Fifth Gear tested Clarkson's fastest-van-in-Britain claim by racing a T5 Sportline against the A-Team van; the Volkswagen won comfortably.
Lead trim: 2.0 (116 PS) · up to 232 hp
Volkswagen Transporter T5T5 · 2003–2015
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Nobody in Burbles has spotted a Volkswagen Transporter T5 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.
FactFifth Gear tested Clarkson's fastest-van-in-Britain claim by racing a T5 Sportline against the A-Team van; the Volkswagen won comfortably.
The T5 is the fifth generation of Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles' Transporter range of medium-sized light commercial vehicles, with the Caravelle and Multivan people movers. It was launched on 6 October 2002 and went into full production on 25 April 2003, replacing the T4. It was offered as a van, minibus, single-cab, double-cab, drop side or chassis truck in short and long wheelbases with three roof heights, but was not sold in the United States and Canada. A facelift in 2010 brought new common-rail TDI diesels and turbocharged TSI petrol engines.
Collectors Spotted in the Volkswagen Transporter Lineage
No member has published a public street spot of the Volkswagen Transporter yet — the First · Worldwide stamp is wide open.
Trims & Figures
9 published trims in the catalogue. A blank is a figure not recorded, not zero.
| Trim | Years | Engine | Power | Torque | 0–60 | Drive | Gearbox | MSRP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.9 TDI (102 PS) | 2003–2009 | 1.9 L Inline-4 | 101 hp | 184 lb-ft | — | — | — | — |
| 2.0 (116 PS) | 2003–2015 | 2.0 L Inline-4 | 114 hp | 125 lb-ft | — | — | — | — |
| 2.0 BiTDI (179 PS) | 2010–2015 | 2.0 L Inline-4 | 177 hp | 295 lb-ft | — | — | — | — |
| 2.0 TDI (102 PS) | 2010–2015 | 2.0 L Inline-4 | 101 hp | 184 lb-ft | — | — | — | — |
| 2.0 TDI (140 PS) | 2010–2015 | 2.0 L Inline-4 | 138 hp | 251 lb-ft | — | — | — | — |
| 2.0 TSI (204 PS) | 2010–2015 | 2.0 L Inline-4 | 201 hp | 258 lb-ft | — | — | — | — |
| 2.5 TDI (131 PS) | 2003–2009 | 2.5 L Inline-5 | 129 hp | 251 lb-ft | — | — | — | — |
| 2.5 TDI (174 PS) | 2003–2009 | 2.5 L Inline-5 | 172 hp | 295 lb-ft | — | — | — | — |
| 3.2 VR6 (235 PS) | 2003–2009 | 3.2 L VR6 | 232 hp | 232 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 T7 is built only as a passenger car; the van that replaced the T6.1 Transporter is a Ford Transit Custom sibling with no relation to it.
The T6.1 was still Volkswagen's best-selling van in 2024 when it was retired, because new EU cyber-security rules would have meant redesigning its electronics.
Fifth Gear tested Clarkson's fastest-van-in-Britain claim by racing a T5 Sportline against the A-Team van; the Volkswagen won comfortably.
This T4 was the first Volkswagen van built with its engine up front instead of over the rear axle.
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.