TheSamba.com :: View topic - What's your 0-60 times?

Mon Jul 11, 2011 8:45 am

Just curious if it's just this Vanagon or are Most Turtles.

This Van is a Full Westy, stock 2.1 Engine, Automatic, and fresh Tune up..
I did a few time runs on flat roads from a stop to 60 MPH... average time to reach 60-MPH is approximatly 30 seconds.. RPM's are about 3500...

Is this normal?

What are your 0 - 60 times. :?:

Mon Jul 11, 2011 8:52 am

Three minutes.

Whats the air speed velocity of a fully laden Vanagon?

African or European?

Mon Jul 11, 2011 9:07 am

YEs it's normal

spend more time looking at the scenery as it lulls on by
not looking at your speedometer or the angry swarm of minivans and suvs behind you.
pick you onramps based on incline and length of merging lane. it helps with the sanity.

Mon Jul 11, 2011 9:08 am

That sounds about right for just going full throttle from a stop and letting the lazy auto tranny upshift way before the 4800 rpm power peak. In formal 0-60 testing a test driver would brake torque the van (hold it at part throttle in gear against the brake) and then accelerate holding the transmission in each gear manually to get more rpms in each gear. Done this way, Car and Driver in 1989 recorded a 0-60 time of 16.9 seconds for an automatic Bluestar. So for a heavier Westy, with shifts at 3500 rpms, and with no brake torquing, I'd say 30 seconds isn't bad.

Incidentally, Vanagons aren't as slow from 0-60 as one might suspect. Here are 0-60 times from various sources over the years:

1.9 Wasserboxer (83.5-85): 17.9 seconds (Motor Trend)
2.1 Wasserboxer (86-91): 14.2 seconds (VW quote)
2.0 Air Cooled (80-83): 21.2 seconds (Road and Track)

Considering that most mini vans of the later 1980s did 0-60 in the 12-14 second range, this isn't bad - especially for a "notoriously slow VW van." I've honestly never found a 4 speed passenger Vanagon in any of the three engines that wasn't acceptable to me for every day driving.

Now for a slow 0-60 time:

1.6 diesel (82-83): 41.1 seconds :shock: (Hot VWs)

I've only driven one of these, and it's an experience I wouldn't care to repeat. I can't even imagine a Westy diesel.

D

Mon Jul 11, 2011 10:02 am

I owned an NA diesel Vanagon with an ASI camper kit. It was criminal for those things to be unleashed upon an unwitting public. Far too slow to be even remotely safe. They should've dropped the Audi fiver NA and turbo in there

Mon Jul 11, 2011 10:23 am

I4 today. 15:18 never made it to 4th.

Mon Jul 11, 2011 10:35 am

11 minutes.

Mon Jul 11, 2011 10:48 am

Why on earth would anyone want to know how fast a campervan gets to 60...

bizarre :D

Mon Jul 11, 2011 11:22 am

kevtherev wrote: Why on earth would anyone want to know how fast a campervan gets to 60...

bizarre :D

It's not really about how fast a Westy can hit 60. The question was more based on merging onto a Interstated etc safely and getting up to highway speeds.

Speaking of Bizarre, you guys are still driving on the wrong side of the road... :o

Mon Jul 11, 2011 5:36 pm

This weekend I'll check it out & report back, but it's perception. Sure it takes a bit to crank it up to 60 if you're used to speedier cars...(See D Clymer's post with times) Partly because of the van but mostly because I'm unwilling to whip it mercilessly unless absolutely necessary for safety.

-Julia

Mon Jul 11, 2011 8:07 pm

Mine goes 60 to 0 faster! :wink:

Mon Jul 11, 2011 8:13 pm

OhChit wrote: Just curious if it's just this Vanagon or are Most Turtles.

Hey now! Just because we're turtles doesn't mean we're slow!

8)

Mon Jul 11, 2011 8:54 pm

60? Really? You mean they can go that fast??!

;)

Quote: mostly because I'm unwilling to whip it mercilessly unless absolutely necessary for safety.
I whip it mercilessly all the time and am not sure it's performance has actually qualified as "safe" yet...

(ok it's not that bad now, but it sure was that bad the first 3 years I had it. ) :oops:

Mon Jul 11, 2011 9:13 pm

So you want the figure in... what?

Minutes? Days? Weeks?

:shock:

Winston would get unbearably snooty.

Best!

Mon Jul 11, 2011 10:34 pm

6 minutes

:lol:

Mon Jul 11, 2011 11:10 pm

It is like your user name was the punch line for a joke that finally came along. :lol:

Tue Jul 12, 2011 4:46 am

chojinchef wrote: Three minutes.

Whats the air speed velocity of a fully laden Vanagon?

African or European?

In a 4 or 6" barrel?

Tue Jul 12, 2011 6:24 am

I don't think that the na diesel Westy even goes 60, unless down hill and out of gear.

Tue Jul 12, 2011 6:46 am

skifree wrote: I don't think that the na diesel Westy even goes 60, unless down hill and out of gear.

.... and , as the saying goes, they couldn't get to 65mph in a mine shaft ...

Tue Jul 12, 2011 12:48 pm

syncrodoka wrote: It is like your user name was the punch line for a joke that finally came along. :lol:

when I joined the Samba, I knew it somebody someday will ask the question... so I got the answer ready..

hehe..... :lol: