Roman from TFLEV has a meltdown trying to road trip their new VW I.D. Buzz

jeepman3071 said:
Charging issues aside I do think it is a cool vehicle.
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It is cool vehicle. However, they cluttered inside everything people complained about (hepatic buttons) and all touchscreen. They actually abandoned hepatic buttons on steering wheels bcs. complaints, yet they kept it here.
It is minivan. Practicality should be name of the game and cool looks a bonus.
People buy minivans bcs. they can do stuff quickly, take kids to school, go visit family 2,000mls away bcs. airline tickets for 5 people are too expensive.
So, not sure how this range for Christmas travel with 3 small kids would work. There is actually danger here that dad would at one point set this car on fire.
But, it does look cool.
 
edyvw said:
It is cool vehicle. However, they cluttered inside everything people complained about (hepatic buttons) and all touchscreen. They actually abandoned hepatic buttons on steering wheels bcs. complaints, yet they kept it here.
It is minivan. Practicality should be name of the game and cool looks a bonus.
People buy minivans bcs. they can do stuff quickly, take kids to school, go visit family 2,000mls away bcs. airline tickets for 5 people are too expensive.
So, not sure how this range for Christmas travel with 3 small kids would work. There is actually danger here that dad would at one point set this car on fire.
But, it does look cool.
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Grandmas house better be pretty close or it's going to be a long day.

This is what it always has been, a fun cute short range deal, or weekend camping gig.

No version of it was it ever a great road trip vehicle especially filled with peeps.
 
UncleDave said:
Grandmas house better be pretty close or it's going to be a long day.

This is what it always has been, a fun cute short range deal, or weekend camping gig.

No version of it was it ever a great road trip vehicle especially filled with peeps.
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EU transporter versions of 90’s and lter are seriously good vehicles. I drove them (oh boy that 5cyl 2.5TDI with manual was such a good drive), had them in business as delivery vehicles. VW never made serious effort to bring them here. Just some off, sort of, RV models with VR6.
 
AZjeff said:
Just an FYI about this, it looks like towing capacity of a model S is 4000 lbs and the lowest dry weight of a 27' Airstream I could find is 5800 lbs. Hmm

Yes it can be done but 13.5 hours for just over 500 miles ain't for everyone.
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In most states and provinces "manufactures tow rating" means nothing in highway law. Axle ratings and hitch component ratings are in there though, so he builds an "unconventional" RV towing and hitch setup that is legal, and safe, and can be towed with whatever the customer wants to drive.
High centre of gravity pickups towing high CoG RV trailers is "common", but not needed, or even as safe as a heavy low sedan towing a low CoG trailer with a good hitch setup. They have track testing videos from the early 2000's of a Chrysler 300 going through a slalom with a good size airstream behind it, faster than Suburban towing nothing...
 
edyvw said:
EU transporter versions of 90’s and lter are seriously good vehicles. I drove them (oh boy that 5cyl 2.5TDI with manual was such a good drive), had them in business as delivery vehicles. VW never made serious effort to bring them here. Just some off, sort of, RV models with VR6.
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Good to know somebody else version was cooler.
 
I have always felt that as good of idea that electric vehicles can be, this country's not yet setup for the proper infrastructure to have a good electric experience.
 
UncleDave said:
Good to know somebody else version was cooler.
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They were not jjst cool, they were much more capable than anything Ford/Peugeot/FIAT/OPEL(GM) ever offered in Europe. They were coming with good engines (5cyl 2.5TDI was Audi 100 first A6 top tier diesel engine). I mean, if they made suspension better for family use (rear independent), slap Torsen AWD, they would be much better proposition than Transit or RAM as 4X4 small RV minivan. They are boxy, have plentiful space etc.
But, VW never made an effort to offer that as a commercial vehicle or personal vehicle. Their strategy is absolutely bonkers. Even when they introduced Atlas, they offered only VR6 as an option with AWD, while 2.0T was only FWD, while Russia and China got 2.0T AWD. Also, the Chinese market got 3.0T VR6! I mean, talk about missed opportunities.
 
I think the Buzz is pretty cool.

I think the results they had were predictable and i simply don't believe they didn't already know that network is wonky, i don't even have an electric car and i know that.

For the most part i like TFL, but IMO it gets worse every day...
 
Coyote Shuttles in Moab adds some extra center sections, then shuttles riders to rides in the area. Got a ride in one to the start of burro pass for a ride of "the full enchilada". The air cooled manual transmissioned busses work hard getting up to 9000+ feet in the LaSalle mntns.

