Date: Thu, 26 Jul 2007 19:03:51 -0400
Reply-To: Richard Golen <rgolen@UMASSD.EDU>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Richard Golen <rgolen@UMASSD.EDU>
Subject: Re: VW FOX - Been driving one since Feb. but have not seen one
other than mine. Why?
In-Reply-To: <000001c7cfcf$9683d2f0$6401a8c0@TOSHIBALAP>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
The VW Fox was actually the old VW Dasher/Audi Fox from the late
70s/early 80s. The tooling was shipped off to Brazil and they then
produced them.
At 05:54 PM 7/26/2007, Scott Daniel - Shazam wrote:
>The VW Fox - the boxy one, the one made in Brazil( not the Dasher fox ) ...?
>
>Great if you love your fine little ride.
>I haven't seen one of those alive around here ( southern Oregon, and west
>coast in general ) for a long time.
>No offense but they are considered a real POS.
>
>One thing I can tell you, you DO NOT want to do a clutch cable on one.
>Possibly the most nightmarish and impossible thing to deal with up under the
>dash I've ever seen, and that's from someone who has worked on thousands and
>thousands of cars of all makes just about.
>( well, OK, I haven't worked on a Tatra......you got me there. )
>
>You can pick up VW Fox's inexpensively, that you can say for sure !
>
>You probably could get 5 for 1,000 bucks and stay in a set of wheels until
>they don't have gas and normal car driving anymore.
>We are in a very lucky age of automobile history......and we are near the
>end of the 'era of practical, and fully driver-controlled cars."
>
>Pretty soon, if you are on a freeway in heavy traffic at high speed, and you
>tell a hyper modern car to do a sudden lane change at full throttle, the
>car, due to built in intelligence, just will not do it.
>You command full right steering lock and 100 % throttle...the car would just
>say 'nope, not doing it."
>Probably get a display that says 'Invalid Input Command.' And it would
>continue on in its lane, spaced properly from the car in front.
>Seriously, I'm reading on cutting edge car technologies.....
>You figure with throttle by wire, the engine still does what you tell it to,
>right.
>Not on the soon to be here ones,
>You command 100 % throttle at the pedal, the car does what it deems to be
>the right thing with that information.
>
>If it's running on 4 our of 8 cylinders at the moment, for efficiency, and
>you input 20 % throttle for light cruise, it knows that 70 % throttle on the
>4 working cylinders is more efficient, and will net you the result you asked
>for ......
>The direct link between the car's systems and the driver is being taken
>away, most definitely. No burn outs, no power slides, ...durn shame.
>The dumbing down of *everything*
>
>Heck...get this, ( sorry to go on ) in Nascar for some tracks the even
>dictate what rear end ratio you MUST run, or give you a choice of two.
>Traditionally, race cars are controlled by engine size, weight, dimensions
>etc...
>And as long as you stay within those limits, how you get around the track
>the fastest is up to the car's builders.....and gear ratio has always been
>tradionally 'free' thing....
>They're taking away individuality and creativity.
>Durn shame.
>Scott
> www.turbovans.com
>if wanting to comment and not use up bandwidth here, can continue on
>http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/turbovans/
>
>comments on *anything* are fine there.....well maybe not sex with minors
>...but you know, politics all that , is all fine. sdf
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
>BJ Feddish
>Sent: Thursday, July 26, 2007 1:52 PM
>To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>Subject: Re: VW FOX - Been driving one since Feb. but have not seen one
>other than mine. Why?
>
> >> Do you suppose that most VW Foxes went to the junkyard prematurely? I
>mean people ,ect didnt know to buckle the shoulder belt? Just wondering why
>I never see another Fox.Rust? <<
>
>Search the archives on my rant about the Fox. Had VW pushed this car, which
>came out at the same time as the Hyndai for only $1K more, and advertised it
>they could have sold a bundle. Instead they pushed the Jettas on everyone.
>
>If it's any consolation I see allot more Foxes than I do Vanagons here in
>SE, PA. Especially the little wagons. My last Vanagon sighting was a few
>weeks ago.
>
>Bryan
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