Comments on: VW Kombi Stunt-van

By: johnbrett

johnbrett — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 21:41:44 +0000

Hi Gary- It is really fascinating to hear from the original builder. I can confirm that this VW went up onto front wheels very easily under braking. Someone in the Ulysses Club told be that they had seen it doing a stunt involving full lock and full brakes, where it would stand on one front wheel and pirouette around to face the opposite way. There is a big difference between Warrant of Fitness and Low Volume Vehicle Certification, the WOF inspection process works on the assumption that the basic design is sound, and the inspector just has to make sure that everything is working as designed. The Low Volume process is about finding out if the design is sound. The WOF inspector does not have to drive the vehicle more than a short distance, the LVV Certifier is required to do a test drive including cornering and steering evaluation, and full-on brake tests from 100kph to 0. I can assure you that on the first brake test (from about 40 kph) I was looking down through the windscreen at the asphalt, until I let the brakes off, and the back came down to earth with a bang! Good to hear from you- regards, John

By: Gary Mclean

Gary Mclean — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 08:03:40 +0000

I am the original builder of this Kombi. I had a stock 1600cc VW engine in it, it could be coaxed into a wheelie but under normal take off would not do so. The stoppies were also not achieved under normal or even aggressive braking would not tip it on to the front wheels. I drove this van up and down from Dannevirke to Auckland several times, it always handled like a tall go kart in my opinion. I have run it in a streetkhana event and taken it around Bay Park Raceway and it did exactly what was asked of it handling wise. The guy i had W.O.F. it first time on the road is one of the most demanding testers out there, if it was going to be a problem on the road it would never have got passed him. I believe it was safe when i built it, whoever played round with it later may have just plain over powered it perhaps.

By: Patricia Summerfield

Patricia Summerfield — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 12:11:14 +0000

Hey nice post.
Conerning Volkswagen recalls, have you heard of the Volkswagen Phaeton? Did you realize it’s just a rebadged Bentley Continental GT? Sad, but true.
The VW Phaeton was a massive failure in my opinion, the worst thing VW ever made!

Its Official: VW Phaeton is a total flop!