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VW "Bulli" Microbus

dpeilow

Moderator
May 23, 2008
9,151
888
Winchester, UK
Iconic VW Microbus, Reimagined as an EV | Autopia | Wired.com

I think the author is on here sometimes.

I take issue with the "The Bulli is glacially slow like the Microbus. The 3,200-pound vehicle trundles to 62 mph in 11.5 seconds. Propulsion, such as it is, comes from an 85 kilowatt [113 horsepower] motor that draws power from a 40-kilowatt-hour lithium ion pack."

Seems pretty biased. I'd like to have a go in whatever VW van he's got.


VW-Bulli-concept.jpg
 

qwk

P130DL
Dec 19, 2008
3,024
766

vfx

Well-Known Member
Aug 18, 2006
14,790
40
CA CA
A bit too angular for me. The Mini and Fiat 500 redux were more successful in keeping the soft yet aggressive look without going all Cadillac on the design.
 

CarbonOne

Banned
Jun 13, 2010
121
0
Chicago
A bit too angular for me. The Mini and Fiat 500 redux were more successful in keeping the soft yet aggressive look without going all Cadillac on the design.

x2 on that. Too many lines. IMO if they bring it back, they should mix retro + modern like Ford did with the mustang.
 

domenick

Nerd
Jan 2, 2008
621
59
Florida
I wasn't going to comment on this but I find it hard to hold back since I find myself growling everytime I hear this thing referred to as a "bus". It's not. It's a 5 passenger car. If you took the big VW branding off and painted it with one color, it would resemble a Scion xB (1st gen) as much as anything else.

That's not to say I don't like it. I do. I like the form factor, the adequate battery pack and the general aesthetics. It's just not a bus.
 
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jcstp

Active Member
Feb 7, 2011
1,627
1
Belgium
I wasn't going to comment on this but I find it hard to hold back since I find myself growling everytime I hear this thing referred to as a "bus". It's not. It's a 5 passenger car. If you took the big VW branding off it and painted it with one color, it would resemble a Scion xB (1st gen) as much as anything else.

That's not to say I don't like it. I do. I like the form factor, the adequate battery pack and the general aesthetics. It's just not a bus.

2006_Scion_xB_.jpg
 

SwedishAdvocate

Active Member
Jul 26, 2012
1,796
216
Sweden, Earth
.../ so what say those of this generation? Would you buy an electric version [of this VW minibus]?
No.

I do not want an aerodynamic brick with crappy road handling.

I want an electric VW Sportswagon.

This is the new non-electric version of VW's Passat wagon currently on sale in Europe:

012-2015-volkswagen-passat-1.jpg

Image credit: VW

010-2015-volkswagen-passat-1.jpg

Image credit: VW

013-2015-volkswagen-passat-1.jpg

Image credit: VW
 

SwedishAdvocate

Active Member
Jul 26, 2012
1,796
216
Sweden, Earth
passat.jpg

Image credit: VW

There currently isn’t really a way for me to get my hands on a 85 kWh Tesla. And at the moment I need that kind of range to earn a living. So instead I drive the previous version of the VW Passat wagon (above) with manual transmission that can be propelled by methane. In Sweden ~60% of all methane for road vehicles is produced locally from recycled organic waste from households, farms and food processing industries and such. In theory almost 70% of all traffic on Swedish roads could be propelled by methane from recycled organic waste if all that waste was indeed recycled. Unfortunately that’s not the case (And it’s probably a an even more distant prospect in the US…). This way though – even though I’m not driving an electric car – I at least get to give Saudi Arabia and their cohorts the finger...

And, and the importance of the following can not be stressed enough:

There is ABSOLUTELY NO FRACKING ANYWHERE IN SWEDEN. As far as I’m aware there’s no fracking in any Scandinavian country!!!
 
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miimura

Well-Known Member
Aug 21, 2013
6,003
5,579
Los Altos, CA
Is there a European on-sale date yet for the Passat GTE Estate? We just retired our 2001 Passat GLX Wagon for an e-Golf. I would have preferred the Passat GTE Estate, but in the States we get our Passats from the US factory and there will be no Wagon. :mad: Now I will get the CHAdeMO mod for my RAV4 EV and make that our long(er) distance car - until Model 3.
 

anticitizen13.7

Not posting at TMC after 9/17/2018
Dec 22, 2012
3,638
5,761
United States
I wasn't going to comment on this but I find it hard to hold back since I find myself growling everytime I hear this thing referred to as a "bus". It's not. It's a 5 passenger car. If you took the big VW branding off and painted it with one color, it would resemble a Scion xB (1st gen) as much as anything else.

That's not to say I don't like it. I do. I like the form factor, the adequate battery pack and the general aesthetics. It's just not a bus.

I agree that this is a weak effort from VW. A 5-door hatchback is NOT a substitute for the bus.

I suspect that Model X is going to be the used vehicle of choice for the counterculture circa 2030-2040.
 

gregincal

Active Member
Oct 26, 2012
3,763
2,294
Santa Cruz, CA
I agree that this is a weak effort from VW. A 5-door hatchback is NOT a substitute for the bus.

I suspect that Model X is going to be the used vehicle of choice for the counterculture circa 2030-2040.

I have no idea why the mods merged the ggies07 post into this thread, but not my reply. If you read the article posted by ggies07 it's clear they are NOT talking about the 4 year old Bulli concept, but some completely different electric camper. They just posted the video about the Bulli as an example of what VW has proposed previously.
 

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