Re: PH blog: why vans rock
Discussion
Johnspex said:
"Gotten"! Oh how standards have fallen.
Depends on your context. If you take the long view, using 'en' to form a past participle was the way English was constructed for a very, very long time - long before the US was a twinkle in Columbus's eye......so, if we're talking about 'falling' standards from that perspective (a Chaucer's-eye view, shall we say), we should really be saying 'putten', 'hadden', 'written' (ah look, one that still exists), 'given' (and another), 'showen', etc etc....
(I'll stop now
) 
Rickyy said:
Personally, I can't wait to get out of my van and drive a car! They are ok for a while! But the lack of pace, body roll, vague steering and s
t driving position becomes tiresome after a while!
Disagree: I have a 2.0 turbo Partner work van and just love driving it on the edge (of torque, grip, over steer etc). Its just a blast keeping speed up through a series of up hill corners and holding back to optimise overtaking opportunities. Brilliant! Mind, it does make the M5 feel rapid at weekends...t driving position becomes tiresome after a while!Love my van
VW T5 camper - details in my profile. Doesn't handle for sh*t but still enjayble driving for other reasons. It meant I no longer needed a sensible everyday car to transport bikes, etc. so I could buy something more impractical/special (yeah, I know on that basis I should've gone more-impractical than the car I have...).
VW T5 camper - details in my profile. Doesn't handle for sh*t but still enjayble driving for other reasons. It meant I no longer needed a sensible everyday car to transport bikes, etc. so I could buy something more impractical/special (yeah, I know on that basis I should've gone more-impractical than the car I have...).
I love my van, it has been my daily driver for three years now. 190,000 miles on the clock and still gets me an average of 55mpg on motorway runs and barely uses any oil. Smokes a bit up Alpine mountain passes though!
Blue Renault Kangoo Van in Austria by retromotoring, on Flickr
The only downside is the hassle I get when taking things to the tip, having to fill forms in and get permission etc, which just wouldn't happen in a car or a similar 'Goo with windows.
The back is carpeted out and there's some foam on the floor, with a futon mattress it's perfectly fine to sleep in, much better than a tent (I spend a lot of time each year in the pits at Santa Pod).
When the time comes I'll definitely replace it with another small van, probably a Caddy just like in the OP if they are cheap enough secondhand.
Blue Renault Kangoo Van in Austria by retromotoring, on Flickr
The only downside is the hassle I get when taking things to the tip, having to fill forms in and get permission etc, which just wouldn't happen in a car or a similar 'Goo with windows.
The back is carpeted out and there's some foam on the floor, with a futon mattress it's perfectly fine to sleep in, much better than a tent (I spend a lot of time each year in the pits at Santa Pod).
When the time comes I'll definitely replace it with another small van, probably a Caddy just like in the OP if they are cheap enough secondhand.
I guess I'm also one of those sad people for liking vans, my workhorse is a 127k mile 2004 LWB Vivaro with 100bhp but I love it. It's surprisingly sprightly, handles really well, comfortable and returns 33mpg from mostly short journies that I do. It also sits very comfortably upto and beyond the legal limit, (sometimes way beyond if I'm late where applicable!!)
For my next van I'm torn between another newer Vivaro or a VW T5.
As for the T5, I was shocked by one of the new 180PS Bi turbo ones in Newcastle earlier this year, I was in my old Range Rover, (4.4 V8 L322 so not really a slow motor). I had a feeling the kid in the T5 was going to hoon away from the lights so stuck my toe down expecting to leave him for dust. I was shocked when we were sat side by side. Reading up on them, they can be remapped to around 230bhp. My kind of van.
For my next van I'm torn between another newer Vivaro or a VW T5.
As for the T5, I was shocked by one of the new 180PS Bi turbo ones in Newcastle earlier this year, I was in my old Range Rover, (4.4 V8 L322 so not really a slow motor). I had a feeling the kid in the T5 was going to hoon away from the lights so stuck my toe down expecting to leave him for dust. I was shocked when we were sat side by side. Reading up on them, they can be remapped to around 230bhp. My kind of van.
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