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Commercial users looking for a big eight-to-nine-seat People Carrier can hardly make a more practical or sensible choice than this new-era Volkswagen Transporter Shuttle. Its development owes much to Ford, but that means it's potentially much more electrified.
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Background
There's no substitute for space. Which is why large MPVs these days are all based on medium-sized vans - including this one, Volkswagen's Transporter Shuttle.
Under the skin, this is the Wolfsburg maker's version of Ford's Tourneo Custom - the two models share all the same engineering. And it's the big Volkswagen People Carrier you'd turn to if you needed something even larger than the brand's big Multivan MPV. And something with even more seats than a Transporter Kombi (which can take up to six). The Transporter Shuttle can take up to nine. And here, we'll tell you more about it.
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Range data
| Min | Max |
| Price | 48775 | 67355 |
| CO2 (g/km) | 207 | 224 |
| Max Speed (mph) | 109 | 109 |
| 0-62 mph (s) | 14.7 | 14.7 |
| Min | Max |
| Electric WLTP-Rated Driving Range (miles) | 163 | 163 |
| Combined Mpg | 35.8 | 35.8 |
| Length (mm) | 1999 | 1999 |
| Height (mm) | 2014 | 2014 |
| Boot Capacity (l) | 696 | 1211 |
Driving experience
There's no shortage of drivetrain choice here; front, rear or (potentially) four-wheel drive, with manual or automatic transmission. And as well as the diesel options Shuttle customers will be used to, this People Carrier can now also be had in both PHEV petrol and full-EV forms.
Initially, most sales will continue to be diesel-based, with the 2.0 TDI four cylinder unit available in 110PS (manual), 150PS (manual or auto) and 170PS (auto) forms. The PHEV version uses a 2.5-litre petrol engine paired with an 85kW electric motor and an 11.8kWh battery, the combination offering 232PS and up to 34 miles of EV range.
The full-EV e-Shuttle will mainly be chosen in either 136PS or 218PS forms and has a 64kWh battery offering a range just over 200 miles. There's also a more potent version with a 286PS motor that makes 62mph in just 7.4s. With full 'B' brake regen engaged, 'one-pedal' driving in an e-Shuttle is almost possible, where you'll hardly ever need to touch the brake pedal to slow down.
You'll probably be surprised how by how manoeuvrable this Volkswagen is; the short wheelbase version's turning circle (11.9m) is just a metre longer than a Golf's. Around twisting roads, it won't feel much different to the brand's supposedly more car-like Multivan MPV, though you'll get more wind noise from the big mirrors.
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Design and build
From the outside, this is clearly a window-ed version of the current generation Transporter mid-sized van, available in the same short and long wheelbase lengths. Even the shorter version is probably big - 5,050mm long. Customers choose between the standard eight-seat format - with two separate chairs up-front and a couple of three-person benches behind. Or an optional nine-seater configuration that replaces the front passenger chair with a two-person bench.
There's lots of middle row room and access to the third row is via sliding doors and seats that fold and tip. You'll want the long wheelbase version if you'll be using the third row regularly; with that, even near-six footers will be comfortable in the very back. There are deep cup holders for every outside seat, plus plenty of places to charge mobile devices. The driver's seat features a 230V socket in its base.
The boot is accessed by the class-usual vast tailgate, which will require you to leave lots of space behind the vehicle if you're to open it. Volkswagen has concentrated on delivering a low loading height to make it easy to lift suitcases in. And even with all the seats in place, the boot capacity is vast, with 696-litres in the short wheelbase variant or 1,211-litres in the long wheelbase version.
Up-front, as in the Transporter van, there's a 12-inch instrument display and a 13-inch central touchscreen. If you're used to the physical climate knobs of the old Shuttle T6.1, you might find the touchscreen climate controls of this replacement model fiddly to use. But otherwise, the dashboard is a big improvement.
