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TOUGH OFF THE TRACK

23rd December 1993
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Page 61, 23rd December 1993 — TOUGH OFF THE TRACK
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Tired of those poseurs in their pristine Range Rovers and Shoguns, whose only off-road driving is the occasional crunch of country-house gravel? Bored by the sheer refinement of modern driving? Well, CM has the answer: show them you're the boss—and that your backside's cast of iron— by driving the Volkswagen LT45 4x4.

Yes, the LT 4x4 is a bit of a beast, albeit one that's clearly bred from an established roadgoing vehicle. But will it gain Kennel Club approval, or is it just a mongrel? Far more the dedicated off.roader than VW's own Transporter Syncro, the LT 4x4 has the stance of a light military truck—it could do with a hatch in the roof to complete the effect. Still, in its white paintwork you can at least play at being a UN peacekeeper.

The 4x4 is based on the latest version of VW's venerable LT van, revamped this year with the HiTorq range of engines, a revised interior and a few external trim changes. Earlier in the year we tested the latest moslel in its 3.5tonne turbodiesel van guise (CM 15-21 July 1993); the 4x4 tested here shares its 70kW (95hp) charge-cooled power unit and its wheelbase of 2.95m, but runs at a GVW of 4.5 tonnes in left-hand-drive Double Cab form, with a factory-built dropside pickup body.

The LT 4x4 is a toe in the water in the UK for VW which recognises that the UK market for medium-sized all-terrain vehicles is pretty limited, but hopes to interest power companies and other utilities in the LT. Volkswagen sees it as ideal for work in remote rural areas, carrying gear for dealing with downed pylons and cracked pipelines—with a useful payload of almost two tonnes.

Our test vehicle was registered in Eire—it is not yet Type Approved for the UK—and had southpaw steering because VW can only justify a RI-ID version with minimum sales of around 500 a year. Such numbers are unlikely unless large orders are forthcoming from the utilities—or the Army takes a liking to it..

It's best to cover fuel consumption first clear ly, economy won't be the strong point of any off-roader, so the LT's apparently diabolical laden figure (in two-wheel-drive) of 18.441it/100km (15.3mpg) can be excused. But our tester didn't feel much like excusing anything when he ran out of fuel en route to Birmingham. Having checked the fuel gauge at the London end of the M40 (it showed more

41 than half full) he was somewhat surprised to come to a halt on the M42. Fortunately, VW's Van Rescue service turned up within the hour, and the self-purging injection system made the restart easy

Even VW claims no better than 14.71it/100km (19.2mpg) half-laden at a constant 801un/h (50mph). A more reasonable axle ratio would improve matters a little on the motorway 70mph in top equates to 4,200rpm, and the red line is only 4,400rpmbut in any case the LT is cursed with the aerodynamics of a suspension bridge.

As for payload, the LT doesn't do too badly: the practical figure of 1,900kg allows for a crew-cabbed vehicle with a substantial dropside pick-up bed. The body/payload allowance is 2,115kg The conventional chassis-cab saves further weight: its body/payload allowance is 2,230kg, with a payload for the dropside version of 1,980kg. Axle ratings for all models are reasonable, with an overall tolerance of 300kg.

The load bed is at a massively high 1,2 metres—our tester certainly felt the effects after loading that 1,900kg on board. The practical payload might be reduced by the need to fit a crane. The dropside body is excellent though, a similar design to that seen on the Transporter Syncro a few months back: it has a floor of hefty softwood planks, solid steel sides, easily handled fittings and an excellent drop-down step. The point about a crew cab is that you can carry a crew, but the LT is not a real sevenseater. The rear bench is fitted with four seat belts, but it'll be four slim-hipped workmen who can get in. And don't forget that a full load of workmates (even slim ones) will cut your payload by about half a tonne.

The first thing you notice when driving the LT 4x4 is the height of the driving position: the jacked-up cab is about on a level with its relative from MAN—the old G-series 7.5-tonner. The truck-like experience is reinforced when you start the engine: the large revcounter, with its broad green band, indicates that gearing is pretty low. Top gear (in high range) offers less than 27km/h (17mph) per 1,000rpm, so the temptation to redline on the motorway is strong—one has to get used to a falsetto engine note at basso profundo speeds.

The engine's a good one, flexible enough that it's rare to escape completely from the green band—the solid green goes from 2,000rpm to 3,500rpm, with the shaded green from 1,500rpm to 4,300rpm, just 100rpm shy of the red line. It's quite possible to trickle along unladen at 301on/h in top, the six cylinders sounding quite undistressed.

This particular vehicle had a disconcertingly slick gearchange—not wonderful, but it was an order of magnitude better than the

knitting-needle-in-Plasticene nightmare of the LT35 we tested in July. Proof, perhaps, that VW's quality controllers need a lesson in gearbox adjustment.

The leaf-sprung LT suffers little from roll, so it's pretty easy to maintain a good speed on A-roads (witness the very respectable averages round our Kent route) but grip from the "mud & snow" pattern tyres is limited. As with most all-terrain vehicles, it's worth keeping an eye on braking distances: unfortunately, wet weather prevented us from testing them properly. The power steering is good, although again the knobbly tyres reduce feedback and make positioning trickier than for the conventional LT.

A left-hand drive van is not without problems in a right-hand drive country: the blind spot to the starboard rear three-quarter is huge, as VW has adopted a VAT-friendly unglazed rear door. This makes left turns— especially filtering on to the main road at an acute angle—quite perilous. Good external mirrors help, though.

The gearcliange is to the right but the handbrake lever is to the left: that took a few hill starts to get used to.

Worse than the handbrake's position was its effectiveness, or lack of it the fully laden LT wouldn't quite hold on a one-in-four, although (if the opportunity was taken at the moment of being stationary) the vehicle would happily perform a standing start up • OFF THE ROAD The LT gets high marks for ease of use off-road: there's no place for a• notchy transfer box here, just an automat ,

ic-style fore-andraft shift , to select 41-I, Neutral and 4L. The change from two to fourwheel-drive can be made on the move, but shifts into neutral or low range must be done at a standstill. The systern isn't really engineered for road driving in 4WD, as there's no centre differential (unlike the viscous-coupling Syncro system).

The LT's gearing means that it's rarely necessary to go into low range—the transfer box has a ratio of 2.61 to one—but it will give excellent engine braking, and enough torque to crawl its way out of most conditions. If you're really stuck it's an easy matter to lock the front or rear differential, operated pneu

matically via a couple of organ stops under the dash. The rear cliff-lock is standard, the front optional, according to the manual—VAG may change the specification for UK sale.

Ground clearance is no match for a Unimog or Pinzgauer the LT has conventional live axles rather than offset reduction hubs or swing axles, and it rolls on relatively small 17.5-inch wheels and 225/75 tyres. But we couldn't get it stuck, and had no need to use the rather butch Superwinch mounted on the front bumper.

The real limiting factors to cross-country travel are its ride and its size. Bone-jarring enough on the road, the ride quality (if that's the word) was enough to limit one's speed across rough, stony ground to single figures, while the LT's height and width make heavily wooded areas a tight squeeze.

Living with the LT is like Canadian Air force exercises—it's a stretch in all directions. Cab access is helped by grab handles and rather nifty wire-suspended steps beneath the cab, but left-hand drive means that the body goes through some pretty unfamiliar angles to get to the driver's seat. There's the infamous "LT Stretch" over to the glove compartment (a driver's mate, please) and it's practically impossible to unlock the passenger's side door.

And then there's the appalling ride—your vertebrae had better take a deep breath before you go anywhere in the 4x4, and CM will draw a discreet veil across the \Ws behaviour over speed bumps. Perhaps LT should stand for Loose Teeth... A load lessens the L'I"s tendency to bounce around, but ride comfort is hardly improved.

The LT 4x4 was noisy. At 80krn/h (50mph) the driver was subjected to 77.4dB: 3dB more than the standard LT35TD. This wouldn't be too bad if it wasn't for the intrusive turbo whistle and the wearisome rumble from the knobbly tyres.

But there's no need to suffer alone: the rear of the crew cab offers a massive amount of legroom and a nice chest under the seat for all your tools.

The LT retains the prize for the daftest engine accessibility in a light commercial: after an unforgettable quarter of an hour trying to find the engine of the LT35, we didn't care to repeat the experience, though the lefthand-drive cab should make things a minute or two easien There's little doubt that the LT 4x4 is suited to its target market: it performs well on or off the road, it carries a respectable payload, and it's straightforward to drive. Its practicality would be improved greatly by right-handdrive and taller-geared drive axles, but it looks like these will have to wait for substantial sales enquiries.

What competition will VW face? The obvious rival is Iveco's four-tonne GVW Daily 40.10W, derived from a military vehicle: it's a massively capable off-roader, available in van or chassis-cab form, but it's pricey and offers less payload than the LT. Reynolds Boughton no longer builds the RB44—since the demise of Renault's 50-Series—but is developing a new six-tonner based on the Renault Messenger.

County Tractors has just introduced its 4x4 conversion of the latest Transit, while at other weights there are assorted Land Rovers and Pinzgauers, and the Mercedes 11I4OL "Unmog" which will haul almost twice the payload of the LT, but which costs around £40,000. There are cheaper, more road-orientated 4x4s from Sevel (in Fiat and Peugeot guise) and VW itself (the Transporter Syncro).

But it's difficult to make direct comparisons because VW has yet to quote a firm price for the 4x4: it suggests that it will cost somewhere around £27,000. At slightly less, the LT would be a threat to the smaller County Transit even at £30,000 it would undercut the Daily 4x4.

Much more donkey jacket than Barbour, the LT has a definite niche in the range of offroad commercial vehicles: towards the hairshirt end of the spectrum. Just don't forget that the final drive ratio dictates a modest speed and frequent fuel stops: you may impress the Joneses in their Discovery--but you won't be able to keep up with them.

11 by Toby Clark


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