Having spent a lot of time hauling plenty of weight over long distances – and coping with the burden remarkably well – the past few weeks have seen our long-term Transporter tackling lighter loads on short local trips. 
Mostly they have consisted of packaging material – cardboard, polythene bags, foam and so on – and we have been surprised by how much of it the van’s on the face of it fairly modest 5.8cu/m cargo area can swallow. All that waste has been destined for the council tip and our Transporter’s low-speed manoeuvrability has come into its own on these excursions.
Weaving your way around pick-ups laden with redundant bathrooms destined to be scrapped and cars dropping off trailer-loads of garden rubbish can be a challenge, especially since none of the drivers of these vehicles appear to know where they are supposed to be going. As we hurriedly backed up to get out of their way, we breathed a silent prayer of thanks that our VW had been fitted with optional reversing sensors. As a consequence we emerged unscathed.
Once again we have to praise the Transporter’s ride and handling and the quality of its gear-change, and despite our past criticisms of the lack of in-cab storage space we would have to concede that by using a bit of thought we have been able to squeeze in a few more bits and pieces than we expected to.
