Date: Wed, 25 Jan 1995 13:46:16 CDT
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: wanek@whscdp.whs.edu
Subject: Eurovan Camper C/D Test
A fine time for Unca Joel to get writer's cramp. Here goes:
Car & Driver
February 1995
Short Take
VW EuroVan Camper
Playing house with the best bed on wheels
By Mary Beth Lewis
The 1995 VW EuroVan Camper descends, at least in concept, from the
old Microbus that became a symbol for a whole generation before its
demise in 1968. But the modern Camper is a clean-lined as that bus was
frumpy, as well equipped as the bus-with-beds was basic.
Credit America's own Winnebago Industries - you read that right - for
applying 35 years of recreation-vehicle experience to the conversion of
the VW EuroVan into this Camper. (The Camper will be the only '95
EuroVan sold in the U.S., and it will be available only at 110
dealerships.) Winnebago's own bog-slow monsters are laughable to most
car enthusiasts - until they become living nightmares on double-yellow
two-lanes. But the VW Camper maintains some European class. Its
gray-and-cream decor is tasteful, its layout efficient, and its
applicances appropriate. If this Camper had a microwave oven and a
deadbolt, you could get rich parking it on Central Park West and
renting it as a "full-furnshd ult-mod studio apt w/ grt vu."
Standard-equipment conveniences include a two-burner liquid-propane
gas stove, a stainless-steel sink and counter-top, a three-way
(AC/DC/LP gas) refrigerator, fluorescent lights, and even an LED panel
that monitors levels of LP gas, fresh water, and battery charge. An
optional 12,000-BTU force-air LP-gas furnace adds $459 to the EuroVan
Camper's $30,290 bottom line.
Among the compact furnishings are driver and front-passenger
captain's chairs that swivel 180 degrees to pull up against one of two
movable tables. Seating for four more is accomplished with a rear
bench and an optional center bench ($483). Both are removable, and the
center bench faces forward or backward. There's 20 cubic feet of
cabinet space, including a wardrobe. The screened windows have pleated
blinds, and there's even a silverware drawer.
This Camper sleeps four. Two must make do with a budget-sized bed
folded out of the rear bench. The other two get a dream of a loft bed
accessed through the easy-opening poptop. This top-branch nest is
private and spacious, but the view out is what makes it heavenly.
Unzip the long window flaps in the heavy-canvas sides and you get, in
addition to cross ventilation through the fine mesh, a nearly panoramic
look at whatever shimmering lake or mountain range you parked alongside
the night before.
Or you can pop the top, fold back the mattress, and remove the bed
boards for more headroom while walking around inside the Camper.
A 109-horsepower 2.5-liter five-cylinder is cruelly saddled with the
Camper's 4837 upright pounds, but our test vehicle's five-speed
transmission delivered the scant power with much-appreciated
directness. Nonetheless, a 16.7-second 0-to-60 time won't put the VW
much ahead of purebred Winnebagos. The momentum created by all that
weight might also explain the noticeable brake fade, which is generally
uncommon in German vehicles.
The thinly padded rear seats are deceptively comfortable. Long
stints behind the wheel left staffers lamenting the lack of rake
adjustment in the driver's seat but praising the non-fatiguing steering
on straight interstates.
Curves in the road emphasize the Camper's poor roll control - at
least compared with the modern minivan standard. In its defense, the
Camper is *not* a minivan. Its poptop and interior furnishings add
nearly 900 pounds and significantly raise the center of gravity. That
gives occupants a greater arc of travel in every lateral move. Even
lane changes can turn a sensitive stomach. On a winding Ann Arbor road
in this Camper, a certain five-year-old who has been riding in test
cars since he was born uttered his first-ever observation on vehicle
dynamics: "Mom, you're making me sick!"
Other modifications also affect the Camper's around-town livability.
A 15-inch stretch in length to 202 inches (nearly 10 inches longer than
the Grand Caravan) eliminates many potential parking places. The
tables, stove top, and cabinets rattle on bumpy roads, causing you to
wonder if someone is pushing a shopping cart around in back. And the
switches to turn on the LP gas and electric power need a cover to
protect them from curious children.
On the other hand, the exterior spray-off hose and wipe-clean
"carpet-grain" plastic flooring would be welcome on many a family
vehicle.
All of which makes us wonder what sort of buyers will be happiest
with their new Camper. The one-vehicle latter-day hippies still
experiencing life's never-ending journey? The two-vehicle families who
can live with the around-town shortcomings as a tradeoff for
sleep-anywhere freedom on vacations (and the savings of not checking
into Holiday Inns 300 times)? Wheelaholics who can afford a vehicle
for every mood and need?
Who can say? But we know that if Jack Kerouac could have gone into a
showroom to test-drive *this* Camper in 1956, instead of the first VW
camper that on sale in the U.S. that year, his infamous book of 1957
would have been significantly different. "Great No-Fuss Meals With
Jack on the Road", perhaps?
Vehicle type: front-engine, front-wheel-drive, 6 passenger, 4 door van
Price as tested: $31,232 (base price $30,290)
Engine type: SOHC 10-valve 5-in-line, iron block and aluminum head,
Bosch Motronic engine-control system with port fuel
injection
Displacement 150 cu in. 2459 cc
Power (SAE net) 109 bhp @ 4500 rpm
Torque (SAE Net) 144 lb-ft @ 2200 rpm
Transmission 5-speed
Wheelbase 130.7 in
Length 202.0 in
Curb Weight 4837 lb
Zero to 60 mph 16.7 sec
Street start, 5 to 60 mph 17.6 sec
Standing 1/4 mile 20.9 sec @ 66 mph
Top speed (drag limited) 97 mph
Braking, 70-0 mph 218 ft
Roadholding, 300-ft dia skidpad 0.64g
EPA fuel economy, city driving 16 mpg
C/D observed fuel economy 18 mpg
[One uncaptioned photo: left-front shot of white Camper, top popped]
