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VW Makes A Groovy Van, But It's Not Available Here

Yesterday, we brought you a review of the Nissan Cube, a vehicle that took so long to make its way to the U.S. market that it's time may have passed. Today, we bring you a review of a vehicle that has not arrived yet but whose time, according to Dan Neil, has come again.

"Did you vote for McGovern twice (once as a write-in candidate)? Did you stop following the Grateful Dead because they became too corporate? Brace yourself," he writes. A modernized VW Westfalia camper van called the California is available again. Alas and alack, it's only sold in Europe.

The California features a gas stove, running water, an electrically deployed pop top, a fold-down double bed, rotating front captain's chairs and a staggering number of convenience features and -- get this -- a turbocharged five-cylinder diesel engine that's capable of cruising at Autobahn speeds.

Neil says it would cost too much to make the diesel California legal in the U.S. considering its small market potential. Then again, "What if VW of America heard a loud outcry for the California?" Power to the people and all that. Right on.

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