VW TRANSPORTER SYNCRO
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Price: El 4,650 (ex-VAT, chassis-cab unit only). Engine: 2.4-litre diesel, 57kW (76hp).
GVW: 2,590kg.
Payload: 795kg (Body/payload allowance 955kg). Fuel consumption (laden): 10.8 lit/100km (26.0mpg).
Ta• x laws have had some peculiar consequences. The window tax set back the art of glazing by two hundred years. In this century, car taxation based on cylinder bore size resulted in a plethora of inefficient, long-stroke, slow-revving engines. Arguably, the British car industry has yet to recover...
Today, tax laws dictate the difference between a car and a van. The removal of Car Tax allowed rear seats to be factory-fitted to any van without penalty. But the VAT-man's view is that side windows, positioned behind a driver, turn a vehicle into a air—so VAT
cannot be reclaimed. Furthermore, some Customs & Excise offices consider that any accommodation to the rear of the driver disqualifies a vehicle from being a CV.
It will be interesting to follow Volkswagen's progress with the double cab version of its best-selling Transporter. VW already
imports a similar version of the Cl', but with blanked-off rear windows. The double cab Transporter is fully-glazed, and Volkswagen's price list hedges its bets by advising business users that VAT "may not be reclaimable". •
The vehicle we tested, the dou ble-cab Syncro, the four-wheel-drive variant of the Transporter, is (excuse the pun) doubly interesting Like the recently-tested Ducato 4x4, it is intended for all-weather rather than all-terrain use, and has a permanent all-wheel-drive system with a viscous coupling centre differential.
Volkswagen boasts that the Transporter was designed from the outset with 4WD in mind, and that its system reduces the compromises of payload, cost and handling. The Syncro is available as a 2.92m-wheelbase 1,000kg van, the 3.32m-wheelbase 1,200kg van, as a chassis-cab or double cab, or as the Caravelle people-carrier. All versions use VWs excellent five-cylinder 2.4litre diesel, while the Caravelle is also available with a petrol unit. Each model costs £2,320 (ex. VAT) more than its two-wheel-drive equivalent.
The double cab is sold here as a basic chassis-cab unit. Our test vehicle had a factory-fitted dropside pickup body. This is likely to become available as a UK option, although no price has yet been quoted.
Productivity
The weight penalty of fourwheel-drive has been kept to a minimum in the Syncro. Kerbweight is 100kg more than its 2WD equivalent, giving the double cab a body/payload allowance of 955kg. This is 330kg less than the chassis cab model, which runs at a GVW of 2,800kg rather than the double cab's 2,590kg.
The double cab has the same axle weight allowances as the chassis cab. Load tolerance is an excellent 300kg—which may be just as well: a full load bed and empty cab could rake the back axle to its limit.
The dropside pickup body weighs around 160kg. These are kilograms well spent: it's a very robust and practical body, with a load area 2.14m long and 1.85m wide. The durable-looking wooden load bed is flat, the steel sidewalls seem solid and the fittings work slickly.
One of the best features is a drop-down step on the tailgate; the only flies in the ointment are the lack of a ladder rack or load restraint, and the flimsy-looking welded tarpaulin loops—we would prefer the more usual cleats.
Of course, the point of a double cab is accommodation, and the Transporter doesn't disappoint. It's a six-seater, although the cab isn't the widest in the business, which raises the possibility of using the Syncro as a site vehicle (rather than, say, a Land Rover). Access to the cab is OK, via a single rear passenger door on the near side.
Any four-wheel-drive conversion can be expected to worsen fuel consumption, but it can be difficult to compare like with like. Fortunately, we can match the double-cab Syncro against the similarly-powered 2WD Transporter tipper (a Tipmaster body on the chassis-cab unit) we tested last year.
Remarkably, the 2.6-tonne Syncro consumed 10.81it/100km (26.0mpg) roundour Kent test route, whereas the 2.8-tonne tipper took 11.31it/1001cm (25.0mpg); the double cab may offer better aerodynamics While the Syncro conversion seems to have minimal effect on fuel economy in normal driving, it shows a probable bonus in speed—it took six minutes off the tipper's time, for an average speed of 68.6km/h (42.6mph). Not quite as fast as the Ducat°, but it concedes 14kW (19hp) to the Sevel's turbodiesel. On the road The sure-tootedness of fourwheel-drive vehicles has become a cliche. In this case it's true: the Transporter is known for its excellent handling, and the 4x4 variant suffers no loss of steering precision on the road—in fact weaving in and out of thick urban traffic was never easier. Moreover, while many 4x4ss seem twitchy on the motorway (the Ducat° included) the Syncro remains utterly stable.
The five-cylinder engine is a lovely unit, one of our favourite light diesels, which puts out plenty of torque throughout the rev range.
Off the road, the Syncro suffers from the usual compromises of a 4x4 conversion based on a road vehicle: insufficient ground clearance and tyres that lack mudplugging ability Mind you, even though our example (a pre-production model) had no rear differential lock, we were pleasantly surprised at the amount of traction that could be coaxed from the wheels when the pickup threatened to sink into the mire. The diff lock will be fitted as standard and should improve off-road mobility significantly The driving position is no different from the standard Transporter.
The seats are pretty good, instruments are OK and the gearchange is adequate. The lowmounted handbrake is irritating, but overall the cabin ranks high in its class; it's still beaten by the Transit, though.
With six windows, visibility from the double cab is good enough to make one curse the VAT man, while the double cab's large external mirrors are clearly superior to those of the Transporter van. &WHINY Can the Transporter do any wrong? It looks not. With each new model, Volkswagen brands another market as its own. If price isn't a priority, the Syncro is convincing. It does not compromise handling or performance, has little penalty in payload, and in double cub form, it's as versatile a vehicle as anyone could wish. It's a pickup that could be used as a cur (occasionally, and don't tell the taxman). As a site vehicle, it should be more useful than many an off-road 4x4, and the only loss to most users will be in street credibility ln the meantime, NO NEW TAXES—and get rid of some of the old ones too!
L by Toby Clark