Saw VW Caddy Fuel Cell Vehicles in Vancouver!

Yesterday VW had some hydrogen fuel cell powered "Caddy" vans on display near the new convention center in Vancouver.

I talked to one of the VW representatives there a little. My first question was "Are they ever going to sell these here?" Answer: No.....

Then he went on to say that everyone has asked him the same thing. Everyone is interested in the vehicle and people want to buy one, but they can't. I told him that they probably can't sell them here because GM would never sell another car if VW was allowed to just sell anything it wanted. He laughed at this...because it's probably true. Since the Canadian and US governments are now in the business of selling GM's they probably don't like competition.

Anyway, it was nice to see first-hand what we can't have.

I think it's almost time to just move to Europe (I have citizenship) so I can buy a decent car.

Anybody else see these cars on display? They had California plates on them, so I guess they drove up from there...

Mike_04GolfTDI said:

Yesterday VW had some hydrogen fuel cell powered "Caddy" vans on display near the new convention center in Vancouver.

Click to expand...

Without the fuel cell, but with the 1.9 or 2.0 TDI, they are a pretty common sight in Germany. One reason: The price. A Caddy costs about the same as a Golf, if not a bit less.
The interior has some uncovered metal, the dashboard is made of simpler plastic than the Golf's. But you get 7 seats, in the long wheelbase version room for a lot of cargo too. The seats don't fold into the floor though, and it rides like the commercial van it is.

See the brochure here:
http://www.volkswagen-nutzfahrzeuge...fe/zahlenundfakten/infomaterial___preise.html

Available drivetrains are 1.5 gasser (80HP) with a 5-speed, 1.6 gasser (102HP) with a 5-speed, 2.0 natural gas (110hp) with a 5-speed, 1.9 TDI (105HP) with 5-speed or 6-speed DSG (manual version available with AWD too) and a 2.0 TDI (140HP) (manual only)

This PDF has some diagrams.
http://www.volkswagen-nutzfahrzeuge..._220.Par.0007.File.pdf/technik_caddy_life.pdf