A hot seat in hell!

[Racemag]

Installed dry.

[wai]

Unfortunately, modern cars are designed for manufacture and not servicing.

You have to look at how it is put together and not how it will be serviced or maintained.

On the Drive It! program, they were talking to someone from VW when the cost of servicing was being discussed because of almost having to take the drive out to do something simple. The answer came back along the lines of "The cost of making/assembling the car is borne by us. The cost of maintaining and servicing the car is borne by the owner"!

My old Torana allowed me to climb into the engine bay if I needed to, and there was still room to spare!

That's the way it is unfortunately.

[Transporter]

There you have it, and I always thought that simple and easy is what we know and difficult is what we don't know.

On a happier note, the cars cost much less today than 10-20 years ago despite the cost of the minerals, energy and labor skyrocketed, so don't blame the car manufacturers that they finding the way to keep the cost of the car down by making the manufacturing process easier for them.

The servicing of the modern cars is easier and faster than the cars made 20 years ago, at least for those with the knowhow and the proper tools. But, I can understand the frustration if someone was used to the engine bays from the 60' and 70'.

The topic is about T4 vans and I don't recall any brand van (commercial vehicle) that would be easy to work on.
You just can't compare them to the cars made many years ago.

[Sunny43.5]

Well spoken and explained transporter , having had 3 T4 's I found after the first one I worked on [my son's ] once you get into the thing it just takes a lot of swearing and contorting of your body and arms and then you have it . And the reason modern cars are easier to service is that they do not repair things any more , the old days if a bearing in a alternator or something similar was a problem the "mechanic" note I use that word correctly would actually dismantle and fix it with a $20 part . Today a "Technician "works on your car he probably has a degree in computer technology and can diagnose a fault with the aid of a laptop or a workshop diagnostic gizmo . If the $20 bearing is at fault they will probably just replace the whole component as its easier , and sigh yes its us poor sods who cop the bill {yes been there done that} But I will not open up that can of worms I am over it as VW finally after two years restored my faith .

[Racemag]

I like my T4 DOKA for what it is. I really needs another 30kw for modern traffic, but it does OK. Parts prices are variable, but just not that easy to get in a pinch and the dealers are not always willing to help.