In case you haven’t noticed, prices on VW Vans have been creeping way up of late. Today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe EuroVan is still pretty cheap, but that may be because it’s not very pretty. Could that still make it a pretty attractive deal?
I don’t know about you, but I find it quite remarkable that Honda currently only offers a single two-door model here in the U.S.. At one time, that was all they sold here. In between, the car car company offered up a cornucopia of coupes from the Civic and Accord model lines, as well as the two-door only Prelude.
We looked at a 2001 Honda Prelude SH yesterday. That car represented the model’s swan song and as it was almost totally stock, it was a great opportunity to look back in anger at what SUV and crossover buyers have lost us. At $6,000, 56 percent of you felt it was also a good deal to get those memories back.
Another model that in present day seems missed by many is the VW Van. Whether air-cooled OG or the later FWD models, the VW minivan has carved out a niche as one of the weirder models to gain a following.
Oh and what a following they have. If you’ve seen any asking prices on the early many-window models then you’ll know that a single one could potentially fund a college career. And I mean at a nice school, not one of those shitholes. Even the later, less quirky VW Vans can bring bank, especially when the official Weekender package comes along for the ride
This 1993 VW EuroVan doesn’t have the camper or weekender package—hell, it doesn’t even have its middle set of seats. It does however, have a fold-out table for the rear-most seat. And there are rails to mount Malcom in the Middle once you source those.
It also comes with that rarest of Minivan accessories, a manual transmission. That’s a good thing since the automatic transmission offered in these vans was pretty much an afterthought to appease lazy-ass American buyers, and it was pure garbage.
Here, the five speed stick rules and it’s connected to Volkswagen’s 110 horsepower 2461cc inline five. Yep, 110 my little ponies. What the SOHC engine may lack in power though, is more than made up in odd cylinder count.
The seller describes the Van’s condition as ‘good,’ stating that it suffers no rust anywhere, nor has it been in any accidents. The bodywork looks solid with just a few dings in the rockers and some minor scratches here and there… and over there.
The oddest elements are at each end. In the front, the bumper has been resprayed, and from the look of it the job was a DIY rattle can affair. Out back someone has adorned the car with eight or nine squares of reflective tape. It’s a little odd looking but the rear end appears unmarred by collisions so I guess it’s doing the job.
Inside, things are about what you might expect. The seats look to have held up remarkably well, and the backseat can be folded down and turned into a remarkably lumpy bed. There’s plenty of storage in here and with the middle seat replaced there will be plenty of people space too.
The cabin suffers no major flaw other than a loose speaker in the driver’s door. Making up for that, the dash affords what looks to bethe world’s widest dead pedal, albeit on the wrong side. There is a modest 145,000 miles on the clock and the promise that a major service, including a new clutch and fresh tires, has recently been completed. It’s said to run great and work as expected.
As I noted, the VW Vans have a following that no other people mover in the U.S. can match. Seeing the love these things enjoy, it’s a wonder that Volkswagen isn’t bringing over the latest edition. You’d think at the very least they’d do so as some sort of boutique vehicle.
Until they do, we’ll just have to make do with the ones that are here, and that means facing the music when it comes to supply and demand. This EuroVan is appreciably sparse in its features, but it does sport a clear title and the rare five-speed both of which are a plus.
It also have a five in its price, as in $5,000, and it’s now time to decide if that’s a deal or not. What do you think, is this EuroVan worth that $5,000 asking? Or, does that price make this a people mover that leaves you unmoved?
You decide!
San Francisco Bay Area Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to FauxShizzle for the hookup!
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Note from Rob: Okay, we tried Survey Monkey for the poll yesterday, and that didn’t work out. Today we’re back to the Polldaddy poll. Enjoy.