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tcp71 said:
Coyote Shuttles in Moab adds some extra center sections, then shuttles riders to rides in the area. Got a ride in one to the start of burro pass for a ride of "the full enchilada". The air cooled manual transmissioned busses work hard getting up to 9000+ feet in the LaSalle mntns.

View attachment 253923
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I wonder how far overloaded those tires are? I believe 14” wheels were stock.
 
IndyIan said:
In most states and provinces "manufactures tow rating" means nothing in highway law. Axle ratings and hitch component ratings are in there though, so he builds an "unconventional" RV towing and hitch setup that is legal, and safe, and can be towed with whatever the customer wants to drive.
High centre of gravity pickups towing high CoG RV trailers is "common", but not needed, or even as safe as a heavy low sedan towing a low CoG trailer with a good hitch setup. They have track testing videos from the early 2000's of a Chrysler 300 going through a slalom with a good size airstream behind it, faster than Suburban towing nothing...
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I can easily see a cop seeing a Tesla sedan pulling a fairly long Airstream and thinking I've never seen that before think I'll check it out. Nothing you said is going to change 4000 lb tow rating and 5800 lb dry trailer weight. No room for argument. Hitching up a trailer knowing it's a ton over the vehicle tow rating doesn't seem like a good plan.
 
AZjeff said:
I can easily see a cop seeing a Tesla sedan pulling a fairly long Airstream and thinking I've never seen that before think I'll check it out. Nothing you said is going to change 4000 lb tow rating and 5800 lb dry trailer weight. No room for argument. Hitching up a trailer knowing it's a ton over the vehicle tow rating doesn't seem like a good plan.
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For sure you have to know what you are doing, but that's their specialty. If you read through it, he had to do quite a bit of work to make a hitch strong enough on the Tesla for a trailer that size, but they are a hitch manufacturer so they can do the math and engineering and build whatever they want. They sell and setup RV trailers that exceed the vehicle manufacturers tow rating all the time, because as far as I can tell, in Ontario, the manufacturers tow ratings, means nothing really. Not mentioned in the laws that I've ever found, and I'm sure they've consulted a lawyer on what they are doing, as they've been in business for decades.

For example, probably no vehicle on the planet has a manufacturers 3000lbs unbraked tow capacity, and most pickups have an unbraked trailer rating of 1000 or 1500lbs, but there are millions of single axle 3000lb capacity unbraked trailers in use. Same goes for braked trailers, as long as they aren't overloading the rear axle rating, they can tow more than the manufacturer rates the vehicle for, legally. With a weight distribution hitch then a vehicle can load up both axles more equally and handle a larger trailer safely.
Here's a link to their videos and a sample. https://www.canamrv.ca/towing-expertise/videos/

Here he explains how it works, and an independent review.

To me, this is an exceptionally stable car and trailer combination, I can't imagine most pickup truck setups doing any better? And many with badly setup hitches would be much worse.
 
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There is not much of a frame/subframe under either one of those cars and IIRC (someone correct me if I am wrong) the Tesla battery is structural which is a great way to add rigidity without adding a lot more weight to the uni-body. I would be a bit more than a little concerned about over stressing the cars rear structure.

Then there is the question of liability if this whole package goes into the bushes, IMO do yourself a favor and stick to the manufacturers limits regardless of what some company says that is selling products to tow heavier than rated.
BTW most pickups have a full frame so yes they would do much better.
 
Trav said:
There is not much of a frame/subframe under either one of those cars and IIRC (someone correct me if I am wrong) the Tesla battery is structural which is a great way to add rigidity without adding a lot more weight to the uni-body. I would be a bit more than a little concerned about over stressing the cars rear structure.
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Spot on.
 
Fair enough said:
It isn’t unheard of to take 12 hours to go 500 miles. I don’t even know if I could do that miles in a day anymore.
I saw he paid $45 at the first one, expensive. Why bother. A plug in can use gas on the road, and electric locally.
An economical plug in can probably make that trip without getting gas.
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$45 for something like 90 miles ?
 
bullwinkle said:
Fuel is heavily subsidized here-that's how we wind up with crew cab 4X4 blundering brodozers all over our roads, sucking gas like it's free! But, EVs are subsidized as well, so maybe we need some subsidy for little manual transmission beater cars too... The age of the EV is (probably) coming, but it's still so, so beta!
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You got it all wrong. Fuel here is not subsidized, it just simply not taxed as heavily as in almost all other nations.
 
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