modern day kombi

I'm like almost 20 years out of date on all things Volkswagen, so when discussing my t3 van with another t3 van owner he told me they were still making then in brasil. That they brought all the tooling of volswagen. I assumed he meant the t3 obviously not. Got linked to this on volkswagen brasil-



They never had that grill 20 years ago!!

nice though couldn't find out what the donk is. Does it have a 2.1 ltre volks engine in it?

I not a huge fan of slammed K's but I recon that would look good lowered 4 or 5''. The grill looks pretty nice in that butt ugly way.

Yes that's the T2 body shell, not the T3. As you can see, the Brazilians have changed a few of the panels - the roof is a higher, sharper profile and the doors have that rib around the edges. The dash has also been updated with more modern Golf-style instruments and switches. The Brazilian T2 needs that big plastic radiator grille because they don't have air-cooled flat fours any more. They now have 1.4-litre VW Polo engines, which actually have more power and torque than the old 1.6 air-cooler. This Brazilian T2 was the last air-cooled or flat-four VW made anywhere in the world, but it switched to VW Polo engines in 2004.

The later T3 Kombi was actually made in South Africa until the late 1990s. The South Africans enlarged the side windows a little, changed the rear air intakes to include scoops, and added a neat four-headlamp grille. They also replaced the 4-cylinder Wasserboxer engine with 2.2-litre 5-cylinder Audi-based engines. Neat!

great looking van I really dont know why they stopped making them. I'm surprised they used a 5 instead of a four. My friend has a porshe 924 it has a 2.2 litre engine but it is on a mega slant fuel injected and revs nicely. I took a look under the rear and the box and diff are in the same unit and also has a blanked off area for a starter. is it the same box as a rear engine porshe? he wouldnt lend me his gearbox though

They stopped making the T3 in South Africa when VW wanted to standardise their plants around the world to cater for export markets. The local T3 was replaced by the T4 (and more recently the T5). South African-made Golfs, Polos and Jettas are sold in Australia.

Yes the Audi 5 was a tight fit in the back of the T3. It had to be tipped over at an angle, but even so the rear deck had to be raised up by around 50 mm. The 2.2 Audi 5 obviously produced more power and torque than a 1.8 or 2.0-litre VW four. As far as I know the Audi-engined T3 used the same 5-speed VW gearbox as before. NOT a Posrche box! There was an auto option too, the usual 3-speed 010 VW auto.

The same Audi 5 was used in the T4, particularly in the Caravelle, this time mounted transversely in the front. They are still fairly common on the sencond-hand market; they are nice machines. They have that great Audi 5-cylinder exhaust note.

T4 and T5 are not built in South Africa to my knowledge only Hannover and Poznan build the T5 😉

I wonder how long VW Brazil will continue to build the T2 ?
Its still amazingly breaking records in sales which are up from last year.

Danbury Campers in the UK import the T2s and convert them for sale in the UK; they hide the grill via a fake spare tyre holder on the front 😀
http://www.danburymotorcaravans.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7&Itemid=19

they hide the grill via a fake spare tyre holder on the front 😀

had to re-read your post I was trying to work out why they haD covered up the grill with a tyre, I like the model with the grill better, but I think it is great they are importing these. Great for the Brazilian economy too as they are not so rich there.
these vans are great for campers if walk through is important to you. a little pricey too maybe as the price is in pounds. does anyone know the price in bazilian real or whatever it is they use there? do you think there would be a market here for them? kombi campers seem to hold their own with they japanese second hand market even though they are much older

yeah i prefer without the tyre thingy.. barf

No the current Transporters are not made in South Africa. It looks like they now import theirs from the same plants that we do. In addition, South Africa also imports the large VW Constellation heavy trucks, and the large Volksbus tourist coach range, from South America. They must order right-hand drive models - I wonder why Australia doesn't import them too? You can see the South African VW commercial vehicle range at http://www.vwcommercial.co.za/

All VW campers have walk through - whether based on the T2, T3, T4 or the current T5. Modern VW camper front seats can also rotate to face backwards. Check out the current Australian Trakka camper range at http://www.trakka.com.au/home.html - they do camper conversions of the T5, as well as motorhome versions of the larger VW Crafter.

The Brazilian T2 is an interesting ananchronism but is hardly practical for today's market. The engine is just 1.4-litres. The suspension, gearbox, brakes and body are obsolete. They are only made in left-hand drive (the sliding door is on the wrong side). It doesn't meet modern safety regulations and would not comply with our ADRs (air bags are now compulsory here, for example). I don't speak Portuguese so I can't find the retail prices in Brazil on the VW webpage - http://www.volkswagen.com/br/pt/modelos/kombi.html

Hey Phil,

VW make the Connie and Volksbus in Uitenhage through CKD from VW Brazil 😉

Cool! Even more reason to get them into Australia! Thanks for your info Ben.