In 2003, Volkswagen introduced the fifth generation of their Transporter. By then, everybody was long used to Transporters with a transverse engine in the nose and a front-wheel drive layout. Unlike the previous 1990 – 2003 T4 generation, it wasn’t available in North America, where the T4 was marketed as the Volkswagen EuroVan.
Independent front and rear suspension come with the package, and so are internally ventilated disc brakes all around. This here is a 2008 double cab panel van, 340 cm (133.9”) long wheelbase model. The short wheelbase is 300 cm (118.1”).
With those nice rims, the tinted windows and the painted bumpers and mirrors, it looks more like a minivan than as a pure commercial vehicle. The van also has a six-speed automatic transmission.
Right, it says TDI on the back. All letters in red, which means it has the most powerful diesel engine under the hood. In those days, that was an OHC 2.5 liter inline-five turbodiesel with a maximum power output of 174 DIN-hp. Forget the T1 to T3, as this one certainly isn’t a mobile chicane on public roads.
The T5 was refreshed and updated in late 2009. Both the 1.9 and the 2.5 TDI were replaced by a four-cylinder 2.0 liter TDI with common rail injection.
Found on the web, the dash of a T5 when you opted for the automatic transmission.
Since last year, the latest Transporter model is marketed as generation T6.1 (and T6 from 2015 to 2019).
Essentially, we’re talking about the third serious update and facelift of the T5. But right now, Volkswagen is already testing the truly new T7 generation of their long-time hit.
By the way, if you think you experience some kind of panel van déjà vu, you’re fully correct. It was about time to take some clear pictures of the van standing alone, a view from above included.
Related article (another T5, parked across the street):
CC Global: 2012 Volkswagen Transporter – (Almost) 70 Years Of Ongoing Success
I love the unique sound of my Volvo’s I-5, especially as it is a non-turbo model. It has a resonance around 2300 rpm that is unique.
I had the catalyst downpipe (part of the exhaust manifold) fail just before I was to drive it home from DC, an 8-hour drive, as I was moving to take a new job. It literally split open the day I was moving and had already loaded the car, including aquarium fish!
It was so loud!! It did get somewhat quiet at highway speed but going through tunnels on the Turnpike in PA made it sound like I was in an F1 car! I made it home and got the pipe replaced.
Five cylinder engines have a unique sound – I know they are nearly extinct but for a while, it was something different and now I like the reaction of people when they hear it is a 5 cylinder!
Volvo’s 2.5 liter inline-5 was also put under the hood of the hot -and very hot- hatches of the second gen Ford Focus, turbocharged though. Like the 2005 Focus ST, 228 DIN-hp (picture below).
Regarding diesels, prior to Volvo’s own inline-5 turbodiesel, they used VAG’s 2.5 liter TDI inline-5.
And that 2.5 diesel from vag, the 140hp variant, was a serious hit, as my bro is about to hit a million kilometers on his S80 powered by that engine!
I love the sound of that VW when my neighbor across the street starts it up, lets it idle for a short while, then backs it up from his driveway and drives off. Serious business!
I would love to have one of these mid-sized vans. T5 or better yet a T6. A weekender, please.
And no, the Metris doesn’t do it for me.
Yes, please!
I’ve got no problem with the Metris; I’d have one if I could afford it.
Audi still offers 5’s in the current RS3 and TTRS so all hope is not lost. One of the best sounding engine layouts in my opinion, very characterful.
I’m continually surprised that VW doesn’t offer anything in the way of a van over here. You’d think now would be the time, even Mercedes is starting to offer pop-top camper versions of the Metris along with selling 30k Sprinters a year over here.
https://www.mbvans.com/sprinter/metris-pop-top-camper
I’ve weighed in on this one before as someone, who, like you would love to own a new Westy.
VW has tested the waters numerous times with the US market and has decided that the Westy is too much of a niche vehicle to turn a profit on. Most Americans who are going to pay the $60k price want a larger camper. The Mercedes Sprinter you reviewed the other day is bigger and more of what an American will buy.
