Date: Wed, 25 Jun 2003 14:55:44 -0400
Reply-To: John Parson <bentway@IWON.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: John Parson <bentway@IWON.COM>
Subject: Re: vanagon sized/shape/style vehicles
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
I've always thought small, older Mitsubish vans look like shortened Vanagons. The only place i've seen a lot of them is on the west coast.
Chris P.
--- On Tue 06/24, Andrew Grebneff < andrew.grebneff@STONEBOW.OTAGO.AC.NZ > wrote:
From: Andrew Grebneff [mailto: andrew.grebneff@STONEBOW.OTAGO.AC.NZ]
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Date: Wed, 25 Jun 2003 07:35:22 +1200
Subject: Re: vanagon sized/shape/style vehicles
>one type of bus i always kinda lusted after was a Mercedes<br>>MB-100.<br>>about the same size and shape as our vanagons, but with a front<br>>engine between the front seats.<br>>i think they've discontinued it in favor of their<br>>more-minivan-shaped vehicles. :(<br><br>The MB100 looks like a Hiace gone wrong. It's also FWD, and made in<br>Korea... I strongly suspect therefore that it is actually a Ssangyong<br>design (until recently Ssangyong was a manufacturer making<br>locally-designed large Musso 4WDs using Mercedes sixes & diesel 5s;<br>it was bought out by another manufacturer recently) and not a real<br>Mercedes..<br><br>>and i think the public misconception of no-nose = no protection<br>>continues,<br><br>Unfortunately! The Type 2 and Hiaces prove that forward-control vans<br>CAN be safe... to their occupants (not to the occup[ants of the other<br>car, though!... ie see the Caravelle vs Volvo crashtest).<br><br>>and you aren't likely to see any well-designed<br>>vehicles (like our vanagons) that use the interior space<br>>efficiently or effectively. the Honda is an attempt at it, but<br>>look at the intended audience: surfers, bikers, hikers ... not a<br>>soccer mom in the bunch! ;)<br><br>Fortunately the YH/LH-100-series Toyota Hiace is still going<br>gangbusters in production, though there is also a longnosed so-called<br>Hiace sold alongside it! I hope Toyota sees the light and continues<br>the cabover design. The Mitsubishi Delica (=Express, L300) is still<br>in production in Korea as the Hyundai H100. Kia has just released a<br>cabover Hiace clone also. Mazda is also still making its Bongo (also<br>sold with Ford Econovan badges).<br><br>Strictly speaking these Japanese vans are front-midengined, as the<br>engine is located inline & slightly behind the front axle line ie<br>within the wheelbase.<br><br>>but then, i wouldn't mind if the vanagons were a tad bigger.<br><br>Nah, it's plenty wide enough already. Want wider, get a Dummer... I<br>mean Hummer.<br><br>>anyway, i guess my point is, they ain't making no more no-nose<br>>vans ...<br><br>See above<br><br>>and the vans they are making aren't very good for what<br>>we want.<br><br>No, the long-nosed vans either are the same length as a VW with 1.5m<br>less cargobay length, or the entire vehicle is 1.5m longer...TOO<br>long!! Crap. I'll stick with rear-engined VWs and Hiaces (I just<br>bought 2 1986 LWB 10-seater dual-slider 2.4 diesel Hiaces, one being<br>an LH66 dual-range 4WD). The trend toward Eurovans is lamentable.<br><br>I believe the Hiace is sold in México. What's to stop people bringing<br>them into the US privately?<br>--<br>Andrew Grebneff<br>165 Evans St, Dunedin, New Zealand<br>64 (3) 473-8863<br><andrew.grebneff@stonebow.otago.ac.nz><br>Fossil preparator<br>Seashell, Macintosh & VW/Toyota van nut<br>
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