For the second year running, the Volkswagen Caddy DSG (Direct Shift Gearbox) has achieved honours at the What Van? magazine Van of the Year Awards.

The Caddy DSG, which uses twin clutch technology to provide faster gear changes than a conventional automatic gearbox, received the exclusive Editor’s Choice award at the magazine’s 2007 awards ceremony in London on Wednesday 28th November. Last year the Volkswagen DSG won the What Van? Technology Award.

What van? Honours Volkswagen Caddy DSG with second award

‘More and more manufacturers are offering an alternative to the conventional manual gearbox as an extra-cost option. Nobody, however, has come up with a solution that is quite as novel – or quite as effective – as Volkswagen’s DSG. It’s so impressive that it’s a worthy winner of the What Van? Editor’s Choice Award for 2007,’ said Neil McIntee, the Editor of What Van? magazine.

Gemma Cox, Product Manager, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles said: ‘The What Van? awards are a great testament to Volkswagen’s advanced and efficient technology in the Caddy DSG and the quality Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles provide.’

The efficient, six-speed Volkswagen DSG uses two clutches which allow gear changes to occur in less than four hundredths of a second, enabling it to achieve the same 0-62 mph time of 13.3 seconds as the manual transmission with the same 1.9-litre, 104 PS TDI PD engine.
What van? Honours Volkswagen Caddy DSG with second award

For the driver, the DSG is as easy to use as a conventional automatic transmission with added bonus of being able to select a manual mode and change gear by simply nudging the gearlever up or down.

The DSG is unique in the commercial vehicle market and is exclusively available in the Volkswagen Caddy van with an on the road price of £12,836.28 excluding VAT – a premium of only £1,000 over the equivalent model with manual transmission.

Other recent awards for the Volkswagen Caddy include Best Small Van from Van Fleet World and Professional Van & Light Truck magazines.