A brand new design of VW vans has been added to their transporter range, and so far all signs point to smiles. Tested by Chris Riley from the Lifestyle section of an Australian newspaper the “Rouse Hill Times” and his pals: they put the “4motion” through it’s paces.
4motion is the VW specific brand of all wheel drive and it seems that it’s only used in the most special of circumstances:
The popular van comes in work and people mover configurations, but if you want 4Motion you can only get it with the top of the line 2.0-litre twin turbo diesel.
The lads that tested it are impressed at how easy they overcame obstacles with the 4motion free model. So, if you’re willing to pay the extra amount it sounds as though you’ll be able to get up hefty inclines like a mouse after some grains or fruit (that’s right, grains and fruit: sharks sleep, a goldfish never forgets, and dolphins haven’t got a clue! [warning - link is non-sequitur]).
The testing was done in the Black Forest: a region of woodland in the furthest reaching South West of Germany. It spans 120*37 miles with a high point of 4,898 ft due to it’s 8 mountains. The surface is primarily sandstone above granite… not the most ideal for van driving: proof that it can hold it’s own in adverse conditions.
There are a barrel-load of industry terms and figures that mean very little to me, but there is one thing in particular that gets my attention.
VW’s biggest customers for the all-wheel drive version of the van is the NSW Ambulance Service.
The vans are packed with go-faster technology that balances out nicely with it’s safety features. With a four star rating you can be sure that you’ll be getting a safe drive for your 8 passengers. The price for the latest in big-wheel mountaineering translates to around £27,000 – if it’s a little more than you can handle you can go direct to the VW site and have a look at van hire – there is even an offer on at the moment for just £239 a month.
It’s not the original camper van of old, but for the sacrifice of iconography you can get more speed, better economy, more safety and a lot more space. I suppose there are up sides, eh?
Dr Kevorkian, better known as “Dr Death” as dubbed by the authorities, owned a small van during his euthanasia days. This van is now to be auctioned on Ebay.. there are still a few days left in the sale if you’re interested, but I can see where this might end up going. The van was “used in several assisted suicides throughout the campaign”.
Your average Joe may be out looking for a normal van, or some van hire (cheap van hire, if anything): your average bidder on this little puppy is more than likely going to be a bit of a connoisseur of the art of “killing other people when they want it doing”. It may well be a bit of a Robin Hood/Batman/”Your average super-hero with demons” thing to do, but it’s still illegal.
If this van is sold up without sky rocketing in price (and becoming just another collectors item in some posh swag garage, or a museum somewhere), I’d be willing to bet that we’d see another Dr Death on the scene. It seems to be a hot topic in our day and age, but I doubt a story like this will be changing things too much.
Apple seem determined to FORCE technology onto future plateau’s as we saw yet another BRAND NEW RELEASE at the start of this week. This guy seems equally determined to FORCE cars onto Apple’s plateau!
I really wouldn’t bother watching the whole thing all the way through, but the idea is a really nice example of what idiots will start to do with the technology Apple are leaking out all over the place. Here we have a FULLY TOUCHSCREEN (meaning hands are ESSENTIAL in it’s operation) device with the capability to have no more than a single program running at once: bunging one next to a steering wheel in a car is just about as useful an idea as drooling unspeakable amounts of gold on a TV, and just about as sensible as playing chicken with a falling piano. I can’t imagine how Pimp My Ride is going to start looking now that you can whack what are essentially gubbins-free-screens anywhere they’ll fit.
Before you know what’s going on they’ll be grabbing hold of vans and sticking Isheets over the windows for mid-journey entertainment. What better way to pass the time as you drive along the freeway than covering up the journey itself?! You’ll never know where you are, so you couldn’t possibly be bored of travelling!
So come on then. Anyone know of any cheap van hire? It’s only a matter of time before there’s an app for it.
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