Date: 26 Apr 1995 16:53:16 EST
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: "Tom Forhan" <TFORHAN@hr.house.gov>
Subject: 16" Translation
Had some error messages come back on the interport address, so sending
this to both. At long last, here it is...
Off-Road Test - What If.....?
There's one thing that one cannot reproach German 4x builders for: and
that is being extravagant with the displacement. Even the divine DKW
Munga only had 900 to 1,000 cc under the hood. And even that pride of
Germania, the Mercedes G, cannot compete, at least in displacement,
with its same-class competitors from the Far East, much less with
those from America. Despite this, both vehicles are considered
excellent all terrain vehicles.
VW now ups the ante with the turbodiesel synchro bus. The Golf
diesel motor has a displacement of 1,589 cc, which is the only
delivery option for the self-starting 16-incher. With the
eight-seater we tested, that works out to 198,6 cc per seat, or 82,7
cc per 100 kilos of empty weight. Were this example to be followed by
Germany's all-wheel-drive Pkw builders, then the two-seater Porsche
Carrera 4 would have to rely on a little 400 cc motor for sporty
performance, and an Opel Vectra 4x4, which weighs 1,210 kilos less,
would have to manage with 770 cc. And those vehicles do not have to
deal with serious terrain.
So, the VW synchro bus has not set itself an easy task, if it wants
to be considered a serious all-terrain vehicle with a motor that's
short on the displacement. In practice, the mismatch between motor
size and vehicle demands is even more evident than in theory. The
16-incher's viscous coupling, which seems clearly stiffer, makes for
some really powerful drive stresses on a hard surface. and immediately
after a cold start the motor hardly puts out any power, since all its
oils are as thick as margarine. If one then had to maneuver into a
tight parking space with full wheel deflection or even turn, this
could only be done with full use of all power reserves. In off-road
gear, you'd have to do it with a higher rpm and engaged clutch (?),
otherwise the motor dies right away.
After just a few meters the world looks brighter, though. The
little four-cylinder comes up to speed, the margarine in the shift and
axle mechanisms loosens up and the extremely short wheel base
contribute to the fact that one does not find the synchro as wimpy as
one had first feared. A nearly two-ton vehicle with 70 PS cannot, of
course, be really peppy. And a motor this small cannot get produce
really bullish power. But if one fusses attentively with the
bafflingly inexact gear shift and keeps the rpms over 2500, you move
along pretty well.
In addition -- at least if you're an enemy of hoodless cars from
the outset
***as all Vanagon list members are*****
-- you feel quite comfortable in it. One sits upright and
relaxed in well-upholstered seats, on has a terrific overview of the
traffic and also enjoys respectable driving comfort. The motor purrs
happily and unobtrusively away, three meters away from the driver, the
suspension is responsive and has, as is typical for a VW bus, long
travel. The well-adapted, strengthened shock absorbers ensure that
the vertical movement of the front part of the vehicle, which is
typical of front-wheel drive vehicles, is kept within reasonable
bounds.
This impression persists when the asphalt ends. The synchro is
good off-road; bumps on the ground are only transmitted to the
occupants in muted form, and even mean crosswise furrows never make
the shock absorbers go all the way in. One reason for this
comfortable state of affairs is that the VW has independent suspension
and so the "un-suspended" masses are small. However, a general
disadvantage of independent suspension is that they don't shrink (?)
as well as rigid axles. One can see this with the synchro: the
measured shrinkage (?give?) was a measly 155 mm.
Still, one moves along terrifically, since the test vehicle was
equipped with "100% locks" (sic) on both axles.
*****they mean differential locks********
With the 16 -incher,
only the front lock costs extra; the back one is already included in
the cost of the 16" drive train. The money is in any case well spent,
because with the locks, the box (crate?) keeps climbing when the shock
absorbers have traveled to the maximum. Also, in the most difficult
spots with heavy mud, it just slogs forward unstoppably. This is
where the motor shows unbelievable endurance. As long as you keep it
in the "boost range", it manages to pull itself through. It helps
that the bus, despite inadequate drive ratio in the off-road gear
(which is confusingly marked "1" in the latest series) attains a
usable final overall drive ratio of 37.02:1.
The motor as well as the gears deserve criticism, however, in the
off-road mode. The extremely inexact and yet stiff shift is an
annoyance. Switching back and forth between the first street speed
("2") and the off-road gear is practically impossible when in motion,
because for one thing the shortest shift distance in the shifting
schema is not only an unaccustomed left-back-down motion, but also, in
order to move the gear shift to that spot, one lock has to be
overcome, because the reverse gear is forward on the left, in other
words on the same shift level as the off-road gear. The only
advantage of that is that one can rapidly shift from forward to
reverse and back again, which can be helpful when you're trying to
rock yourself free of something.
