As one of the resident syncro nuts, I can weigh in and say that I agree in some sense with these statements. The bus was somehow better handling in the snow (e.g., 4") than my Vanagon Syncro although I can't say exactly why. Of course, when push comes to shove, and the snow gets deep, I have to say the Syncro is superior to a bus, but I must admit that my old 72 bus was incredibly able in the snow in a way that seemed to me superior in some odd way to a Vanagon. At 04:08 PM 7/21/98 -0700, you wrote: >Craig writes: > >>could go all over the place. I've heard that the Vanagon isn't as good >>as a bus, but I don't think that there is that much difference. > >Well I think there is a BIG difference between the off road ability of the 2 >wheel drive Vanagon and loaf. > >Certainly good tires help, but there is something about the Vanagon's >suspension (I think it is less "compliant" ) and the more equal weight >distribution is a handicap off road. > >You really notice it when the van is at an angle, either when you are >crawling along a dry river/creek bed or when you have one side in a rut. > >Traction in snow is also not as good as the loaf. > > >Alistair (syncro envy!) > ________________________________________________________ Derek Drew New York, NY & Washington, DC drew@interport.net '90 Syncro Westfalia... ...seen off-road at http://www.tiu.net/~des/vw/drew/index.html Also seen at: http://www.pipeline.com/~tforhan/swrange.htm http://4wd.sofcom.com/VW/snow.html http://www.pipeline.com/~tforhan/swmassn.htm http://4wd.sofcom.com/VW/Campers/Campers.html Note: most valuable Vanagon sites on the planet (for owners) are: http://gerry.vanagon.com/cgi-bin/wa.exe?S1=vanagon ftp://gerry.vanagon.com/pub/ |
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