19 Aug 08
Driving to the activity centre near Ullswater meant a lot of scenic near-misses with other be-wheeled gawpers. The Volkswagen Caravelle's handling wasn't exactly what you would call fleet, but it wasn't a rollercoaster either.
Next comes the bit you see in the pics. A van with blacked out windows and guns of course equals the A-team, so pictures had to be taken. Especially as they'd given us bandoliers to hold the cartridges, which of course had to be worn Wild West style.
From the hotel onward that night it's all a bit of a blur, but I do remember being driven back from the Bowness nightclub in a Caravelle (actually the longer Transporter) taxi with the 3.2 V6 petrol engine. Nicely specced with electric sliding doors, although one had broken because people kept trying to manually slide them.
To groans from the guys in the back, I asked the cabbie about the V6 and he said he'd gotten a great deal on a new one for just £19,000 and converted it to LPG. Reckons he got 20mpg and was saving way more than friends who drove diesels.
Have to agree. This 2.5-litre diesel Caravelle is good for 30-32mpg on the motorway, even with five, but round town it's 19mpg if you're lucky.
