# Any VW T4 van owners out there?



## sophiethomson (May 27, 2010)

I have a 2003 VW T4 converted into a camper and it's blinding, especially for getting to trails!

Anyone rocking a similar vehicle?? :thumbsup:


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## pimpbot (Dec 31, 2003)

*Blinding?*



sophiethomson said:


> I have a 2003 VW T4 converted into a camper and it's blinding, especially for getting to trails!
> 
> Anyone rocking a similar vehicle?? :thumbsup:


That doesn't sound good. :thumbsup:

I'm fantasizing about minivans. I would love to build up a wannabe Westfalia. Add an awning over the rolling door, bed in back.

T3 Westys are available here in the states, but they go for stupid amounts of cash used, and lets face it... the mechanicals suck something awful on T3s, not to mention lack of ABS or airbags. T4s are pretty rare here, especially in Westy form. Non-Westy T4s go for pretty cheap used. They share a lot of parts with the regular watercooled front drive VWs, which are pretty solid.

A T4 is on the list. I'm a total VW/Audi freak, but I'll probably end up with a boring Nissan or Mazda minivan.

We only got T4s in 1993, then from 1999-2003.


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## sophiethomson (May 27, 2010)

Oh no way! Don't go with a Nissan! Do you guys have the T5's out there yet? Those are REALLY nice. I couldn't afford one but they make slick conversions and do awesome fuel milage too.

There is a mexican or brazillian based company that is making brand new vans in the old 70's style, classic camper look! Those could be an option!


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## pimpbot (Dec 31, 2003)

*No, no T5s here*



sophiethomson said:


> Oh no way! Don't go with a Nissan! Do you guys have the T5's out there yet? Those are REALLY nice. I couldn't afford one but they make slick conversions and do awesome fuel milage too.
> 
> There is a mexican or brazillian based company that is making brand new vans in the old 70's style, classic camper look! Those could be an option!


We get the Routan, which is basically a rebadged and restyled Chrysler Caravan minivan, complete with their lame 4.3 Liter pushrod engine engine that produces no power, but still sucks tons of gasoline.

Our safety and emissions laws are pretty strict here. Most foreign manufacturers have to modify their cars to comply with the bumper and safety standards here before they can import them. Many models we will never see, like the South American VW Type 2 bus that they still make with a watercooled engine. At best, we get more middle sized European cars like VW and Audi, but with huge heavy bulbous bumpers to comply with the 5 mph rule. We would never see the super compacts like a Twingo or a Ka here. VW is talking about selling the Polo here, but its going to be a special slightly bigger Polo, not the European version. Its going to be similar in size to the Honda Jazz/Fit.

Anyway, the primary reason we don't see the T5 here is that the T4 (what we called the Eurovan, as the lamest rebadging ever) was not popular here. Mostly, it was unpopular because it was stupid expensive with the German Mark/Euro to Dollar value. IIRC, the Eurovan was like $27k base price in 2003 or so... last year we saw it... whereas the Japanese and American made minivans started around $16k when new. I think I read somewhere that if VW did import T5s today, it would have to sell for $45k, which is way more expensive than the competition. I dunno... seems to me if they can sell a Touereg for $45k here as a luxury SUV with real off road worthy 4wd and such, they should be able to sell a minivan for a lot less, even if it does come from Germany.

Oh man, that would be sweet, tho. I saw a T5 California a couple years ago in the Berlin VW showroom. Frickin sweet. 50k Euros was kinda steep, tho.

No, I was looking for more of a beater third vehicle for weekend use. The mid 90s high mileage used minivans show up on craigslist.org for under $2k. With some minor mods, roof racks, etc, and with occasional use minimal insurance for cheap, I could have a cheapo weekender minivan. That was more my line of thinking.


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## J_Westy (Jan 7, 2009)

sophiethomson said:


> I have a 2003 VW T4 converted into a camper and it's blinding, especially for getting to trails!
> 
> Anyone rocking a similar vehicle?? :thumbsup:


Here's our 2002 VW Eurovan Weekender -- that's US-speak for a T4 Westfalia without a kitchen.

Let's see your 2003 :thumbsup:


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## pimpbot (Dec 31, 2003)

*Nice!*



J_Westy said:


> Here's our 2002 VW Eurovan Weekender -- that's US-speak for a T4 Westfalia without a kitchen.
> 
> Let's see your 2003 :thumbsup:
> 
> *bunch of sweet pics*


That thing is sweet!


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## bvibert (Mar 30, 2006)

J_Westy said:


> Here's our 2002 VW Eurovan Weekender -- that's US-speak for a T4 Westfalia without a kitchen.


Nice setup!


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## NotQuiteClimbing (Jul 26, 2010)

Just to revive the thread since I'm new to this forum...

2002 Full Camper...white (the only color). I'm looking for a bike rack and I'm thinking the best option is a hitch and hitch rack.

