Date:         Sat, 7 Sep 2002 11:36:40 +1200
Reply-To:     Andrew Grebneff <andrew.grebneff@STONEBOW.OTAGO.AC.NZ>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Andrew Grebneff <andrew.grebneff@STONEBOW.OTAGO.AC.NZ>
Subject:      Re: Eurovans future
In-Reply-To:  <F153uL2MQ6a4HjV141B0001cca7@hotmail.com>
Content-type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=us-ascii

The T4 is, I believed, slated to replace the T2 in Brasilian production.

>The Eurovan was a sales flop from the moment it replaced the
>T3/T25/Vanagon in 1991.  In Germany, the biggest market in the world
>for the T3/T25/Vanagon, sales of comparable models fell by over 70%
>when the T4/Eurovan was introduced.

I can well understand why!

>The main reason for the T4/Eurovan was to compete with the runaway success
>of the Ford Transit, a Ford of Europe commercial van that swept the van
>market in Europe from the late 1960s and achieved dominance in the 1980s.
>The T4/Eurovan was the nearest thing to a direct copy of the Transit; the
>two were so similar that it was easy to mistake one for the other.

The Transit is an awful heap. Its only "plus" is its huge size... the
rear seating is 4 abreast! But, like its predecessor the 60s-80s
Transit, it is an ugly crude box. Popular enough here, but it can't
compete well with the reliability or space-efficiency of the cabover
Japanese designs.

>A secondary reason was to eliminate a whole powertrain from VW production in
>Europe by abandoning the WBX and rear-wheel-drive.  The T4 uses a
>near-standard front-wheel-drive powertrain as used in the Golf/Passat.  By
>1980, the WBX and its gearbox were a one-off.

Costcutting, driven by beancounters, which VW seems to be entirely
run by since the 70s. I bet the engineers wanted to use an upgraded
rear-engined design.

>Compared to the Vanagon, the Eurovan has less room inside, a harder ride and
>a noisy powertrain.  On the plus side, it has a more modern engine with
>lower fuel consumption, slightly better handling

BETTER handling? With FWD? It'll understeer like a pig.

>and spare parts that are
>common with many contemporary VW cars.  To add a personal comment, it is in
>my opinion one of the most dull and boring vehicles that VW has ever
>produced.

As soon as your model range is based on one or two platforms, with
common drivetrains, they become DULL. VW is one of the dullest
manufactureres now... there hasn't been a true enthusiast's car from
VW since the original Golf I GTI, mainly because VW is no longer
interested in making vehicles which handle. This includes
subsidiaries eg Audi.

Economists rule...
--
Andrew Grebneff
165 Evans St, Dunedin 9001, New Zealand
<andrew.grebneff@stonebow.otago.ac.nz>
Seashell, Macintosh, VW/Toyota van nut