VW's own-brand Crafter wasn't really Volkswagen's: the first generation was a rebadged Mercedes-Benz Sprinter, built on Daimler's own line with only the powertrain supplied by VW.
Median 112 hp across 65 similar cars
Lead trim: Crafter 2.5 TDI CR 88 PS (Euro 5 EEV) · up to 161 hp
Volkswagen Crafter Typ 2E / 2F2E-2F · 2006–2017
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Nobody in Burbles has spotted a Volkswagen Crafter Typ 2E / 2F yet. See one on the street, point the app at it, and the first card is yours — with your @handle permanently credited on this page.
FactVW's own-brand Crafter wasn't really Volkswagen's: the first generation was a rebadged Mercedes-Benz Sprinter, built on Daimler's own line with only the powertrain supplied by VW.
The Volkswagen Crafter, introduced in 2006, is the largest three- to five-ton van produced and sold by Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, officially replacing the Transporter LT launched in 1975 (known as the LT3 for its production plant code). Like the second-generation LT, the first-generation Crafter is a rebadged Mercedes-Benz Sprinter built by Daimler AG at the Mercedes-Benz Ludwigsfelde and Düsseldorf plants, with a powertrain by Volkswagen; French designer Laurent Boulay is responsible for the frontal design, which takes cues from the Volkswagen Constellation. From launch in 2006 up to 2010 all engines were based on Volkswagen Group's re-engineered 2.5-litre R5 TDI (2,459 cc, common rail with piezo injectors and a diesel particulate filter for Euro IV); the 2010 version was redesigned, correcting the previous problems of turbo failure, and a "Blue TDI" with AdBlue attained Euro V EEV. Three wheelbases were offered (3,250, 3,665 and 4,325 mm), with front airbags standard, side and curtain airbags optional, and ABS, ESP, ASR and EDL; chassis and double cab models have payloads of 1,472 to 3,026 kg at 3.5 or 5.3 tonne gross vehicle weights. It won a string of 2006–2008 awards including What Van? Overall Van of the Year (UK). The April 2011 revision changed the grille to Volkswagen's design language and replaced the 2.5 with the 2.0-litre TDI (80 kW/109 PS, 100 kW/136 PS and BiTDI 120 kW/163 PS) with EGR and a DPF for Euro 5b, raising payload by up to 10% on some models, two years before the Sprinter got its own facelift; a 4Motion variant with the BiTDI followed in March 2012, its four-wheel-drive system supplied and fitted by Austrian specialists Achleitner.
Collectors Spotted in the Volkswagen Crafter Lineage
No member has published a public street spot of the Volkswagen Crafter yet — the First · Worldwide stamp is wide open.
Trims & Figures
11 published trims in the catalogue. A blank is a figure not recorded, not zero.
| Trim | Years | Engine | Power | Torque | 0–60 | Drive | Gearbox | MSRP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crafter 2.0 BiTDI CR 163 PS (facelift; 4Motion from 2012) | 2011–2017 | 2.0 L Inline-4 | 161 hp | 295 lb-ft | — | — | — | — |
| Crafter 2.0 TDI CR 109 PS (facelift) | 2011–2017 | 2.0 L Inline-4 | 108 hp | 221 lb-ft | — | — | — | — |
| Crafter 2.0 TDI CR 136 PS (facelift) | 2011–2017 | 2.0 L Inline-4 | 134 hp | 251 lb-ft | — | — | — | — |
| Crafter 2.5 TDI CR 109 PS (Euro 4) | 2006–2010 | 2.5 L Inline-5 | 108 hp | 207 lb-ft | — | — | — | — |
| Crafter 2.5 TDI CR 109 PS (Euro 5 EEV) | 2010–2011 | 2.5 L Inline-5 | 108 hp | 221 lb-ft | — | — | — | — |
| Crafter 2.5 TDI CR 136 PS (Euro 4) | 2006–2010 | 2.5 L Inline-5 | 134 hp | 221 lb-ft | — | — | — | — |
| Crafter 2.5 TDI CR 136 PS (Euro 5 EEV) | 2010–2011 | 2.5 L Inline-5 | 134 hp | 243 lb-ft | — | — | — | — |
| Crafter 2.5 TDI CR 163 PS (Euro 4) | 2006–2010 | 2.5 L Inline-5 | 161 hp | 258 lb-ft | — | — | — | — |
| Crafter 2.5 TDI CR 163 PS (Euro 5 EEV) | 2010–2011 | 2.5 L Inline-5 | 161 hp | 266 lb-ft | — | — | — | — |
| Crafter 2.5 TDI CR 88 PS (Euro 4) | 2006–2010 | 2.5 L Inline-5 | 87 hp | 162 lb-ft | — | — | — | — |
| Crafter 2.5 TDI CR 88 PS (Euro 5 EEV) | 2010–2011 | 2.5 L Inline-5 | 87 hp | 184 lb-ft | — | — | — | — |
Owning one
We don’t estimate running costs for a car like this. What it costs depends on its condition, its specialist and how it is driven, and an average would mislead.
Owners’ builds
Nobody has claimed one yet.
Photographs
The first-gen Crafter was a rebadged Mercedes Sprinter — this second generation is the first Crafter Volkswagen engineered entirely on its own.
VW's own-brand Crafter wasn't really Volkswagen's: the first generation was a rebadged Mercedes-Benz Sprinter, built on Daimler's own line with only the powertrain supplied by VW.
Rivals
Same body, same money, other badges — tap any card to flip.
Chevy pitched the Astro as the anti-minivan, telling buyers life was too big for one, while it rode on a rear-wheel-drive truck frame.
The IIHS rated the Astro Poor in a 1996 crash test, yet 2001–2004 Astros later had the lowest driver death rate of any US passenger vehicle.
The boxy, unglamorous Astro quietly posted one of the best real-world safety records in America: IIHS found 2001-2004 models had the fewest driver deaths per million vehicles of any passenger vehicle on US roads.
The third-generation Tourneo Connect, released in Europe in October 2021, is a rebadged fourth-generation Volkswagen Caddy, assembled by Volkswagen in Poland.
Ford beat the 25% "chicken tax" by importing the Transit Connect as a passenger van — rear windows and seats included, then stripped out and recycled once it landed in the US.
Ford spent years in federal court over the second-gen Transit Connect: in June 2019 the US won its appeal, and judges ruled the van was cargo-only — ending Ford's workaround for the 'chicken tax.'
GM sold a rebadged Nissan NV200 as the Chevy City Express for four years, then killed it in 2018, citing weak sales and the fact that its parts weren't even compatible with GM's own parts catalog.
Its name is a pun: "S-Cargo" means "Small Cargo" but sounds just like escargot — French for snail, the shape the whole van was built to resemble.