Sharan VR6

[jonrb 0]

The wife needs a vehicle for her business. Either a van or else an MPV with the seats removed. Budget of around £3k (perhaps slightly more for the right vehicle).

 

Seems to me that a Sharan VR6 would be fairly amusing, especially with a bit of fettling (filter, throttle body, remap, etc.) especially since I am very familar with the VR6 engine having owned my Corrado VR6 for 9½ years.

 

Does anyone know anything about the Sharan VR6?

[double-6s 0]

From what I've heard the sharan is fairly problematic mate. I heard a veedub technician say it was one of the worst!

 

What about a T4 vr6 van?? Much better and more reliable. Proper cruising machine and if you get the LWB version you can have seats and shed loads of room for goods/luggage :)

[jonrb 0]

Thanks.

 

We've had a change of plan since I posted this. Whilst a modified Sharan VR6 does sound like a laugh, it weighs 1800kg, does low-20's mpg and Grp 15 insurance. Not so brilliant.

 

Turns out that a humble Citroen Berlingo will suits all the needs, with the advantage of actually looking like a van, only weighs 1300kg, does high-30's mph, and is Grp 5 insurance.

 

So that's the Sharan VR6 knocked on the head then. :)

[double-6s 0]

Unfortunately it's also a CITROEN BERLINGO!!!!!!!!

 

Are you sure mate?? ;)

[Kevin Bacon 5]

I'm sure the Sharan was detuned for torque aswell.

 

Galaxy would be better anyway.

[dcuk 0]

Whats the story with the Sharan anyway? I mean, how did Ford and Vw end up using the same model and who actually designed it?

 

Anyone know?

[Kevin Bacon 5]

It was a collaboration from the start I think. The Galaxy sold better as it was cheaper and didn't have such a stupid name!

 

It's not uncommon for rival manufacturers to swap parts and co develop things. Some Merc vans use the VR6 engine aswell. Cheaper to buy them off VW than develop their own!

[dcuk 0]

Am i right in thinking this is the only time VW had such a collaboration with another manufacturer?

[Kevin Bacon 5]

With Ford, yes, I think...but the Toureg and Cayenne are a VW/Porsche joint venture too.....and indeed the first Porsche was a beetle!

 

The Porsche 925/944 used a lot of VAG parts also and the Audi RS2 Avant was a Porsche built car.

 

I don't mind Porsche and VAG collaborating :-) It gives you the right to put Porsche rims and badges on a VW :-)

[vr6storm 0]

nope..................they collaborated with Porsche decades before

 

VW-Porsche 914,914/6 etc

the Porsche 924 was going to be an VW range topper til they got cold feet,and Porsche grabbed it back

[vr6storm 0]

ahhh but technically the first VW was a Porsche.......afterall it was Herr Porsche that designed the Beetle for his mate Herr Hitler

[jonrb 0]

Unfortunately it's also a CITROEN BERLINGO!!!!!!!!

 

Are you sure mate?? ;)

Yep. It's a van. It carries stuff and can seat at least 3 people*. Cheap to buy, cheap to run. All requirements met - job done. :)

 

(* - it can actually seat 5, but our requirements are min 3)

[coolrado 0]

its a bit like the citroen berlingo van being the same as the peugeot partner van

the vw caddy is the same as the SEAT inca

the citroen saxo is mostly the same as the peugeot 106

and isnt the new renault clio the same as the new nissan micra?

 

it seems like more and more companies are doing this to save cash, didnt ford and vw swap technical knowledge on the suspension design of the new focus and golf mkV?

[vr6storm 0]

renault own nissan btw

[Phil K 0]

ahhh but technically the first VW was a Porsche.......afterall it was Herr Porsche that designed the Beetle for his mate Herr Hitler

 

AFAIK porsche own 10% of VAG now aswell 8)

[vr6storm 0]

is it not nearer 20%

[Phil K 0]

you could be right... I read 10

[chrishill 0]

Just to add another collaboration to the list, the Nissan Terrano II was the exact same car as the Ford Maveric, only the Ford was aimed at the luxury 4x4 market and the Nissan... wasn't

 

renault own nissan btw

 

IIRC they sort of own each other. Renault owns a controlling share of nissan, and nissan owns a large chunk of renault. volvo also own a wedge of nissans comercial vehicle arm.

[dr_mat 0]

I knew someone who had a Berlingo till not long ago. She changed it's name to Berlin-doesn't-go I'm afraid ..

Too many failures.. Mostly due to bodged previous work, to be fair to the car itself...

[dcuk 0]

Rover and Honda had a a longterm collaboration, the 400 was a Honda Civic in with a few panels changed.

[coolrado 0]

I knew someone who had a Berlingo till not long ago. She changed it's name to Berlin-doesn't-go I'm afraid ..

Too many failures.. Mostly due to bodged previous work, to be fair to the car itself...

 

i have also had a sh!tron berlingo and a peugeot partner for my previous 2 jobs, i wrote the berlingo off after the master cylinder burst, but it also wrote off a rover in the process so it wasnt all bad.

both of the bonnet catches on the peugeot seized open so when i went over a small bump in the road at about 60mph the bonnet lifted and turned inside out, which is a proper brown trouser moment :lol: , i called the AA out after trying to flatten the bonnet enough to close it and the AA guy said it was quite a common fault and wasnt the first he had seen. :shock:

[jonrb 0]

both of the bonnet catches on the peugeot seized open so when i went over a small bump in the road at about 60mph the bonnet lifted and turned inside out, which is a proper brown trouser moment

Blimey! Brown trousers indeedy :shock:

 

I still think the Berlingo is worth looking into though - it does fulfil all our requirements and also fulfils my personal extra requirement of "not a bloody MPV or 4x4" ;)

 

I'm sure they can't all be bad. I mean, if you believed all the horror stories of owning a Corrado you'd be scared off buying one. :D

Same goes for TVR.

[coolrado 0]

the things that went wrong on the vans i had where down to poor maintainace rather than manufacturing faults really, as the citroen had done 137k miles and the peugeot had done nearly 200k miles, the master cylinder on the citroen had been leaking for a while but the previous driver who was on holiday when i used it didnt bother to report it :mad:.

and the peugeot bonnet catch was mostly caused by salt deposits from the roads in the winter building up and corroding the mech.

 

apart from that the only other problem's where glow plugs and the odd injector which you have to expect after that many miles, they where both pretty reliable but horrible to drive and gave me a very bad back after driving them for a couple of weeks due to a complete lack of lumbar support.

 

the vw caddy van is a better bet imo if thats an option.

[vr6storm 0]

Rover and Honda had a a longterm collaboration, the 400 was a Honda Civic in with a few panels changed.

 

 

the Triumph acclaim from the early 80's was a English-ised Honda Ballade

[dcuk 0]

Oh yeah, i remember that ugly old thing!