Date: Fri, 1 Aug 2008 21:41:12 -0400
Reply-To: Mike <mbucchino@CHARTER.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Mike <mbucchino@CHARTER.NET>
Subject: Re: WBX motor rather than ....
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
reply-type=response
What makes you think cities and countries are much different in Europe
than here in the USA? I've flown, sailed and driven all over the world for
the past 25 years. Yes, things are different, but basically the same
where-ever you go. Most cities and towns are more densely populated and
have narrower streets in Europe and Asia, but most places also have long
roads and great distances between these denser areas. Just like here the
good old US of A.
Mike B.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Robert Fisher" <refisher@MCHSI.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Friday, August 01, 2008 9:22 PM
Subject: Re: WBX motor rather than ....
> In NA perhaps... I haven't been to Europe yet, but everything I've seen
> and
> heard so far gives an impression of crowded, narrow streets with lots of
> low-to-medium speed, fits-and-starts traffic and relatively short open
> distances (in average/common usage, anyway) between more of the same. The
> Vanagon as-is, with its relatively quick takeoff, maneuverability and
> massive interior room would seem ideal for those conditions. You could
> argue
> that you would've gotten the same thing out of the I-4s- I don't know,
> I've
> never driven one in a Vanagon.
>
> Maybe somebody that has driven one extensively 'over there' could comment
> to
> that.
>
> It if really was a decision made to appease the union, then the political
> objective became more important (or at least became an acceptable
> compromise) to the decision makers than the 'common sense' objective we so
> clearly see in hindsight.
>
> However I agree that the other engines should have at least been offered
> as
> options, if only in NA. On the other hand, I'm inclined to think that
> people
> would have upgraded from even those engines by now if they had been in
> common use, so in the practical sense we would still be where we are now.
> It's interesting that South Africa, which I would think would be something
> of a combination of the two environments, got equipment well suited to NA
> use, but it was never offered here.
>
> Cya,
> Robert
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Zeitgeist" <gruengeist@GMAIL.COM>
> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
> Sent: Friday, August 01, 2008 5:49 PM
> Subject: Re: WBX motor rather than ....
>
>
>> Porsche now owns a controlling stake in VW.
>>
>> While I'm not nearly as much of a WBX basher as some of the silly whiners
>> around here, I do think they should've saved the millions spent in R&D
>> and
>> just culled from the VAG parts bin and slipped in an inline (Gas) Audi
>> 2.3
>> fiver and VW 1.8/2.0, and (Diesel) Audi 2.0 fiver and VW 1.6/1.9 and
>> called
>> it good. No need to piddle around with the ancient pushrod stuff linking
>> back to the thirties. That said, the WBX is a surprisingly robust engine
>> despite itself, but there was still no valid rationale for its very
>> existence.
>>
>> On Fri, Aug 1, 2008 at 3:18 PM, Don Hanson <dhanson@gorge.net> wrote:
>>
>>> So, I wonder which German company copied which? When Porsche changed
>>> to
>>> water cooled they built a motor kinda like VWs..in that it's really an
>>> air
>>> cooled 911 cobbled up with water jackets around. Is not the WBX similar
>>> (or
>>> vica/versa) with the WBX being an air cooled with water?
>>> Except Porsche gave up after a few years of building what they called
>>> the
>>> 993 (the 'transition' motor) and built a whole new package, the
>>> 996..re-designed with only the opposed six configuration remaining from
>>> the
>>> air cooled one.
>>> Wonder why VW stuck with the WBX for so long when it has weak spots?
>>> Interesting though that those two companies, who are almost affiliated,
>>> did such similar transition from AC to water..
>>> Don Hanson
>>>
>>> PS...You Soobie guys...they at Porsche get about 475 rwhp from a
>>> normally
>>> aspirated engine suitable to go to Le Mans and run flat out for
>>> 24hrs..Try
>>> that with a turboless svx.
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Casey
>> '87 300TD
>> '94 100CSQ Avant
>> '89 Bluestar
>> The People's Republic of Cascadia
| 
