Volkswagen Crafter Box Body 50 2023 Review

The latest model under Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles’ in-house conversion program, this 2023 Volkswagen Crafter Box Body 50 has Australia’s 4500kg GVM cab-over truck market in its sights. The German maker says its Crafter Box Body 50 offers significantly more payload than an equivalent cab-over truck, in a ready-to-work pantech format that can be driven on a standard car licence. Add in solid safety and well-mannered handling, and it’s a turnkey solution that could fit the bill for many Australian businesses.

This 2023 Volkswagen Crafter Box Body 50 is priced at $82,650 plus on-road costs, although that’s a recommended retail price that includes GST, which won’t concern ABN holders.

With a Gross Vehicle Mass (GVM) of 4490kg, Volkswagen says it is targeting the sub-4500kg GVM truck market with its ready-to-roll Crafter-based pantech, which here in Australia equates with players like Isuzu’s Ready-to-Work Isuzu NNR 45-150 Vanpack and Fuso’s Built Ready Fuso Canter 515 Pantech, both of which generally command prices in the low to high $80Ks.

Then there are the like-for-like cab-chassis rivals such as the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter, IVECO Daily and Ford Transit et al, but while all these brands are happy to collaborate with body builders to produce bespoke solutions, none currently offer a ready-to-roll pantech straight off the showroom floor.

Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles also offers a Crafter Box Body 35, a front-drive, single-rear-wheels model with 3550kg GVM, for $71,650 plus on-road costs.

Volkswagen has partnered with British LCV specialist Ingimex to produce the Crafter Box Body 50. The pantech bodies are imported here as CKD kits and then assembled in Sydney and Melbourne by PrixCar, before heading to VW’s dealer network.

The body itself features a smooth gel-coated ply exterior that’s ideal for signage and comes with a heavy-duty aluminium roller shutter at the rear. And while the options list is relatively short, a big-ticket item for many will be the 500kg-capacity rear tail lift (RRP: $6040).

Elsewhere, the vehicle also scores heavy-duty suspension, a suspended driver’s seat, and an auxiliary battery as standard.

The 2023 Volkswagen Crafter Box Body 50 comes with VW’s standard five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty, with one year of complimentary roadside service. Buyers of vehicles registered before September 30, 2023, can take advantage of a promotional servicing package where a five-year servicing plan costs $1850, which is roughly around the cost of three-year plan.

Otherwise, service intervals are pegged at every 12 months or 20,000km, whichever comes first, with each service coming in at $590 under the brand’s Assured Service Pricing scheme.

The Ingimex body is also covered by the five-year VW warranty, while any repairs can be made through the VW dealer network.

As a commercial vehicle, there is no requirement for the Crafter Box Body 50 to be assessed under the ANCAP framework. However, the van segment has made significant gains in safety in recent years and the Crafter too has benefitted.

In addition to staples like front and side-curtain airbags for both the driver and passenger, stability control, traction control, and anti-lock brakes, this Crafter also boasts frontal collision warning with autonomous emergency braking (but no pedestrian or cyclist detection), driver fatigue monitor, a reversing camera (with reversing buzzer), hill hold assist, and a Multi-Collision Brake (which brakes the vehicle after a collision to help prevent a secondary collision).

Features such as adaptive cruise control, auto lights and wipers, LED headlamps and daytime running lights (halogen standard), and front fog lights with cornering function, among others, are available via a couple of driver assistance packages, but lane keep assist and blind-spot monitoring are not available for this variant.

Light commercial vehicles can sometimes be a little light-on in the technology department, but the 2023 Volkswagen Crafter Box Body 50 presents with a pragmatic assortment of tech features.

There’s standard electronic cruise control with overspeed warning and speed limiter function, while a multi-function steering wheel allows drivers to control audio, call management, the cruise control and the instrumentation’s multi-function display, the latter able to bring up a variety of vehicle and trip data.

A 6.5-inch colour touchscreen is standard and features Bluetooth, VW’s App Connect platform, and (wired) Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity, while also displaying the reversing camera output. There’s a standard AM/FM radio, with audio channelled through a four-speaker stereo system.

A larger 8.0-inch multimedia system, with integrated satellite navigation and voice commands, is optional ($1450).

Under the Volkswagen Crafter Box Body 50’s bonnet is VW’s TDI410 BlueMotion 2.0-litre four-cylinder twin-turbo diesel, which feeds maximum outputs of 130kW at 3600rpm and 410Nm at 2000rpm to the rear (dual) wheels via an eight-speed automatic transmission.

In the case of the Box Body, the BlueMotion refers to the inclusion of a stop/start (or idle-stop) system plus energy recuperation via regenerative braking (said to boost alternator output when braking, thereby reducing the load on the engine when accelerating).

The truck comes with a 75-litre fuel tank and also requires AdBlue.

While fuel economy is obviously the product of many variables, we drove the 2023 Volkswagen Crafter Box Body 50 over a mix of congested city streets and faster motorways, while carrying 975kg in the back. After the best part of a couple of hundred kilometres, the vehicle returned an average fuel economy of 13.3L/100km, which equates with a safe working range of over 500km kilometres.

In producing the 2023 Volkswagen Crafter Box Body 50, VW partnered with British LCV specialist Ingimex to supply the pantech body, which is exported in kit form and then assembled and fitted to the Crafter here in Australia.

The body comes with a single-piece, non-slip wood-composite floor, an internal lashing system for load restraint, and a locking aluminium roller shutter rear door. A rear footstep and full-height grab handle is standard, as is a swivelling LED work light, while a 500kg column tail lift, as mentioned, is a $6040 option.

The step and grab rail make stepping up into the load bay easy, and once you’re there you’ll find a heap of space. We measured the load bay at 4080mm long by 1960mm wide by 2050mm high, with a bit more room for lighter items over the cab.

The cargo area also has a translucent roof, which floods the area with natural light during the day.

The body itself has a claimed capacity of 17 cubic metres, along with an estimated payload of around 1750kg. Volkswagen Australia says that’s around 500kg better than similar car-licence-friendly trucks fitted with dry goods bodies, giving the Crafter Box Body 50 a “best-in-class payload for the sub-4.5t GVM truck market that can be driven on a standard car licence”. That’s a point of difference that, in conjunction with its more car-like drive, VW hopes will woo plenty of potential buyers.

The Volkswagen Crafter Box Body 50 also has a 3500kg braked towing capacity and is fitted with heavy-duty suspension to better handle a heavy load.

One definite advantage the Volkswagen Crafter Box Body 50 has over a cab-over truck is the quality of its drive – it’s really no less manageable on the road than any large passenger vehicle, and with our 975kg test weight, accounting for around 56 per cent of its total available payload,the suspension settled nicely and the ride was reasonably compliant. Smaller corrugations are ironed out well and while you still feel and hear bigger impacts, the worst of the shock is isolated effectively.

The Crafter navigates the bends with poise too. Sure, there’s a bit of body roll through corners but it’s controlled well, while the disc brakes at all four corners wipe off speed with dependable power and reasonable feel at the pedal.

However, it’s still a fair lump of a thing to manoeuvre in tighter confines, with a 16.2m turning circle, an overall length of just over 7.0m, and a height of 3.2m, but the steering is light and direct and there’s little effort involved in guiding it into and out of parking bays, loading docks and so on.

Incidentally, that turning circle is roughly 4m more than the turnkey pre-bodied trucks from Isuzu and Fuso we mentioned earlier, but then those trucks are also about a metre shorter in overall length (cab-over truck cabs being inherently shorter than those of bonneted vehicles).

The TDI410 engine is a faithful toiler, with a broad spread of grunt on tap to get the job done. This Crafter was positively sprightly when unladen and even with the weight in the back it never struggled in city traffic, getting away from the lights swiftly. The oiler is a bit noisy under load but it’s nothing untoward for this style of vehicle – it’s quiet enough in the cab on a steady throttle and it’s still appreciably quieter than your typical cab-over truck.

Making light work of the driving task is an eight-speed automatic transmission that gets on with the job well. To be honest, I never really noticed the auto’s operation, which goes some way to underlining its effectiveness. The engine is pulling around 2250rpm at 100km/h in eighth and generally offers a good amount of go for overtaking when required.

Driver vision is excellent. You sit up quite high and can see clear over most cars, including larger SUVs, and the A-pillars are quite skinny.

Dynamically, the Volkswagen Crafter Box Body 50 represents a very solid proposition, with excellent workhorse potential whether you prioritise load volume or load-lugging ability.

It may be a commercial vehicle, but the 2023 Volkswagen Crafter Box Body 50 still scores several niceties and pleasing refinement when it comes to its cab. Yes, there’s the usual jigsaw of hard plastics, with a hard plastic steering wheel and plastic flooring, but the fit and finish of the all the various panels is excellent; we couldn’t find a sharp or rough edge anywhere.

There’s a grab handle and a decent step to help you up to the multi-adjustable ‘ergoActive’ suspension seat, which comes with lumbar support, twin adjustable armrests – even a back massage function! Add in the height and reach-adjustable steering wheel, and it’s no bother to find the ideal driving position.

Both passengers score three-point lap/sash seat belts, and the cloth-upholstered bench seating is also comfy and supportive.

It’s a spacious cab, generally speaking, and because of the low transmission tunnel it’s easy to slide yourself out to the nearside door if need be, to avoid potentially stepping out the driver’s side door into heavy traffic.

Pairing a phone is simple and there’s wired Apple CarPlay (and Android Auto) too, which comes up on the compact 6.5-inch screen (well, provided you have the appropriate USB-C cable!). There’s a little ledge to put your phone on just above the twin USB-C ports, with a 12V socket just nearby.

The quality of the four-speaker stereo is really good, although we noted that the on/off/volume knob was a reach away on the far side of the display (though most will use the steering wheel controls). The heating and air-con are very effective.

Cab storage is excellent, from the generous triple-deck door pockets, to the array of dash-top trays (pity the second 12V outlet here is on the passenger side tray, not the driver’s side), to the overhead shelves, with more storage space beneath the passenger seat squabs.

Weighing it all up, the Volkswagen Crafter Box Body 50 adds a solid layer of refinement over its focus on functionality; it’s hard to see how a driver could be dissatisfied if this was their mobile office through the working week.

The days of bare-bones commercial vehicles are rapidly fading in the mirrors. This 2023 Volkswagen Crafter Box Body 50 is packaged with solid safety credentials and boasts impressive cabin comfort and convenience features, without losing any of its strong commercial appeal. And thanks to Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles’ conversion program, this model is ready to get straight to work hauling freight with its pantech body.

For businesses in rapid need of a pragmatic load-lugging solution, the Volkswagen Crafter Box Body 50 will keep drivers, operators, and their customers smiling.

Model: 2023 Volkswagen Crafter Box Body 50
Price: $82,650 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel
Output: 130kW/410Nm
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Fuel: 13.3L/100km (as tested)
CO2: N/A
Safety rating: Not tested