Date: Tue, 2 Nov 2004 12:22:41 +1100
Reply-To: Stephen Overmyer <S.OVERMYER@UWS.EDU.AU>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Stephen Overmyer <S.OVERMYER@UWS.EDU.AU>
Subject: T5 sighting
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I saw my first T5 Transporter on the roads here in Oz last
Sunday...naturally it was a white one...;)
I had previously seen a Multivan on display at the 2003 Sydney Motor
Show however the Transporters have now hit the roads...
As I entered a freeway there was a van ahead of me that was not
immediately recognisable although I could tell straight away from it's
neat lines and understated clean appearance where it obviously wasn't
from. It had to be German...It took some catching up as it was setting a
cracking pace and I had the Double Cab loaded with all manner of tools
and a concrete mixer. Sure enough, it had that distinctive badge on the
rear tailgate.
It was travelling at around 120kph and whilst I could certainly keep up
with it, on hills I could only maintain my speed due to my load however
the T5 had power to burn and had no trouble accelerating past other
vehicles when it wished.
Not wanting to end up with a speeding ticket, I was content to follow it
as I intended to pull in for fuel at the next stop however I was very
pleased to see the T5 also put it's blinker on and leave the freeway
ahead of me.
He didn't need fuel, only a drink so while I filled up, my wife went
over to speak with the two occupants & have a look at the van. She's a
good old VW girl and kept them talking until I had a chance to fill up
and drive over to where they were parked.
A nice fellow and his dad were travelling up to Sydney in his new van
and he was very pleased with it. The van was a 2.5L TDI long wheelbase
Transporter without side windows in the rear. The newest version of the
TDI sees it sporting a larger intercooler and the 5Cyl Diesel now boasts
128kW of power. Standard wheels now are 17" steel rims with 235 load
rated tyres fitted. Also now standard is the 6 speed manual gearbox
(which comes out of the dash) and electric windows on all Transporters.
This was always an option on commercial models previously...
The T5 is noticeably larger than the T4...especially in the width of the
new model and my T4 Double Cab actually felt a bit small next to the LWB
T5, despite all the building gear I had on the back.
VWs latest offering isn't as radical a change in shape from previous
model changes like T2 to T3 to T4 and whilst there is a similarity to
the T4 there is still an obvious progression in design. From the side
the van looks a little like the Mercedes-Benz Vito, however it is still
distinctly a Volkswagen van I'm happy to say. No doubt the Japanese van
makers will attempt to emulate it in the next few years with their
uglier attempts at playing copy cat but once again VW leads the pack of
commercial vans...in the rest of the world where it is now on display in
the showrooms.
Cant wait to see the double and single cabs...except that then I'll want
one...;)
Cheers,
Steve O
NSW Australia
'92 Transporter WBX Kombi
'00 Transporter Double Cab
'03 Transporter Double cab (work truck)
'78 Landrover Series 3 Soft top Ute (ex-Aust.Army)
