Out of Africa
For some reason I had always been suspicious of VW T3 Kombis; perhaps it was the ‘brick’ shape or its puny 2.1 petrol engine. But despite this, we’ve enjoyed tackling Africa’s worst roads in one.
Our introduction to the T3 came when some friends visited and we needed a vehicle that could take eight people, had four-wheel drive and a towbar. A South African friend told us to rent his T3 Syncro, which seemed to fit the bill perfectly so we took him up on his offer. It was powered by a 3.0 V6 Ford Essex engine and every time I revved it up it made me smile. Sitting in it for the first time amazed me even more and posed the mind-boggling question: Is it possible that a vehicle can be bigger from the inside than from the outside? Well, this is probably where the clever, compact T3 design comes in! The raised suspension and big off-road wheels made it look like the perfect bushcar for us.
Right, this was the plan: Eight