Even though In the PNW you see guys who have pumped at least that into ’80s Westys (not mine, to be sure!), VW lost money consistently on the Eurovan. That van hit the US in fits and stutters in the US, with VW offering it in 1993, 1995, and then 1997-2003. Each time, it underperformed sales expectations. There’s a used market for them, but few were buying them new off the lot, it seems.
I’ve seen very few Metris campers on the California coast – perhaps one per 1,000 ’80s Westys. Those are converted vans that don’t come from Mercedes as campers, and by the time one is optioned out, it’s $60-80k. Very few people are going to pay that for such a “tiny” camper.
I get your point re the Metris campers (the poptop is converted by someone else but sold through select MB dealers) but also believe that (as usual) VW has nobody to blame but themselves with their obvious lack of commitment. You can’t offer a vehicle only every other year and then complain that nobody is buying it, nobody has a clue if it’s available one year to the next or will be supported going forward. Then when they surprisingly decide to offer a smaller van, they end up with a slightly re-engineering a Dodge Caravan and try to pass that off as the next “VW Van” – really? How can they be surprised that one didn’t light the sales charts on fire, and as usual it was quickly discontinued.
In the meantime they have no problem bringing one current VW “California” camper over here for a year and have random auto writers drive it and write about it along with going on two decades of showing off the next VW Bully with of course no real intention of building it. VW has become the automotive c*@%tease of the world over here whereas perhaps they could have tried to bring a couple of vans (they have the T-series and the larger Sprinter competitor) and maybe eke out some commercial sales. If Mercedes can do it with zero commercial user image over here, then VW could too, but (re)building goodwill and a base takes time. There was nobody with more goodwill regarding campers than VW but they squandered it by not committing to the Eurovan and, perhaps more importantly, making it a fickle product that seemed to have no end of maladies, changing engines, lengths, and equipment levels every couple of years didn’t help either.
Agree 100%. VW has a very positive brand image with a segment of loyal buyers. And a large number of those are van owners or wannabee’s. But as the Jetta Alltrack, decontented Passats, and other decisions have shown. I truly think VW doesn’t understand their US market. Written as a multi-time VW owner, including Vanagon Westfalia (past) and Golf 7 (present).
Certainly Jim, but the diesels beyond the inline-four 2.0 TDI have been V’s for a long time now.
Even the stinkpot old Mercedes diesel five sounded like some sort of operatic jazz fusion when pressed, let alone the superb racket from that Audi five, so yes, for the best of sounds, always turn it up to five.
I’m slightly confused amongst the comments (and the internet in Her wisdom is providing no speedy joy), was the VW TDi five a VAG engine or a Volvo modular?
2.5 liter TDI inline-5 = VAG.
2.4 liter D5 inline-5 = Volvo (with its debut in the first gen Volvo S60).
Thankyou, Mr Nederlands.
So at one point there, VW, Volvo, Fiat, Rover, Ford and Mercedes all made 5cyl diesels of about the same size, all within about a 1500k radius of each other in a common market, and all unrelated. (No wonder this poor old and far-flung Australisch gets confused).
Apologies for the fake German accent, but I can’t help quoting the Audi 5000 ads from the ‘80’s: “Because 4 vas too small and 6 vas too bulky”.
CC Effect: I just went out in my neighborhood and saw a long term curbside resident with a For Sale sign on it. A silver Eurovan, T4, poptop camper. Judging by the side vents on the front fender, I think a VR6. 135K miles, $25000. Not much less than a new Promaster …
Last week, I read a review of a VW California T6.1. Its (expected) depreciation is so low, the writer concluded it’s not really expensive…in the end.
Rover experimented with an inline-5 (petrol of course) to make the P6 go faster, before the Buick V8 came their way and solved all their problems.
I’ve driven the VW-5 in non-turbo form in a T4 which replaced a company RWD Transit. It was faster and quieter – though less frugal – and grand on motorways, but the understeer on regular roads was a killer.
Rover had a 5 cylinder diesel (the Td5) on the Discovery 2 as well. From 1988, 2.5 litres, and actually not a bad engine at all – suited the Discovery well, and used until it was replaced by Ford engines in the Discovery 3