FIVE-STAR TRANSPORTER

As we approach the tenth anniversary of the T5 going out of production, we look back at the Volkswagen van that ushered in new levels of Transporter speed and sophistication

WORDS RICHARD GUNN

TRANSPORTER ARCHIVE RETRO After three generations of rear-engined, air-cooled, rear-wheel drive Transporters (even if the T25 did switch to water-cooling part-way through its production run) Volkswagen finally went conventional with its light van range in 1990. The T4 finally brought Volkswagen’s medium-sized commercial load-luggers into line with its passenger cars, with front-mounted, coolant-veined engines powering the front wheels. It was a bold and dramatic, albeit inevitable, move for Volkswagen but it worked; the T4’s versatility, practicality and conventionality made it very successful. More than 1.9 million examples were sold over 13 years, a European production run second only to the 17 years of its T1 great grandmother. The T4 also gave Volkswagen a great basis to build on, and that’s precisely what it did with its successor, the T5. The…

You're reading a preview of

VWt (Digital) - 1 Issue, Issue 150

DiscountMags is a licensed distributor (not a publisher) of the above content and Publication through Zinio LLC. Accordingly, we have no editorial control over the Publications. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers or other information or content expressed or made available by third parties, including those made in Publications offered on our website, are those of the respective author(s) or publisher(s) and not of DiscountMags. DiscountMags does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, truthfulness, or usefulness of all or any portion of any publication or any services or offers made by third parties, nor will we be liable for any loss or damage caused by your reliance on information contained in any Publication, or your use of services offered, or your acceptance of any offers made through the Service or the Publications. For content removal requests, please contact Zinio.