The 2026 VW Microbus

[libertybele]

Not as exciting as the TransAms that I've seen around town, but this pulled along side my vehicle.  (I took a couple of pictures but I was too close to capture the who vehicle - the internet pic below captures the full vehicle).  This was pretty awesome to see as well.

It seems that the car companies are thumbing their noses at EV's and retooling the most popular vehicles of the 'Boomer' era.  Wise decision.  The cars are pricey and this VW micro bus starts at around $62,000.00.  Something I can't afford, but back in the day the VW bus was a party vehicle and the VW's used to last for decades.

Here's a pic of what pulled in to a parking spot next to me...

[mystery-ak]

Okay here is a photo of our Microbus...1959...in Ohio at Wright/Pat..my dad, sister and brother..I'm facing the camera...lol

[libertybele]

Okay here is a photo of our Microbus...1959...in Ohio at Wright/Pat..my dad, sister and brother..I'm facing the camera...lol

Thanks for sharing the picture.   You are too cute!!

I had a couple of friends that owned VW's.   One had a bus, several had Beetles and one had Karmann Ghia.  The bus was by far the most fun. But .... all the VW's that my friends owned were prior owned for years .... no doubt they lasted.

[DB]

I wonder how many people were poisoned by the exhaust leaking in through the "heating system" in old VWs...

[libertybele]

I wonder how many people were poisoned by the exhaust leaking in through the "heating system" in old VWs...

lol ....well .... definitely they were hot in the summer and cold in the winter.  As for poisoned by exhaust --I 'm not sure, I just know that quite a few stoners drove VW's.  Just sayin'

[Bigun]

I wonder how many people were poisoned by the exhaust leaking in through the "heating system" in old VWs...

Never owned a VW bus but I have been in a couple and can tell you that there was WAY too much smoke from other sources for anyone to notice any carbon monoxide.

[mystery-ak]

That *bus* had a tent as you can see..inside a couple of the seats turned into a table..it was so cool.

I can't remember if it was orange/white or orange/light tan...either way it was orange..lol

I guess my mom took that photo.she was pregnant with my brother ...also had another sister who would have been 3

[Cyber Liberty]

Apparently the new model is an EV...explains the high sticker price!

[mountaineer]

Apparently the new model is an EV...explains the high sticker price!

If only we could buy new cars that are as simple as those from the 1960s - with nothing spying on us.

[DCPatriot]

If only we could buy new cars that are as simple as those from the 1960s - with nothing spying on us.

Eventually, somebody will manufacture vehicles with 1960's technology.

Plugs...points...condenser...alternator...timing belt.

[libertybele]

Never owned a VW bus but I have been in a couple and can tell you that there was WAY too much smoke from sources for anyone to notice any carbon monoxide.

   Exactly!   

[Cyber Liberty]

Eventually, somebody will manufacture vehicles with 1960's technology.

Plugs...points...condenser...alternator...timing belt.

The CAFE standards are killing that idea.   

[Free Vulcan]

Time to get ourselves a convoy. Oh wait, it's an EV.

[roamer_1]

I will defend VW.

I have rebuild a ton of em. I can say there's not another thing on the market that is so infinitely rebuildable.

They were a thing up in here for a while. Sawyers loved em. If you rebuilt one for performance,  baja'd out to the nines, with tall pizza cutters for tires, 9 out of 10 would be bought by a sawyer.

The main thing that sucked about em that was not easy to fix, or make better was the transaxle. Even the bus axle was weak, and at the time there were no real options - transaxles were not a common thing.

But now there are a ton of high performance transaxles that might be adapted.

I did a couple conversions to a subaru motor, but now I reckon that is pretty common.

Makes me want to be back in that game.

[Fishrrman]

High on a hilltop in Columbia County, New York, July 1976, off to the right ... is my 1966 VW Campmobile (bought in '72 for 1,600). This was the very first Berkshire Mountains Bluegrass Festival on the Rothvoss Farm...

[mountaineer]

Eventually, somebody will manufacture vehicles with 1960's technology.
Plugs...points...condenser...alternator...timing belt.

Manual transmission would be a start!

[Wingnut]

Time to get ourselves a convoy. Oh wait, it's an EV.

Well I can see  Eleven long-haired friends of Antifa in a gay pride flag colored EV microbus.