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Market and model
As with the old Transporter Shuttle, you'll only be able to get one of these at a Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles dealer. Prices from launch started from around £49,000, ranging up to around £67,000 and customers have a choice of long or short wheelbase body shapes with two trim levels - 'Life' and 'Style'. The full-EV e-Transporter Shuttle cost from around £56,000 at launch. Whatever your drivetrain choice, you're probably going want to find the extra Volkswagen wants (around £1,000) for the lengthier long wheelbase body shape. Otherwise, the main decision to make is whether to take up the option which will give you a two-person front bench rather than a single front passenger seat, and so turn this model from an eight to a nine-seater.
Base 'Life' spec gets you most of what you really need. LED headlights with high beam control, LED tail lamps, 16-inch 'Montreal' alloy wheels, all-round parking sensors, a rear view camera, an alarm, cruise control and a steel spare wheel. Inside, there's a 12-inch digital instrument display; and a 13-inch central touchscreen with a 10-speaker audio system and a 5G modem. Plusher 'Style'-spec adds IQ Light LED Matrix headlamps, smarter 17-inch 'Le Mans' alloy wheels, powered sliding side doors, rear privacy glass, a heated windscreen, a wireless 'phone charger and leatherette upholstery.
All versions get plenty of safety kit, including Front collision warning with braking, lane assist and Dynamic Road Sign Display.
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Cost of ownership
You won't be expecting an MPV of this size to be particularly cheap to run, but Volkswagen hopes to surprise you mere. In the short wheelbase model, the base 2.0 TDI 110PS diesel unit manages up to 39.2mpg on the combined cycle and up to 190g/km of CO2. It's 35.8mpg and 207g/km for the 150PS and 170PS 2.0 TDI models.
If you need to make more of an eco-statement but aren't quite ready for a full-EV, then you'll possibly be interested in the PHEV petrol model we told you about in our 'Driving' section, which has an 11.8kWh battery offering 34 miles of EV range. The 3.7kW charging speed means it'll take around four hours to charge from empty to full. Combined cycle fuel economy is quoted at around 175mpg. In reality, if you keep the vehicle regularly charged up, you'll probably record running cost figures similar to those you'd get with the diesel.
Obviously, the cleanest and most efficient version of this model is the e-Transporter Shuttle, which as we told you in our 'Driving' section offers a 64kWh usable-capacity battery which, with the base 136PS motor, is capable of up to 200 miles between charges. Inevitably, that drops a bit with the two more powerful motor options; it's up to 192 miles with the 218PS motor, while the top 285PS version can only manage 163 miles between charges.
The e-Transporter Shuttle's 64kWh battery charges at up to 125kW. DC public charging can take the battery from 10 to 80% capacity (so from around 35 miles of range to around 190 miles of range) 39 minutes. As for AC charging, well a full charge takes 9.8 hours with a 7.4kW wallbox - or 6.6 hours if you use a three-phase 11kW supply. A domestic 3-pin socket would need a yawning 31.4 hours for a full recharge. The battery's charge profile has been designed to 'frontload' the energy, which allows the 125kW fast charge to add 23 miles of range in just 5 minutes for quick top-ups. Better still, the 'one pedal' brake regen driving system can keep the battery topped up as you journey on.
With this generation model, services have to be carried out every two years or 25,000 miles, whichever comes first. At present, there are 58 Volkswagen Van Centres in the UK. Volkswagen's offering what it calls a '5+ Promise' as standard. This gives you 5 services and 3 MOTs, a 5 year/124,000 mile warranty and 5 years Roadside Assistance. It's a useful reason to choose a Transporter Shuttle rather than its Ford Tourneo Custom cousin.
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Summary
Volkswagen has a heritage in this segment going back decades, mainly with various generations of its long-running Caravelle series. That Caravelle was supposedly succeeded in 2021 by the brand's Multivan MPV, but it's this Transporter Shuttle that's really the true replacement. The Caravelle was, after all, always unashamedly Transporter van-based - in a way the Multivan isn't but this Shuttle model really is.
That might make you think that the drive experience here would be very LCV-like, but actually it really isn't. Which is true whether you choose this model in diesel, PHEV or EV forms. But like the old Caravelle, it's eminently sensible, doesn't try and be a van-like car and just gets on with the job of transporting a lot of people a lot of miles. Just as it should.
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