Date: Sun, 24 May 1998 10:42:28 -0700
Reply-To: David Marshall <vanagon@VOLKSWAGEN.ORG>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: David Marshall <vanagon@VOLKSWAGEN.ORG>
Subject: Re: Used Diesel Vanagon Popularity in Europe?
In-Reply-To: <001d01bd8712$3bea16c0$478556cf@TVReporter.stratos.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Not to start a war here as I feel VW Diesels are worth their sale, but yes
a gasoline powered VW could do the same thing as your hopped up VW Pickup
it is all power to weight ratio. Your little trip was actually quite
dangerous if you ask me. How did you ever stop? My 1980 Rabbit PU weighs
950kg and my 1988 Double Cab weighs 1800km, almost twice the weight. The
old saying of objects in motion tend to stay in motion unless an equall or
greater force acts upon them comes into play here.
A Diesel power Rabbit will go quite nicely, but a Diesel powered Vanagon
will get from point A to B all be it a LOT slower.
Engine Power Torque
1.6L D 52 71
1.6L TD 68 98
1.8L G 100 105
2.1L WB 90 117
The power to weight ratio of a Diesel Vanagon compaired to a Diesel rabbit
is less than half. I don't blame people for saying the Diesels are under
powered for the Vanagon... they are!
Do Diesels live a long time - yes! My first VW Diesel had 500,000km on it
and only a ring job was done to it.
So to answer your question, could a gas powered rabbit have done the same
thing (tow a Vanagon). Yes, quite easily but you are putting yourself and
others in danger when you try to stop.
At 08:47 5/24/98 -0400, Mark Thoma wrote:
>Steve,
>Your post is obviously worth quite a lot less than 2 cents. I'm figuring
>completely worthless actually. The volkwagon 1.6 diesel is obviously every
>bit as good as the Benz or Cat diesel, as it's been successfully used in
>hundreds of thousands if not millions of rabbits and jetta worldwide, many
>of which are still running. If the engine failed in the Vanagon aplication
>it might have been because the owners tried to make it perform like it's
>higher rpm gasoline cousin. These engines will not live long at 5000 rpm.
>But I'm soooooo tired of obviously pretty ignorant people continuing to feed
>the misconception that volkswagon diesels are somehow underpowered junk. A
>few months ago I towed a broken diesel vanagon from Philadelphia to
>Cleveland with my 1.6 litre rabbit pick-up turbo-diesel. Could a gas
>engined rabbit have done the same thing?
>Keep your two cents!!! You'll need it when fuel prices start to rise.
>thoma
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Steven Broomhead <broom-sr@SWBELL.NET>
>To: Vanagon@VANAGON.COM <Vanagon@VANAGON.COM>
>Date: Sunday, May 24, 1998 3:13 AM
>Subject: Re: Used Diesel Vanagon Popularity in Europe?
>
>
>>Examine the statement and you get two possible outcomes:
>>
>>#1 diesels are gaining popularity, fuel prices, torque for steep streets,
>etc
>> OR
>>#2 the VW diesels do not withstand the punishment meted them. A lot like
>the
>>Oldsmobile diesel of the early 80's with their breakdown and high repair
>>cost.. Maybe they cannot make diesels like Mercedes or Catapillar.
>>
>>.00002 cents worth 8~}
>>
>>S. Broomhead
>>
>>Marvin Westenburg wrote:
>>
>>> When I picked up my '82 diesel in Hanover, we took a factory tour. The
>tour
>>> guide said that 80 per cent of their production was diesel.
>>>
>>> Marve
>>> <><
>>> '82 diesel Vanagon
>>> '95 EVC
>>
>>
>
>
-- David Marshall, Quesnel BC, mailto:david@volkswagen.org --
-- 78 1.8L VW Rabbit, 80 2.0L VW Caddy, 87 Audi 5KQ --
-- 85 1.8L VW Cabrio, 88 1.6L VW Syncro Double Cab --
-- Volkswagen Homepage http://www.volkswagen.org --
-- USE DAVID@VOLKSWAGEN.ORG WHEN SENDING EMAIL --
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