Caddy camping conversions

Find the best Caddy camping conversion ideas here.

Small / city cars Medium cars, SUVs Big cars, MPVs, Minivans

VW Caddy VW Sharan Dacia US Cars Skoda Berlingo SUV Toyota Roomster

The VW Caddy Maxi Life is one of the biggest MPVs out there and probably the best small camper van option out there. If boot size is your primary criterion – you can’t go wrong with a Caddy. The car drives good too. Where it lacks a bit is comfort – it takes after its van origins and offers a more basic interior. But it makes up for it in storage – it really has a lot of compartments all over the place. It’s not the best car to take off the road completely – but you can take it down a good enough mud road without any big problems. A very good car camping / microcamping conversion candidate, unless you are planning to drive through forests and very much offroad – or you prefer a higher-class interior comfort.

The Caddy Maxi is the longest small car we’ve seen – you won’t realize it until you actually see the 3 rows of seats in front of you and then still plenty of trunk space behind them.

Key information

Car type: MPV/Minivan
Make: Volkswagen
Folded seats boot length (cm): 225 (might need to remove the rear seats to achieve that, otherwise still a good 190cm)
Boot openning height (cm): 126
Boot width (cm): 155 (2nd row doors) / 117 (trunk)
avg MPG (US): 31.6
avg l/100km consumption: 7.4
EURO NCAP safety rating (2015) 4/5
ADAC Rating (lower = better) 2.3/5

Caddy NimbleCamper rating: 3.7/5

Caddy boot dimensions

Caddy PROs

big above head storage on top of other standard compartments
it is very spacious – long and tall, easy to sit in even when converted to a camping car at the back – it’s the biggest small car you can find out there if you want size, but not a van
flat boot door floor (loading area – easier to put a camping box / boot jump in and out)
easy to maintain, no expensive or hard to get parts
Volkswagen quality standard & reliability
good price on models up to 10 years old (they still drive very well at an affordable price + will last for years to come)
sliding middle doors
middle seats can be lifted up or removed
you can fold the middle row of seats and keep the rear ones up – and put your feet up (or use the middle row as a table)

Caddy CONs

more van-like – lower interior comfort
louder at higher speeds
not a 4×4 – ok for some off-road, but not too much
3rd row rear seats have to be removed, can’t be folded like in a 7 seater Sharan. On the plus side – the car is so long you might not need to remove them as there’s additional storage space behind the 3rd row of seats

Can you sleep in a VW Caddy?

You bet you can! The Caddy is big and tall and long… and a great (if not the best) candidate for a camping conversion.

The VW Caddy Maxi Life is a very good car for car camping – it’s the second most spacious MPV out there, only beaten in size by the Chrysler Grand Voyager (which scores lower on all other fronts). Its level of comfort is lower compared to a VW Sharan (f.e. no armrest for the driver – although the Comfortline version does have it), but the rest is very similar – like mileage and maintenance costs. It’s also well priced – especially 5-10 years old models that were well kept – to be found at 10,000 – 14,000 GBP. It’s not an offroad car so don’t expect a thrilling offroad ride, yet still, you can take it down a not too steep/rough dirt track or through a meadow.

Read the full Caddy camper review