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Fri Mar 01, 2013 4:54 pm

Please....just agree to disagree and let's all move on.

Fri Mar 01, 2013 5:00 pm

PDXWesty wrote: Please....just agree to disagree and let's all move on.

Really! Enough carnage!

We all know that the only important thing is how safe it is when you drive over a fire pit anyway :P

Fri Mar 01, 2013 5:27 pm

Paintedbus wrote: imho, safety in a vanagon depends largely on how you drive.

I personally drive like an old lady... If you compared me to anyone else on the road around here, i am by far the slowest, most cautious driver out there, usually topping out at 65 on highways and always under the speed limit elsewhere. Because of this, i have been able to avoid countless accidents with people in brand new awd luxury cars who could easily buy another after they wreck themselves.

I agree completely.
I also find that I drive much slower when I'm in my van than I do in cars because of how high up and in the front the driver's seat is.

When I'm in one of our other cars I always feel really disconnected from the road and like I'm driving in a bubble, but when I'm driving my van I feel much more like I'm part of the traffic. In a sedan I always end up speeding, but when I'm in the van I feel like I'm going much faster even though I'm going 5-10 miles below the speed limit.

It's absolutely my favorite car to drive, and I'm a much better driver when I'm behind the wheel of my van than I am when I'm driving any other car.

Fri Mar 01, 2013 7:51 pm

It doesn't matter how YOU drive that makes the vans seem safer. It matters how the OTHER guy is driving when he hits you. Every post I've seen here that involves a crash has been the other driver that has hit the van. I haven't seen any vans that have hit other cars. If someone hits you who is speeding, even if you're sitting still, the safety features are going to protect you. That's what matters most, not how much of a granny you are on the road.

Fri Mar 01, 2013 11:41 pm

how YOU drive certainly affects the impact forces in a head on - as well as whether an accident happens at all

Sat Mar 02, 2013 3:46 am

Stabler than Porsche 911!

Sat Mar 02, 2013 3:55 am

Sat Mar 02, 2013 4:02 am

Mr. Raftopoulos, champion of the year 1993 in trial race. (Greece)

Sat Mar 02, 2013 4:24 am

FRONT

Left click on image for video-sound

A correction for accuracy reasons

REAR

A subcase of "WEISSACH AXLE"

Sat Mar 02, 2013 4:58 am

Above 150 km/h, a strange feeling of stability is introduced.

Trying to explain that, (since my journey's where with an AUDI V6 (174 hp) engine, at 150-170 km/h), I found the next:

1.6 m2 surface

The geometric center of thiw surface is

and it under the air pressure, in high speeds, seems that works as a huge
spoiler.

The wheels take the pressure of the car's weight: (A, A1)

To the front wheels, the pressure from the, (invisible), spoiler is added:

So the front wheels, under this situation, work with an extra pressure, A+B, with the above mentioned results.

The total thing happens because there is a lever power, which is not present in conventional cars, due to the difference in distance and to the
relative positions between the center of the windshield and the center of the front wheels.

(In VANAGON, 1 unit of pressure in the geometric center of the windshield, (+ the metalic surface), gives more than 1 pressure to the wheels, compared to conventional cars, which have much smaler surface in slope and the center of windshield, behind the center of the front wheels, so the air pressure is less and 1 unit of pressure gives less than 1 unit to the front axle).

Sun Mar 03, 2013 2:14 pm

:vw: