Faults:

In the past three years where it had covered the last 20K kilometres, I had to spent heaps of money to keep this baby in shape. Major repairs and replacements were within the transmission (gearbox & coupling), suspension system, exhaust, power steering, electrical system, and few interior problems such as the power windows, power door locks and trims.

I can't quite remember the exact fault details. I'll comeback with deeper comments if I may.

General Comments:

I truly believe that its worth the spending, since I love this car for its strength, power, performance, reliability, comfort and beauty. Keeping in mind of the rugged (not-so-smooth) road terrain of Indonesia, this baby is a great friend for family adventure. Long trips have never felt so comfortable. I've never felt guilty in having this car. I'm always satisfied.

Faults:

What's gone wrong with the car?

Air conditioner compressor needed fixing, cost around $1500 Australian.

General Comments:

I have never owned an all round winner such as my Caravelle. From comfortable seats and air conditioning vents for each passenger, to Cruise control and vanity mirrors.

Yes, you might say that the Caravelle is slow on startup, and sluggish. 0-100km in about 18 seconds, but at least you're not spending all your money on fuel, since it's a relatively economical 5 Cylinder 2.5 Liter petrol engine. (Fuel economy: 13.4l/100k city and 8.6l/100k highway)

You can comfortably sit 8 adults in this van, with room for all of the luggage as well! It's very hard to find a roomy people mover with the comfortable seating and the massive luggage allowance.

Unlike the rest of the people movers around, everyone has shoulder room and leg room, and the seats are not bolted to the floor like small people movers, instead they are higher up with plenty of leg room, and no bending of the knees to fit in!

The Caravelle is under 2m. tall, and fits easily into shopping center carparks.

It handles highway speeds well, but, as I said before, is slow on takeoff. The cruise control is a standard option, and very useful.

The most regrettable sale of my life was when I had to get rid of my Caravelle. Especially being a manual transmission, because they are hard to find and really have no problems at all!

Forget Kia Carnivals and Toyota Taragos/Estimas, because Caravelles leave them for dead with the comfort and room.

Power steering and big windows gives the most unskilled driver the ability to park it, and massive mirrors help with the great visibility. Might look like a box on wheels, accelerate like a cargo van, but it still is definitely the large people mover winner for all it's worth.

If you're going into the people mover market, I would definitely recommend that you buy a Caravelle. You won't regret it, and the VW badge guarantees quality control!

Faults:

Water pump.

Petrol pump, twice.

Engine cooling thermostat.

Heater fan.

Door locks unreliable, especially rear door.

Gearbox broke after 230000 km.

Several other smaller problems, expensive to remedy.

General Comments:

Very nice car, surprisingly comfortable and good to handle. Very suitable for longer trips.

Not so expensive to run, but not very reliable. Complicated design makes the car expensive to repair. Spares expensive.