In addition to the cumbersome shifting, the motor also causes the
shift pauses to be longer than one would like. VW did, according to
its own information, give the Golf power plant a turbocharger before
putting it in the bus. This is supposed to distinguish itself by
delivering faster pick-up and building up a boost pressure of 0.2 bar
at 1400 U/minute. In practice, one sees little evidence of it. Under
2,000 U/min there might as well not be anything going on, and its only
around 2500 rpm that anything like robust thrust sets in. So, in
practice it takes forever for the motor to come back up to speed once
the rpm have fallen down very low.
This is especially a hindrance in climbing steep peaks. If the
driver lifts his right foot just a bit before getting to the top of a
steep hill in order to get an overview of the rest of the stretch, he
would do well to just put it in reverse and drive back down the hill,
because the motor will assuredly not recover.
So, the synchro demands, in off- road conditions, a driver who is
constantly thinking ahead and shifting into the appropriate gear even
before reaching an obstacle. If he does that, he can climb pretty
well with the bus, but the climb capability with 205 R 16 tires is
only 58%. However, power is translated into forward motion thanks to
the high-performing viscous coupling and driver's option
[differential?] locks. The synchro drive in this respect is not
inferior to a rigid drive train (?) in at least 95% of cases, because
the viscous coupler reacts so quickly in the 16-incher that no
appreciable slippage occurs with the rear wheels before the front
wheels get power.
The flip side of this stiff construction is naturally a minus in
handling. Thus, on tight curves the bus understeers mercilessly on
loose surfaces, although even with great effort one cannot get the aft
portion to sway outwards. On the contrary, the more gas you give it,
the stronger the VW leans over the front wheels. It is only when all
seats are occupied -- and there were eight in the Caravel we drove --
that the bus loosens up in the curves.
So there's nothing to stop you from inviting a couple of friends on
a hunt or a safari. The inside space on the Caravel C model we tested
is (at extra cost) fully equipped, but still up to tough use. For
example, the floor is covered with thick rubber mats instead of
dirt-sensitive carpet. And the seat covers (light brown fabric as an
extra cost option) do not show every spot.
Even the rear seating is not exactly punishing: although visually
very minimal, they are comfortable enough even for long trips. For
extra cost they can be fitted out with ring-shaped headrests, so that
safety is preserved without having rear visibility needlessly
compromised. The test vehicle, priced at 67,000 DM, has in addition a
huge crank-open roof over the middle seat bench, as a comfortable
observation or photo-taking opening. And the bus can serve as a mobile
shelter if equipped with a heater.
The heater (?) tolerated the field test undamaged, although it had
to suffer several muddy showers. With the synchro one should in any case
drive around, rather than through, water. The available water
clearance is laughable: a stream to be forded has to be no more than
22 cm deep for the 16 -inter if it has the turbodiesel engine. The gas
engine has 15 cm more clearance, although the spark plugs of the boxer
motor lie deep within because of the way the engine is built. A
contradiction? No. In order to get the self starting in-line motor
into the flat aft part of the bus, the VW technicians had to tip it
50 degrees to the left. So the turbocharger lies under the motor in
the lowest part of the vehicle. Water cannot get at it, but if the
exhaust-filled charger gets extremely hot under heavy use conditions,
an ice water bath could create such great thermal stresses that the
bearings seize up.
This burdensome limitation is all the more regrettable, since
everything else was done with impressive consistency to protect the
motor from the consequences of tough handling. All vents are
carefully oriented upwards, and the whole underbody is protected from
damage with solid steel pipes and plates. Even the articulations of
the front wheels have their own protective shields made of stable,
elastic synthetic material, that protect the joint cuffs from damage
from corrosion (?) or rocks.
*****I think I need to order these protective shields**************
So, the bottom line is split. On the one hand, there is an
excellent drive train ensuring perfect traction, and on the other the
one off-road gear -- at least in connection with the rpm-hungry engine
-- hardly compensates for the absence of a drive ratio that is really
usable in all gears. On the one hand, ground clearance is sufficient
on the 16-incher in most cases; on the other hand, the water clearance
is inadequate. On the one hand, the first- class workmanship and
practiced execution of even small details make the Wolfsburger a
many-talented vehicle, that hardly dislikes anything and is really
fun. On the other hand, the body (?) is made cumbersome through tight
measurements and scanty performance weight. Too bad. What a terrific
car the 16-inch synchro would be if it had a really powerful diesel
motor.
******or a gas motor and Westfalia pacakge!**********
___________________________________
Derek Drew
drew@interport.net (main address for e-mail)
derekdrew@aol.com (alternate/backup address, checked infrequently)
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