Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles is now offering the Transporter T6 in chassis cab form. Four derivatives will be available, with a choice between single- and double-cab and a six-speed manual or seven-speed automatic transmission.
Small design, big benefits
Whereas this design is popular in Europe, medium-sized chassis cabs are a niche in the UK and, previously, Fiat Professional was the only company to sell them here with the Scudo Chassis Cab. As opposed to the traditional 3.5t chassis cab, the smaller models are very manoeuvrable around the city with their tight turning circles and provide much better fuel economy while still being able to ferry up to six workers around.
Limited payload
One of the disadvantages of the smaller chassis is the limited payload. All chassis cabs are offered with a 3t gross vehicle weight, and with kerbweights as high as 1,825kg on the double-cab, automatic version, the payload can be as little as 1,175kg before the body is fitted. The single-cab, manual version has a 1,339kg payload.
Factory-fit dropside body
Volkswagen has also teamed up with a leading European bodybuilder to offer a dropside body, which is fitted at the factory in Poznan, Poland (panel van variants are built in Hanover). The factory-specification dropside bodies offer versatile load space of either 5.2 cubic metres in single-cab form or 4.2 cubic metres in double-cab arrangement.
Driveline and specification
All variants of the chassis cab come in Startline trim (not available in Trendline, Highline or Sportline), although even the base spec packs a lot of standard equipment including BlueMotion technology, DAB digital radio, 5-inch touchscreen, Bluetooth and USB connectivity.
The T6 chassis cab is powered by VW’s renowned 2-litre diesel unit, which produces 138bhp and 340Nm. Combined with the BlueMotion technology, the vehicle returns a very respectable 38.7mpg on the double-cab, manual version.
Read the full Volkswagen Transporter T6 review.
