I too have always liked the shape of those Mitsubishi vans. I see more of
those in Houston than Vanagons.

One vehicle that might be the basis of a modern Vanagon is the MB SmartCar.
While it appears like death on wheels that is the perception many have of
the vanagon. In fact the Smart Car is built around a crash cage concept and
is pretty darn safe for a car of any size much less that little thing.
Expand the crash cage concept of that car and make maximum use of a larger
chassis and you have the evolved vanagon. Modern TDI with decent mileage and
it could be pretty cool.

That said I love my 84 Westy and wouldn't give it up for anything.

Owen

----- Original Message -----
From: "John Parson" <bentway@IWON.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Wednesday, June 25, 2003 1:55 PM
Subject: Re: vanagon sized/shape/style vehicles

>   I've always thought small, older Mitsubish vans look like shortened
Vanagons.  The only place i've seen a lot of them is on the west coast.
>                   Chris P.
>
>
>
>
>  --- On Tue 06/24, Andrew Grebneff < andrew.grebneff@STONEBOW.OTAGO.AC.NZ
> wrote:
> From: Andrew Grebneff [mailto: andrew.grebneff@STONEBOW.OTAGO.AC.NZ]
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Date: Wed, 25 Jun 2003 07:35:22 +1200
> Subject: Re: vanagon sized/shape/style vehicles
>
> >one type of bus i always kinda lusted after was a
Mercedes<br>>MB-100.<br>>about the same size and shape as our vanagons, but
with a front<br>>engine between the front seats.<br>>i think they've
discontinued it in favor of their<br>>more-minivan-shaped vehicles.
:(<br><br>The MB100 looks like a Hiace gone wrong. It's also FWD, and made
in<br>Korea... I strongly suspect therefore that it is actually a
Ssangyong<br>design (until recently Ssangyong  was a manufacturer
making<br>locally-designed large Musso 4WDs using Mercedes sixes & diesel
5s;<br>it was bought out by another manufacturer recently) and not a
real<br>Mercedes..<br><br>>and i think the public misconception of no-nose =
no protection<br>>continues,<br><br>Unfortunately! The Type 2 and Hiaces
prove that forward-control vans<br>CAN be safe... to their occupants (not to
the occup[ants of the other<br>car, though!... ie see the Caravelle vs Volvo
crashtest).<br><br>>and you aren't likely to see any
well-designed<br>>vehicles (like our vanagons) that use the interior
space<br>>efficiently or effectively. the Honda is an attempt at it,
but<br>>look at the intended audience: surfers, bikers, hikers ... not
a<br>>soccer mom in the bunch! ;)<br><br>Fortunately the YH/LH-100-series
Toyota Hiace is still going<br>gangbusters in production, though there is
also a longnosed so-called<br>Hiace sold alongside it! I hope Toyota sees
the light and continues<br>the cabover design. The Mitsubishi Delica
(=Express, L300) is still<br>in production in Korea as the Hyundai H100. Kia
has just released a<br>cabover Hiace clone also. Mazda is also still making
its Bongo (also<br>sold with Ford Econovan badges).<br><br>Strictly speaking
these Japanese vans are front-midengined, as the<br>engine is located inline
& slightly behind the front axle line ie<br>within the
wheelbase.<br><br>>but then, i wouldn't mind if the vanagons were a tad
bigger.<br><br>Nah, it's plenty wide enough already. Want wider, get a
Dummer... I<br>mean Hummer.<br><br>>anyway, i guess my point is, they ain't
making no more no-nose<br>>vans ...<br><br>See above<br><br>>and the vans
they are making aren't very good for what<br>>we want.<br><br>No, the
long-nosed vans either are the same length as a VW with 1.5m<br>less
cargobay length, or the entire vehicle is 1.5m longer...TOO<br>long!! Crap.
I'll stick with rear-engined VWs and Hiaces (I just<br>bought 2 1986 LWB
10-seater dual-slider 2.4 diesel Hiaces, one being<br>an LH66 dual-range
4WD). The trend toward Eurovans is lamentable.<br><br>I believe the Hiace is
sold in M�xico. What's to stop people bringing<br>them into the US
privately?<br>--<br>Andrew Grebneff<br>165 Evans St, Dunedin, New
Zealand<br>64 (3)
473-8863<br><andrew.grebneff@stonebow.otago.ac.nz><br>Fossil
preparator<br>Seashell, Macintosh & VW/Toyota van nut<br>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Can a Web portal forever change your life?
> Win up to $25 Million on iWon - http://www.iwon.com
>