> Since it's Fryday I thought I'd open a thread I've wanted to open for a > long time. What does everyone think about VW re-opening the vanagon > assembly line? Is there any impediment to building new vanagons? It > shouldn't be a chore for VW to open an assembly line somewhere in the > world. The only major weakness in the original was the power plant and I'm > certain that VW could quickly engineer in a new TDI diesel or inline gas > engine. All the rest could be the same…
Well, the real problem is that they'd have to change a few things. The flat nose is murder on fuel economy. With gas crawling up toward the $3.50 mark here in the states, fuel economy is a big sticking point. There's also the issue of front-end impact safety. No car maker can afford to make any passenger vehicle where the occupants aren't placed cowering behind a couple feet of collapsible steel. Once that nose is there, providing "necessary" safety and aerodynamics, they might as well stick the front whells under it, and the engine/tranny in it, and make it a front wheel drive ass dragger. With the wheelbase that much longer and the front wheel wells out of the passenger compartment, no point in having any economy-robbing ground clearance-- knock it down a couple inches. Do all that and what do we have? A dang Eurovan. As much as I'd love to see the T3 come back, I'm fairly certain the "cab-over-front-wheels" design is forever gone for non-commercial vehicles. -- John Bange '90 Vanagon - "Geldsauger" |
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