Crazy's Euro Audio Van

Well I have got back into the world of trucks and vans and I guess it goes in here seeing as although it's not an import for me, it is by your standards  LOL

My new ride is a 2005 Renault Kangoo Expression with the 1.6L 16V engine kicking out 95hp (a massive step down from my 200+hp Japanese import).

I am building this van up with the intention of a full out audio installation with brilliant sound quality and having a really clean n tidy ride.

The current audio installation has:
- Four 4" Infinity 4032CF speakers powered by a JBL GTO 4000 amp (will be replacing this at a later date
- Two 6.5" Infinity 6522si speakers in custom made door pods powered by a Vibe Blackbox Stereo 2 amp
- Four 6x9 Infinity 9622i speakers in modified overhead storage bins, powered by a second Vibe Blackbox Stereo 2 amp
- Two 10" Kicker Solo Baric L5 subwoofers powered by a Vibe Blackbox Bass 4 amp

And for the headunit, I currently have a Pioneer AVH-P4000DVD but will be swapping this in the next day or two for an Alpine IVA-D310R

Other work that has been done to the van includes having the windows tinted dark smoke on the back ones, and having the tail lights smoked as well, and I shall be sticking 17" League Alchemist wheels on it in a month or so too, and retrimming the interior in blue and cream leather or vinyl.


Nuff chat though, here's some pics for y'all

The exterior with the new tinted windows and smoked tail lights




The interior:





The new sub box (had a ported one previously)



The amp rack on the back Enough juice? lol 1x Vibe Blackbox Bass 4 amp, 2x Vibe Blackbox Stereo 2 amps, 1x JBL GTO 4000 amp & 1x Vibe Deltabox Line Driver
Still need to tidy the wiring a little bit   LOL



The door speaker pods (with the 6.5" speakers in)



The overhead storage bins which are being modified to take 2x 6x9s each side (one per compartment) - these will be going in later today so will take more photos then




So let me know what y'all think


Cheers  

I am diggin the tunes dude, wish I could hear em!  

Do they really call that a van in Europe??? Looks like it is built on a car platform, not a truck. Sorry but to me it is a modern version of a station wagon.  
Mike Cook
Vice President
Inland Vans Berdoo
2008 Route 66 Hall of Fame Inductee

Yup, that's a van. Admittedly, not the biggest of vans, and it's the windowed version (there's a panel version too), but as far as we're concerned over here, it's a van

You have to remember that the roads in Europe are a LOT smaller than they are over there, so all our cars are built on a smaller platform. Plus, with the price of fuel and tax being so damn expensive, everything has to be built accordingly.
I pay $360 a year in road tax (just to keep the thing on the road) and it costs about $90 just to fill it with fuel, and that lasts about 300 miles (and that's good by our standards!!!!!!!)


This is the panel version (looks more like a van) - but it only has one sliding door and I wanted two.


But these are also vans over here, and extremely popular too!!

 

vans are ugly ugly most deff not a truck or even close.... sounds like a wast of time and money  
i put a magnaflow cat-back dual exhaust system, volant cool air intake, bully dog power pup, mess grill, 20' boss rims with nitto terra grappler, and i 2.5' leaving kit

You couldn't be more wrong. Vans are trucks period as long as they are built on a truck frame. They have been classified as trucks since 1961. You need to educate yourself me friend. Truckin magazine got its start covering vans back in the 70s and would not be here today if it weren't for those "UGLY" vans you mentioned.  
Mike Cook
Vice President
Inland Vans Berdoo
2008 Route 66 Hall of Fame Inductee

All of those would be classified as cars here. Yours might get by as a crossover.  
Mike Cook
Vice President
Inland Vans Berdoo
2008 Route 66 Hall of Fame Inductee

It's all down to the personal taste. I personally prefer the look and size of pick ups, and aim to get a Dodge truck when I'm back out in Canada, but over here, trucks are so expensive to buy and to run (costs about $900 a year just for the road tax!!)

But with a pick up, I wouldn't have anything to load in the back to justify having one, other than for style, whereas with the van I do load it up quite regularly with various bits of gear, but still not enough to warrant a truck.

The van does me really nicely for what I want though, and I don't think it looks too bad at all. Looks a helluva lot better than half the cars on the roads over here at the moment though, that's for sure!!


But I've finished off the speaker installation today Got the 6x9s in and really loving it The sound is awesome!



 

IMVANISHINGBREED, yeah, you're right, they would all be classed as cars over there, and mine would probably be classed as a station wagon or something, but I'd have thought that even by American classifications, it would have been a van purely because of it's shape and style.


But hey, everything in Europe is smaller than it is over there, gotta make do with what you got eh?  

If we classified everything that has a somewhat square or "boxy" body half the new cars sold in America would be vans. Vans are generally commercial vehicles that have been customized or converted to passenger vehicles up till they started building the co called mini vans. While the Astro to me is a van I have trouble calling even an Aerostar a van. It is to me a large station wagon. A lot of people want to call HHRs, PT Cruisers. Mazda 5s and other cars like them vans but they are cars, built and sold as cars not trucks or vans. How much is gas where you are now??? It must be $6.00 or more to cost $90.00 for a fill up. I like the room your ride has and the sound system a lot but it looks like someone shrunk a Sprinter on the outside.  
Mike Cook
Vice President
Inland Vans Berdoo
2008 Route 66 Hall of Fame Inductee

Hahaa, never thought of it like a shrunken Sprinter  LOL

So at least this would be a van then by what you say, cos it was built as the commercial one and then converted to have rear seats and windows in it, but still fairly commercial in it's design even with the conversion.

I wouldn't say any of those were vans at all, they're all station wagons I'd say too.



Gas here is 103.9p / litre, so that's $6.56 / gallon!!!!! (US $ and US gallon)  

Yikes that is a lot for gas. I just paid $2.85 a gallon. Does the manufacturer call it a van? Do you have to register it as a commercial vehicle?? My 65 Econoline is registered as a commercial vehicle.  
Mike Cook
Vice President
Inland Vans Berdoo
2008 Route 66 Hall of Fame Inductee

Hahaa, yea, it is a lot for gas, and the best thing is, the price has dropped about 10% recently down to that level!!!! Damn rip off I say!!

Yea, Renault class it as a van as the Kangoo is their small / midsize van range, be it a panel van or like my version with windows and seats. However, it is taxed and registered as a private vehicle (which is anything with 4 wheels and windows in this country pretty much)

Tax and registration for cars / vans / trucks here is either:
- PLG (Private Light Goods) Vehicles - most things with 4 wheels and windows
- Light Goods Vehicles - commercially used vehicles - usually vans with paneled rears and no rear seats, tipper trucks etc...  

Thanks for educating me on this. I have been a vanner for 36 years and remember when the first vans with hoods came out. We came up with a saying, "if it has a hood, it ain't no good". But that changed after a couple of years then they came out with the minivan which made a lot of us cringe. My van club which is the oldest in the world only allows people with 1961-1967  forward control vans  to become a member. Also only American made so no VW buses.  
Mike Cook
Vice President
Inland Vans Berdoo
2008 Route 66 Hall of Fame Inductee

Oh very cool, so you're a vanner through n through then eh?

Well they'd not like any of the vans that we have here as they all have hoods, and infact, I can't think of any vans that have been in the UK that doesn't have a hood other than VWs and the pathetic Bedford Rascal.

People with modified vans (even just to my level) are a very rare breed though in this country, they just don't get it. Modified trucks are almost as rare too! It's all small and midsized cars over here really