Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2005 18:24:14 +1300
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: Van related sites I found interesting - a little off topic
In-Reply-To: <867c46656e978ba52d1781176fd4932c@mac.com>
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>It isn't everyday that one can attack a sacred cow like VW enthusiasts
>and tell them their car(s) suck. :)
>
>The Vanagon was wind tunnel tested to address some of the concerns with
>earlier VW vans. Specifically, handling in cross winds. The Vanagon is
>better...it still has quite a bit of problem in strong cross winds.
>
>Handling of a vehicles is, to some extent, subjective.
Handling is more the way a vehicle behaves in corners (basic
understeer, neutrality, oversteer) and the way this can be adjusted
with throttle & brakes. And this is something Cartalk won't know a
thing about, having nothing but US-market vehicles to drive, with
their detuned suspensions.
>A long wheel
>base compared to body length helps make a vehicle steady on the road
>and less prone to side winds, but usually does not allow the vehicle to
>turn as quickly. Which is important to you? Similarly a wide wheel base
>helps with body lean, but again, affects manueverability.
That's track. Wheelbase is distance between front & rear axles.
>Busses and Vanagons all have short narrow wheel bases compared to body
>size. That makes them great for parking.
Actually both are quite wide... I have an extralong-wheelbase
high-roof Toyota Hiace van; this is MUCH longer than the Vanagon and
is 1.69 meters wide, rather less wide than a T2 and quite a bit
narrower than a T3. It has no problems with strong crosswinds, and NZ
is a windy country.
>Power. or lack thereof. If you've never had it, you don't know what you
>are missing.
Amen! And... too little power can mean that you may at some stage
find yourself in an accident situation and unable to accelerate out
of it... some chassis can cope with far more power than the
manufacturer envisaged (CV-jointed rear-engined VW vans ie T2 & T3
are a good example, being inherently excellent handlers). On the
other hand, some chassis are dangerously overpowered in factory spec
(harking back to the 70s, the Cortina and Marina sixes leap to mind;
that horrid 80s Buick turbo V6 coupe is another).
An inherently good-handling chassis (ie one with good steering
geometry and suspension design) may be able to be improved with
aftermarket springs, dampers and swaybars (note that stiffening it up
too far will cause excessive understee, and lowering is no sure
bringer of improvement). A chassis with poor design/geometry cannot
be helped (read: any US design).
--
Andrew Grebneff
Dunedin
New Zealand
Fossil preparator
<andrew.grebneff@stonebow.otago.ac.nz>
Seashell, Macintosh, VW/Toyota van nut
HUMANITY: THE ULTIMATE VON NEUMANN MACHINE