[The_Reader_David]

I learned to drive a manual on my father's VW Microbus (having learned the rudiments of driving on my high school's automatic driver's ed car -- including the needful skill in rural Pennsylvania of passing an Amish buggy).

Taught my wife to drive a manual on a rented Ford before we bought our 1983 Nissan Sentra.  Except for family vans and hand-me-downs from mother-in-law, all of our cars have been manual transmission, until my wife wanted a hybrid during her road-warrior days.  Now, it looks like one automatic (a Civic Hybrid) and one manual (my Miata RF) are going to be our standard until we get too old to drive (which should be far enough in the future that self-driving cars will be available).

[DB]

Eventually, somebody will manufacture vehicles with 1960's technology.

Plugs...points...condenser...alternator...timing belt.

I noticed you didn't include a carburetor...

Who doesn't miss pumping the gas pedal several times to get it started... And then when does start waiting for it to get warm enough for the "automatic" choke to open up... Those were the days...

[mountaineer]

Some friends drove about 400 miles in a VW bus to visit me back in the late 70s. One of them had to hang over the engine and keep whacking something - the carburetor, maybe, I don't know - with a wrench for the entire trip. She probably still suffers the effects of whatever she was breathing.

[roamer_1]

I noticed you didn't include a carburetor...

Who doesn't miss pumping the gas pedal several times to get it started... And then when does start waiting for it to get warm enough for the "automatic" choke to open up... Those were the days...

Yeah but...

If it broke down in the woods you could take it apart and fix it...

Try 30 miles of mountain roads coming home in 'limp mode'. 

It ain't the injection, btw, it's the computer. You can do mechanical injection - Diesels have been doing it forever.

[DB]

Some friends drove about 400 miles in a VW bus to visit me back in the late 70s. One of them had to hang over the engine and keep whacking something - the carburetor, maybe, I don't know - with a wrench for the entire trip. She probably still suffers the effects of whatever she was breathing.

Maybe she was trying to get more of whatever she was breathing...

[berdie]

I learned to drive a manual on my father's VW Microbus (having learned the rudiments of driving on my high school's automatic driver's ed car -- including the needful skill in rural Pennsylvania of passing an Amish buggy).

Taught my wife to drive a manual on a rented Ford before we bought our 1983 Nissan Sentra.  Except for family vans and hand-me-downs from mother-in-law, all of our cars have been manual transmission, until my wife wanted a hybrid during her road-warrior days.  Now, it looks like one automatic (a Civic Hybrid) and one manual (my Miata RF) are going to be our standard until we get too old to drive (which should be far enough in the future that self-driving cars will be available).

I drove a manual transmission most of my life...by choice. There is just something fun about shifting gears unless you are in heavy traffic, lol.
The last two vehicles I have bought are automatics. It's getting hard to find a manual these days and my knees are getting old anyway.

[mountaineer]

I drove a manual transmission most of my life...by choice. There is just something fun about shifting gears unless you are in heavy traffic, lol.
The last two vehicles I have bought are automatics. It's getting hard to find a manual these days and my knees are getting old anyway.

Same here. My sister had to travel hundreds of miles to find a new truck with stick shift back in 2019, and I've just given up and accepted automatics.

[roamer_1]

I still have my last chevy squarebody because it is a stick. If I ever get around to having the fun tickets and the ability to finish its restoration...

One way or the other, I will have that truck till I die.

Worst thing ever is a pickup with an automatic transmission.

[DB]

Yeah but...

If it broke down in the woods you could take it apart and fix it...

Try 30 miles of mountain roads coming home in 'limp mode'. 

It ain't the injection, btw, it's the computer. You can do mechanical injection - Diesels have been doing it forever.

I don't miss carburetors... As far as fuel injection, computers are optional (as you said)...

[berdie]

Remember the old Hurst His and Hers? Hub and I had a GTO with one.

[Sighlass]

I still drive a manual truck... Son does too.

[roamer_1]

I don't miss carburetors... As far as fuel injection, computers are optional (as you said)...

I don't mind carburetors... But then, I have a knack for tuning. There's an Edelbrock 650 on the pickup right now. I set it years ago and have not had to touch it since.

Sooner or later the float will sink, or a jet will get plugged, and I will have to take it off, tear it down, soak it, and throw a kit in it... All of which I could do one handed and blindfolded.

And under 50 dollars later, it will be running down the road again.

There's an overton window overlapping supreme efficiency and ability to repair cheaply... I think things have gone way too far.