Transporter T4

[ayd]

What is it with these...I live right near a good beach for surfing so come bank holidays etc... the campsite right next to the beach is full of the damn things and they all look the same, lowered with Audi TT/Golf alloys on.........honestly the place is littered with them as soon as there's some reasonable weather or surf, not that most fo them do surf, all the gear no idea kinda people.I'll try and get a photo next time I go past it's quite comical.....Wonder if they all sit in the pub at night playing T4 Top Trumps

[pogweasel]

Yup, 100% wanker wagon. For sheep / lemmings. I don't care HOW good it is, no van that's 10 years old is worth £10,000, even if it is an 'individual one-off'. Fashion-tax at it's worst - you could fit out an LDV Convoy or even a new-ish transit to an incredible standard for the money.

[ayd]

it just seems to have come on all of a suddenlast year and all previous years there was nothing really noticible, the odd split screen, some T25's the rest regular cars, this year though....they're bloody everywhere

[shite_meister]

A T4 is a million times better than an LDV.

 

They're popular because every nob-jockey in a suit pays well-over the odds for a Splittie/Bay window thus increasing the value because the sellers all know that some cock-muncher in a suit will be along in five mins to pay twelvety grand for a rusty old shit-box and leaving you're average classic enthusiast unable to compete financially. A T25 is a nice proposition but will cost you far more than a T4 to maintain in terms of time and money and not alot of people want that. Also as you've pointed out you can modify them far easier than most other vans and they actually drive alright which is another big reason.

 

I own a T25 camper which is about as cool as Roger Whitaker's Slippers, its furnished inside to old bid spec (although I did fit Recaros as I get back-ache) I bought it because I've wanted a square-headlight T25 since I was nine year old in the same way I've coveted some cars since I were wee. If I just wanted a compact campervan I think I'd be looking at a Mazda Friendee Bongo-a huge amount of camper for the money.

 

I do like Vivaros, having worked for Vauxhall and Renault and know people who own them they aren't cheap to fix when they go wrong....fairly frequently.

 

Me? I'd have one of these if I could:

How bloody nice is that?

 

Or:

 

Or this lovely thing:

I so need a Barkas in my life

[ayd]

thats another thing, there was a 58 plate T25 (yes a 58 plate) pulling in to the campsite the other day, I did try and get a photo but only managed to nearly crash the car and photograph my feet as I quite literally shat myself...is it some kind of swinefluimport?Will see if it's still there this weekend.

[shite_meister]

They were made in South Africacacaca untill about 2005, as with most things automotive the Sud Afrikans got much nicer stuff than we did, how about a T25 with a 5-cylinder Audi 2.6i engine?

[Guest]

I'm sure the Old Motor club had one of those! Think it was shipped out the island some years back now though. Not sure where they got it from...

[Milford Cubicle]

The T4 Transporter crew even have meets - it's just a fuggin' van, a fairly plasticky, modern one at that.

[dollywobbler]

I really like them. Spent a lot of time driving them. They're ace.But yes, it does annoy me that they've become all 'scene' and as everyone else has one, I'm increasingly fancying a Ford Tourneo just because it isn't a VW. Or maybe even a Mazda Bongo. Yes, things are that bad!

[Milford Cubicle]

They are nice vans right enough, especially the 5 cylinder diesels.I wonder if they'd be so popular and 'scene' if they had an Iveco badge on the front.

[trigger]

The road next to me which is only a short link road has three of them parked at different addresses.They seem really popular here in Ipswich, Gawd knows why?

[shite_meister]

The T4 Transporter crew even have meets - it's just a fuggin' van, a fairly plasticky, modern one at that.

To be fair not alot of people can understand why I choose to drive shite so the phrase 'each to their own' is probably good here. Yes its tiresome seeing cloned copies with absolutely no originality but the same goes on with other cars.If the average surf bod just wants a compact van that they can chuck on some alloys or different lights, they can modify it without getting dirty or needing any deep mechanical knowledge and they want it all off-the-shelf and to drive like a car then they don't have that much choice. I think the T4 is popular because of its aftermarket tat available because apart from that the T4 is much like any other modern van in its class unlike previous generations of VW Transporters that were 'cool' because they were part of the air-cooled fraternity with the engine in the rear and therefore just a little different from other vans like a transit.