My once epic car camping climbing rig is now just a soccer mom (dad) mobile. It does have the added benefit of a built in changing table and sink to wash to crap off. 


From April


From November


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## J_Westy (Jan 7, 2009)

NotQuiteClimbing said:


> 2002 Full Camper...white (the only color). I'm looking for a bike rack and I'm thinking the best option is a hitch and hitch rack.
> 
> My once epic car camping climbing rig is now just a soccer mom (dad) mobile. It does have the added benefit of a built in changing table and sink to wash to crap off.


Steve usually has good prices on hitches and also carries Fiamma racks:
http://eurocampers.com/

We really liked our EVWK as a kid transporter because when we took out the middle seat, we could just step inside to load up the kiddies. The big open floor was also nice as a changing area.


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## trained_monkey (Aug 11, 2007)

I have a 1990 T3 Transporter:


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## NotQuiteClimbing (Jul 26, 2010)

Cool rig. Is that a massive bumper/skid plate? It looks like it should be on a syncro.


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## thebronze (Jan 13, 2004)

pimpbot said:


> A T4 is on the list. I'm a total VW/Audi freak, but I'll probably end up with a boring Nissan or Mazda minivan.


I hear ya, I'm looking at a '85 vanagon and a 92 mazda mpv. They both get similar mpg (19) but the mazda has AC, is faster, smaller, and more reliable. I'll probably just get the mazda, you can pick them up dirt cheap.


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## pimpbot (Dec 31, 2003)

*The MPV....*



thebronze said:


> I hear ya, I'm looking at a '85 vanagon and a 92 mazda mpv. They both get similar mpg (19) but the mazda has AC, is faster, smaller, and more reliable. I'll probably just get the mazda, you can pick them up dirt cheap.


doesn't have a sliding door, tho. They didn't add a sliding door until the MK2 MPV which was what... 1998 or 1999 when they also switched to front wheel drive? I was all sold on the MPV until I saw that. Wups! It does have 4wd with a locking center diff, tho! :thumbsup: Not sure how off-road worthy it is. The Vanagon Syncro is very off road worthy, but no ABS or Airbags.


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## trained_monkey (Aug 11, 2007)

NotQuiteClimbing said:


> Cool rig. Is that a massive bumper/skid plate? It looks like it should be on a syncro.


It's an alloy bullbar. They're a pretty standard accessory on 4wds here in Australia. A large percentage of VW buses have them as well.

There's a lot of kangaroos outside the major urban areas and they're not the most intelligent creatures. They stand still as you approach, then try to hop it when they think you're too close. If there's more than one of them they tend to scatter in all directions. I've collected a kangaroo in a small coupe before and it's not pretty.


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## DeeEight (Jan 13, 2004)

I have a 1987 T3 Westy myself. Well my parents have one but I'm the only one who ever drives the damn thing really, and I'm certainly the only one who camps in it (though the last time that happened was 2 years ago). As I recall, the odometer is just about to pass the 98,500km mark. If I was to ever use it as a regular vehicle for camping and such, I'd probably want to look into an engine conversion as the watercooled flat-4 is pretty much gutless. You need a stiff tailwind and a hill to get to 85mph in them. I'd also probably want to get one of those alloy bull bars installed, if only to have something else to absorb some energy in a front-end impact.

As to the bumper law complaint... the standard is now 2.5mph and Canada's was higher than the USA's until last year when it was lowered to match. Apparently the 2.5mph standard is pretty much the same worldwide. This of course means that at anything other than creeping parking lot speed you can expect a messy repair bill for minor impacts. Personally I think the standard bumper should behave like the ones on Model T fords and similar of the 1920s which essentially used leaf springs for bumpers. They would absorb the energy and in effect the car's bounced back. I've seen ones old movie footage of them driven into brick walls at about 20mph with no damage to the vehicle.

But the VW T3 crash video series is pretty good for showing how well they protect.


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## pimpbot (Dec 31, 2003)

*Kinda like deer here.*



trained_monkey said:


> It's an alloy bullbar. They're a pretty standard accessory on 4wds here in Australia. A large percentage of VW buses have them as well.
> 
> There's a lot of kangaroos outside the major urban areas and they're not the most intelligent creatures. They stand still as you approach, then try to hop it when they think you're too close. If there's more than one of them they tend to scatter in all directions. I've collected a kangaroo in a small coupe before and it's not pretty.


I know bunches of folks who hit deer at speed. They can do some massive damage. Since we chased all the natural predators out away from all the populated areas, deer are breeding like crazy.


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## crux (Jan 10, 2004)

I`m hoping that Mitsubishi would start importing their MPV to the states. Think these would sell really well here.


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## NotQuiteClimbing (Jul 26, 2010)

Those Mitsubishis are frigging cool. I'd get the black on in a heartbeat. A popup would work perfectly on it.


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