700 horsepower - you'd expect to get that from an American muscle car, not a Volkswagen, especially something as humble as the Transporter series.
The Bulli is like a cornerstone for Volkswagen, along with the Beetle and Golf. Autohaus Nordost Berlin specializes in all kinds of these icons, including a fancy T1 worth about €50,000 which you can briefly see at the beginning of the video.
However, we're here for the ridiculous T5 custom model, a world premiere engine swap. By now, fans of our tuning section have been familiarized with the work of HGP. These crazy power-avid Germans like nothing better than to swap your 2-liter for a 3.6-liter V6, rubbing your nose in the fact that VWs used to sound much cooler.
That seems logical for a Golf or even an Arteon coupe. But a van? I guess they sell millions of these, so an awesome one is going to get T5/T6 owners excited. Yes, this is an older model, but it's been made to look like the current T6, which we think is great too.
The 3.6-liter looks like an extremely tight squeeze in the place usually occupied by a four-cylinder. HGP also had to completely re-think its piping and cooling setup. And there's a lot of it, considering the V6 has been twin-turbocharged to produce 700 HP for everyday use or 740 HP for special occasions. You also need 4Motion to deal with 925 Nm and help with the 2.5-ton weight.
Everything else has been completely changed as well - suspension, wheels, tires, brakes, and gearbox. What would it cost to have a T5 like this? Well, it's a one-off estimated at around €250,000. That's supercar money, but there's enough of those in the world.
Max out, it will reach 290 km/h on the autobahn while also letting you enjoy total luxury with a completely reworked Alcantara interior.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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