Date: Sun, 28 May 2006 20:37:56 -0700
Reply-To: Anthony Egeln <regnsuzanne@YAHOO.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Anthony Egeln <regnsuzanne@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Re: FRYDAY: RE-OPEN VANAGON ASSEMBLY
In-Reply-To: <6227a7700605281438v7f952c26oce17f2640d68498d@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Whoa! My mistake. It wasn't the busman.be site. It was the vanagon.com site. Here's the link:
http://www.vanagon.com/info/safety/volvo-crash/
Sorry for the mis-information. Cheers, Anthony
retro van <r3tr0v4n@gmail.com> wrote: Cant find the volvo vs vanagon video on the www.busman.be page, can you furnish more detail? As luck would have it I have a Volvo850 also.
Robert
90 MV
On 5/27/06, Anthony Egeln <regnsuzanne@yahoo.com> wrote: Sadly the "perception" of cab over wheels risk persists.....but witness the vanagon vs. volvo crash test on www.busman.be. The vanagon wins! Also, I think the TDI diesel drivers are getting 25 mpg or better, which beats the gas Eurovan and a whole lot of US SUVs.
Could a revived vanagon be both safety legal and fuel efficient? Maybe.
Is the new microbus concept car cab over wheels?
Anthony
John Bange <jbange@GMAIL.COM> wrote: > 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"
---------------------------------
Love cheap thrills? Enjoy PC-to-Phone calls to 30+ countries for just 2�/min with Yahoo! Messenger with Voice.
---------------------------------
How low will we go? Check out Yahoo! Messenger’s low PC-to-Phone call rates.