[garycox]

Those Bongo Friendee things would be OK if it wasn't for their ridiculously stupid name... Isn't there a Ford badges one? Or something similar... Does it have a less silly name?

[Pillock]

The Ford one is badged the Freda so no, it's no less stupidly named :)As for the T4s, there's a huge following for folk who grow tired of rubbishy old aircooled campers, paying through the nose for parts gas-axed out of scrappers and breaking down at ten past every hour*But sadly it does mean they all look like they've been to Transporters-R-Us and bought the same special offers. Multispoke Audi wheel copies - check. Clear lenses - check. Saltrock stickers - check. Surfboard - check. Debadged grille - check. A lot of them are ex-builders, but there's loads of them in yellow with green checks around the bottom.... wonder where they came from? :)I guess it's no worse than endless T25s with Granada wheels and botched lowering though. Thy died out eventually.2.6i T25s sound cool though..... nyom nyom.

[shite_meister]

 

I guess it's no worse than endless T25s with Granada wheels and botched lowering though.

Ahem....hides stack of Granada Cosworth wheels I haven't ever seen ANY T25s on Granny wheels, only ever seen a couple on the internet, I would say it was the Mercedes wheeled shit-boxes that give T25s a bad name, people modify them with black and decker drills FFS, at least the Granny wheels are better than that!

 

This isn't mine but a similar van, hardly the height of bad taste is it? You could get a similar 14" Alloy wheel as an option when they were new.

[Pillock]

To be fair, and I'll hold my hands up here, I was thinking Carlton and typed Granada. Those thick five-spoke ones, were they GSI3000 rims? However at least Granada rims fit making me look slightly less dense than any other model I could have wanged in there ;)But yeah, the cheap AMG copies are also rife. They actually make them to fit T25s directly, they're that big a market.

[shite_meister]

But yeah, the cheap AMG copies are also rife. They actually make them to fit T25s directly, they're that big a market.

Show me a non-Volkswagen alloy wheel that fits a T25 'off the shelf' without pissing about with this or that and I'll buy them, I do not know of a single wheel that fits the T25 without having to modify something in order to fit them. The Granada Cosworth wheels are about as close as you can get to standard fit but then you have to enlarge the central hub bore, remove rear drum retaining screws and fit longer studs and bolts (T25s use odd combo of nuts and studs) and thats quite involved at the back end.Not even the T4 or T5 wheels will fit without buggering about with something which neatly explains why T4s are popular-because you don't have to dick about to fit alloys-they fit straight on.

[Ratdat]

Datsun E20 all the way! It's the only van I want and I'll most probably never be able to get one.

 

 

[Pillock]

There was a company that Midland Wheels were dealing with that had ordered some AMG copies to be made, but since they were likely all to end up on T25s they'd either changed the casting, or got the manufacturer to modify them with the correct centre bore.This is going back a fair few years, are MWS even trading still? I know they went through a sticky patch for flogging duff wheels. But a few sets have since turned up on VZi and ebay as 'unmodified AMG replicas' or the like.

[shite_meister]

To be fair, and I'll hold my hands up here, I was thinking Carlton and typed Granada. Those thick five-spoke ones, were they GSI3000 rims? However at least Granada rims fit making me look slightly less dense than any other model I could have wanged in there

Only to bay window campers and I've only ever seen a couple of these in mags/web because only wankers fit those, they're 5x110 PCD and the VW is 5x112-not a huge difference but enough to fuck your hubs up and cause potentially dangerous shenanigans.

[andrew e]

My T25 had gold paint sprayed steels and brush painted hub caps! My T4 was a 5 cylinder diesel and was lovely, mind you I handed it back in 1999... they have odd shaped wing mirrors, great fun when your trying touch them at 80 mph with the other fitters See I was cool without even knowing it

[FredTransit]

I just don't get the scene/fashion tax to do with the VWs, give me a transit any day, even an ex fire van with about 5 thou on the clock is far better, and a third of the price.....

[shite_meister]

As I said, horses for courses. If you look at alot of VW camper owners they aren't mechanically minded they just want a compact van that they can bolt all kinds of crap onto and feel like they've achieved something. Also a big social scene.I'd love all of those classic campers that I posted pics of but I doubt for one second that any of them drive as well as a bay window.Just for balance I owned a bay window briefly for about six months thats as far as my air-cooled 'scene' goes. Always wanted a SWB Mk2 Transit mind, mmmmmmmmm