A couple of months ago, Mercedes introduced the Viano Vision Diamond – a luxurious van for the traveling business person. Now, it appears that Volkswagen is jumping on the bandwagon and trying to capture a piece of the action. The VW ‘Caravelle Business’ is designed to be a mobile conference room featuring things such as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity.
Although the exterior may be bland looking, all the action is happening in the interior of the vehicle starting with Nappa leather upholstery and burr wood trim throughout the van. The Caravelle Business van provides seating for six people including the driver and the rear compartment of the van features a “sociable rear lounge area” with four seats and an adjustable table.
The two middle seats can swivel to face a forward direction or backwards. The two very back seats have a fridge integrated between the two seats. The driver also has some amenities such as satellite navigation with a 6.5 inch touch screen, 30GB hard drive; leather seating and steering wheel, and lane change assist for blind spots. The exterior of the Caravelle Business features 17-inch alloy wheels, LED daytime running lights, and darkened rear light clusters.
The VW van is available in a 2.0 liter bi-turbo TDI diesel producing 178 horsepower and comes standard with a DSG double-clutch automatic transmission. The pricing in the UK starts at $83,445 USD for the front wheel drive model and the 4Motion all-wheel drive version starts at $86,830 USD. All I can say is OUCH, although Europeans do tend to pay more for vehicles.
The Mercedes Viano Vision Diamond would be my choice between the two since it’s more luxurious and the exterior looks pretty bad-ass compared to the Volkswagen. Just be careful, you may end up becoming the man with a van. You know, the person who everyone bugs when they need someone to help them move, or haul their latest load of gardening supplies? With a ride like this it’s inevitable.
