Date: Fri, 7 Aug 1998 19:09:19 -0700
Reply-To: Per Lindgren <lindgre@ONLINE.NO>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: Per Lindgren <lindgre@ONLINE.NO>
Subject: Re: Cool pics, some questions
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KENWILFY@AOL.COM wrote:
> As I was checking out Chris Turner's pics from Germany (and enjoying them very
> much) I saw a few things that I wanted to ask about.
> 2. Black VW badged pickup in one picture is a VW Taro right? (You say you've
> never heard of a Taro? And you thought you knew about VWs. :)
The VW Taro was the result of Toyota searching for a plant that could build the
Hilux pickup in Europe. Some manufacturers were contacted, and VW found a simple
solution to get a pickup in the weight-class between the Caddy (Rabbit) Pickup and
the larger Transporter pickup.The Taros were manufactured in the Hannover plant
right next to the Transporters and EV's.
With the introduction of the new Hilux, the Taro was discontinued. Here in Norway,
the Taro didnt sell much, because the Toyota had a much better warranty, and
people really didnt see why buy a VW-badged Toyota when they could buy the "real"
thing. The Toyota had a 3-year new car warranty, while the VW just had 1 year of
warranty. My guess was that only
1 out of 10 sold were a VW, the rest being Toyotas
>
>
> 5. Liked the LTs. Did they make any of these into campers in Germany or are
> they strictly grunt vehicles? (There is one here in South Jersey that I have
> seen pictures of that was brought over and camperized in the US by a VW
> dealer.)
>
The first generation of LTs were manufactured from 1977 to 1996, and were powered
by four and six-cylinder gas engines (2,0 - 2.6? I believe), and a 2.4 diesel
six-cylinder (the same engine that Volvo bought for its 240 and 740 series)They
were available as vans pickups, buses and westys, lwb's highroofs including
chassis models. I've even seen a LT as a tow truck. It was even offered with
4-wheel drive, but it was not called Syncro. I know of a 4WD pickup, I'll try to
get a photo of it, when I saw it the first time I did not have my camera with me
:-( The new generation of LTs are rebadged versions of the Mercedes Sprinter, but
with VWs engines. Although I cannot at this time confirm this, I believe the LT
are powered by a 2.7 litre four-cylinder TDI with over 100hp. What an engine for a
Vanagon? (sigh)
BTW, the LT and Taro are the only vehicles produced by VW that are front engined
and rear wheel drive, all others have their engine over the primary drive
wheels.:-)
Per Lindgren
88 Syncro
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