

| Subject: | Re: FRYDAY: RE-OPEN VANAGON ASSEMBLY |
| From: | Anthony Egeln |
| Date: | Sun, 28 May 2006 20:37:56 -0700 |
Whoa! My mistake. It wasn't the busman.be site. It was the vanagon.com site. Here's the link: http://www.vanagon.com/info/safety/volvo-crash/ Sorry for the mis-information. Cheers, Anthony retro van <r3tr0v4n@gmail.com> wrote: Cant find the volvo vs vanagon video on the www.busman.be page, can you furnish more detail? As luck would have it I have a Volvo850 also. Robert 90 MV On 5/27/06, Anthony Egeln <regnsuzanne@yahoo.com> wrote: Sadly the "perception" of cab over wheels risk persists.....but witness the vanagon vs. volvo crash test on www.busman.be. The vanagon wins! Also, I think the TDI diesel drivers are getting 25 mpg or better, which beats the gas Eurovan and a whole lot of US SUVs. Could a revived vanagon be both safety legal and fuel efficient? Maybe. Is the new microbus concept car cab over wheels? Anthony John Bange <jbange@GMAIL.COM> wrote: > Since it's Fryday I thought I'd open a thread I've wanted to open for a > long time. What does everyone think about VW re-opening the vanagon > assembly line? Is there any impediment to building new vanagons? It > shouldn't be a chore for VW to open an assembly line somewhere in the > world. The only major weakness in the original was the power plant and I'm > certain that VW could quickly engineer in a new TDI diesel or inline gas > engine. All the rest could be the same� Well, the real problem is that they'd have to change a few things. The flat nose is murder on fuel economy. With gas crawling up toward the $3.50 mark here in the states, fuel economy is a big sticking point. There's also the issue of front-end impact safety. No car maker can afford to make any passenger vehicle where the occupants aren't placed cowering behind a couple feet of collapsible steel. Once that nose is there, providing "necessary" safety and aerodynamics, they might as well stick the front whells under it, and the engine/tranny in it, and make it a front wheel drive ass dragger. With the wheelbase that much longer and the front wheel wells out of the passenger compartment, no point in having any economy-robbing ground clearance-- knock it down a couple inches. Do all that and what do we have? A dang Eurovan. As much as I'd love to see the T3 come back, I'm fairly certain the "cab-over-front-wheels" design is forever gone for non-commercial vehicles. -- John Bange '90 Vanagon - "Geldsauger" --------------------------------- Love cheap thrills? Enjoy PC-to-Phone calls to 30+ countries for just 2�/min with Yahoo! Messenger with Voice. --------------------------------- How low will we go? Check out Yahoo! Messenger�s low PC-to-Phone call rates.
Have something to add on this topic today? Revive this thread in the forum »