Why The Volkswagen Vanagon Westfalia Lives up to The Hype Part 1

Why The Volkswagen Vanagon Westfalia Lives Up To The Hype part 1 Personally, I’ve always been intrigued by these things, but never had a chance to drive one. Sure, I get the whole bring-your-home-along appeal, but I never understood why people spend a fortune on a VW Westfalia over the more comfortable, powerful and fuel efficient campers available out there. Wouldn’t you have just as much fun in a second-hand Safari Condo travel trailer?. I had to find out what the hype was all about, so I took a Westfalia out for a spin. Doing so completely altered my perception of what it means to have a good time driving. What Is It?. I’ll avoid digging into the history of the Volkswagen Bus/Type 2/Kombi/Transporter/Hippie Van, because it’s a long and convoluted one, but what you need to know is that these things appeared some time in the early 1950s. The basic formula for the VW van is rather simple. Out in the back sits a boxer-type flat-four. Inside, you don’t get much luxury besides a set of captain chairs up front, a steering wheel, a hard, flat dashboard, and a pair of windshield wipers. The idea behind the VW bus was always to build a straightforward panel van that could be converted into different types of vehicles. The model you see here is a 1990 Vanagon Westfalia. It’s one of the last iterations of the original Type 2 bus before it evolved into the Eurovan. The Westfalia was a bespoke model that focused on the art of camping. The 2. 1-liter, water-cooled engine you see here is one of the largest flat-fours to have ever powered these vans. Horsepower is rated in the vicinity of 90, with torque hanging around 117 lb-ft. All that furious might is sent straight to the rear wheels via a four-speed manual or a three-speed automatic. My tester had the latter, baby. Why Does It Matter?. The VW Transporter (these things have so many names) is the best-selling van in history with over 12 million units roaming the globe. It’s starred in a gazillion movies and have been owned by the likes of Steve Jobs and Jerry Seinfeld. You might say the original Westfalia helped inspire an entire generation of kids to drive off to wherever, smoke weed, and take part in crazy unprotected sex. Or at least, it paired nicely with a summer of ’69 kind of soundtrack. This is the official car of “let’s get the *** out.”. Today we’re in the middle of a new version of the hippie trend, further increasing the popularity of these flat-nosed contraptions. Millennial hipsters are leaving behind stable, well-paying office jobs and dropping their expensive urban condos in favor of the #vanlife, heading west in their Westfalia on the virtues of their Instagram accounts. As for the hipsters still living in mom’s basement, they have some saving to do first, since you have to shell out silly money to buy a decent-looking Westfalia today. There’s something appealing about carrying your home inside of your car, and the Westfalia is a surprisingly spacious little rolling house in which you’ll find all the basic necessities to remain alive. It has a propane-powered stove and propane-powered fridge. One of the beds is stowed in the roof. There’s a sink to wash your face in the morning, and plenty of available storage areas for dishes, utensils or a few board games. What impressed me the most about the Westfalia is that even if this is a 27-year old vehicle with rather tiny dimensions by today’s van standards, it’s tremendously cavernous inside. You can actually walk around in it, and there’s no waste of space. Everything is intelligently stowed and well put-together. Fred, the hero who owns this bad boy, popped up at my place for shots one hot summer morning. He daily drives this thing when he’s not ripping through the gears of his Porsche 944 on weekends.