2022 VW Multivan T7 review: the fab family van that thinks it's a regular car

We've always loved the idea of running a van as a family car – simply because vans offer you flexibility and space that no regular car can compete with. The only problem with this – and 'people carrier' vans such as Volkswagen's now-extinct Caravelle – is that you can still tell the vehicle in question is based on a van more commonly used to shift building supplies around the country. Vans tend to be noisier inside than cars, rattlier than cars and a bit more wobbly.

Volkswagen hopes to eradicate all of those whinges with this – the new VW Multivan. It's based on the brand's MQB platform, which is basically a bunch of parts used in most of Volkswagen, Audi, SEAT and Skoda's family cars. So in short, this Multivan should feel like a car, while also giving you the size and space of a van. Still with us?

Good. Watch the video below to find out if it's any good, or read on for more thoughts.

What is it?

It's a vehicle that's been designed and built by Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles – the people also responsible for the iconic Transporter panel van, Amarok pick-up and California campervan. We don't know the price for the new Multivan yet, except to say the Caravelle it replaces cost from £51,000.

The new Multivan is available in two sizes – regular and long. Both have the same wheelbase, but the long version gets 20cm of extra rear overhang to give it even more boot space. It's 1.9m tall (8cm lower than the Caravelle), so it should fit into most underground car parks without any wincing. You can spec the Multivan with up to seven seats, and they're all individual thrones – there's no clumsy three-seater rear bench here, but you can unlatch and reposition the seats to form a three-across seat in the back, or whatever other configuration you fancy.

You get a little roof spoiler, plus quite car-like taillights

You get a little roof spoiler, plus quite car-like taillights

Spec the Multivan correctly and you can also reverse the middle row of seats to face the rear ones, and those middle seats can fold forward to form horizontal tables, complete with built-in cupholders. One really neat trick up the Multivan's orangey-sleeve is that the individual seats can be heated, with power supplied through the rails in the floor – but you can still remove the seats and chuck them in the garage if you want to wang some motorbikes in the back. It's a flexible system, made even cooler by the fact that the seats are up to 25% lighter than in the Caravelle, meaning they weigh in between 23kg and 29kg. We tested it, and you're not going to give yourself a hernia lifting them in and out of the two electric-sliding doors.

You get an electric-powered sliding door on each side of the Multivan – helpful for parking in tight car parks

You get an electric-powered sliding door on each side of the Multivan – helpful for parking in tight car parks

Also new is a slim table that can be raised and lowered and also features two flip-out tables. It runs on rails down the middle of the cabin, all the way from up by the front infotainment screen to your back-seat passengers. Because there's no manual gearbox option or a manual handbrake, you can put it next to the driver's seat as a centre console.

Tell us about the oily bits

You can get the Multivan as a plug-in hybrid, which combines a 150hp 1.4-litre petrol engine with a 116hp motor which is inside the 6-speed DSG gearbox. Together you get 218hp, and a 31-mile electric-only driving range courtesy of a 10.4kWh battery. You can drive on electric power alone at speeds up to 70mph.

Matrix LED lights are available, meaning you can leave your main beam on and have the clever computer systems blank oncoming cars from your beams

Matrix LED lights are available, meaning you can leave your main beam on and have the clever computer systems blank oncoming cars from your beams

We found that the hybrid battery's weight did make the Multivan's ride a little bit lumpy over broken roads, a problem that you don't get at all in the 2.0-litre, 204hp petrol version, or the 1.5-litre, 136hp petrol version. There'll be a 2.0-litre, 150hp diesel version from the middle of 2022. All the non-hybrids get a 7-speed DSG auto gearbox and they're all front-wheel-drive – there aren't any four-wheel-drive Multivans in the range.

Does it feel like a car to drive then?

Almost. It feels a lot more 'car-like' than most vans, and a lot more composed than the Caravelle that preceded it. You still sit up high, with a commanding view out to a bonnet that ends somewhere out of sight – but you can get 360-degree surround-view cameras to mitigate any parking mishaps. The visibility out the back and the mirrors is great, and you can get Volkswagen's biggest-ever panoramic sunroof to bring lots of light into the cabin, and it's specially coated to reflect heat and to avoid dazzle. But on to the driving proper.

The hybrid version fires up in… well, silence. Acceleration from a standstill isn't hugely fast – most of the Multivan 0-62mph times are between 9.4 and 12 seconds, with the hybrid falling in at 11.6 seconds. But once you're on the move it accelerates pretty briskly, although the 1.4-litre petrol engine in the hybrid is a revvy little bastard that makes a slightly uncouth racy noise. The (also revvy) 2.0-litre, 204hp petrol allows you to make quite impressively quick progress, which would normally mean it's going to leave you a bit terrified at the sight of a corner…

The cabin's stuffed with storage and you get a digital dash and touchscreen infotainment as standard (massage seats are optional…)

The cabin's stuffed with storage and you get a digital dash and touchscreen infotainment as standard (massage seats are optional…)

… but the Multivan has body control and composure that we've never felt in a van. It's no sports car, but it stays flat in corners and doesn't roll about on its dynamic dampers. We sat in the back while another journalist gave us an Uber Ride from Hell and we didn't once feel queasy or green around the gills. It grips more than you'd think, and while not being exciting to drive, you don't have to switch your brain to van-handling mode when you get to a roundabout. It's pretty impressive for what it is. There's a bit more road noise in the cabin than we'd like at 70mph, so it can take a little bit of shouting to make your demands known to people sitting in the very back row.

We've spoken about the ride already, and in short you're best off avoiding the hybrid if you want the most comfortable version of the Multivan. The brake pedal is nice and soft at the top of the travel, so you can usher your family to a halt without spilling anything, yet you can stamp on the pedal and shed speed quickly when needed.

What else do I need to know?

By building the Multivan on the MQB platform, Volkswagen's ensured you get all the usual tech normally reserved for cars. This includes VW's latest infotainment system – which doesn't have any physical buttons for climate control, annoyingly (and it did crash on us once), but it does have wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

Boot space is pretty good – and very good if you slide the rear seats forward a touch (or buy the long version)

Boot space is pretty good – and very good if you slide the rear seats forward a touch (or buy the long version)

There's an upgraded Harman/Kardon sound system which can fill the entire cabin with impressively good audio, and your back-seat passengers can hear every note of every riff too. You also get a litany of driver-assist tech including lane-keep assist and adaptive cruise control, which can work together on motorways for a form of autonomous driving from 0-70mph. Trailer assist is also an option – a bit of software that'll use the infotainment screen to help you hitch a trailer and reverse with it, and you can tow anywhere between 1.6 and 2.0 tonnes depending on which engine you pick for your Multivan.

Excuse the bags… but you can spec the Multivan to have middle-row seats that can face either way

Excuse the bags… but you can spec the Multivan to have middle-row seats that can face either way

You can even spec a proper head-up display (which reflects in the windscreen – not one of the cheaper little bits of plastic that flips up on the dash), and you get a wireless charging mat under the infotainment system as well as USB-C ports dotted liberally about the cabin.

On paper, the Multivan's boot isn't actually huge at 469 litres, but because you can slide all the seats about to your heart's content (and remove them individually) you're never going to be short on space for your stuff – and you can get the long version to increase boot space even more.

Should I get one?

There's every chance you've read this and thought it all sounds very sensible – and it is. But if you've a large family (or even a regular-size brood) then the Multivan should be on your radar. Volkswagen's made a van that's pretty much perfect for you – everything about it reeks of practicality and fit-for-purpose family fun. VW's done a pretty darn good job of removing the objections to using a van as a daily family hack, and you have to applaud them for that. And the orange paintjob.