy (combined): 4.6-litres/100km or 21.7km/litre (claimed)
Fuel Tank Capacity: 50 litres
Kerb Weight (unladen): 1,540kg
Gross Weight (laden): 2,250kg
Payload: 710kg
Cost: Price On Application
Contact: Volkswagen Singapore

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