[PDC] Political Design Challenge Round 4: Hey, it's the postman!

Germany, 1992

A VW Golf model not known by most is the “Postgolf”, which was used by the German Federal Post for … well… delivering post. Today these cars are rare and expensive collectibles in Germany.

In a time without online trading, most they had to carry was letters and postcards. Those VW Golf models were poverty-spec diesel cars without rear windows, similar to “bestelwagen” in the Netherlands.
Early Mk.1 models still had rear windows, and I will allow them, as this allows for more variety of car bodies.



RULES

Naming: PDC4-Username / trim and variant
Trim and Variant: 1992 or older
Maximum loudness: 40 (government)
Three-Way-Converter unless you recreate a diesel, but if you send me a car badged as diesel I will check if your engine is realistic.
Minimum reliability: 60
Maximum consumption: 7,5 liter / 100 km
91 RON fuel preferred, 95 allowed.
Maximum service cost: $ 600
Minimum load capacity: 500 kg
Color: Post Yellow
Seats: At least two basic seats

High importance

Price
It is a fleet car, what else to say?

Consumption
See above. The lower, the better.

Cargo space
You do not want to drive back to the post office to refill more often than you need.

Service Cost
Imagine the post uses 1000 of them… and they all go to annual service… Yep.
Mid importance

Drivability
Just because it is a workorse it shouldnt handle like a semi truck.

Comfort
The drivers spend their whole working day in it, so at least some minimal comfort would be preferred.

Reliability
The minimum requirement is already a quite good score. But the more, the better.

Low importance

Design
The post would clearly prefer a well-engineered ugly car over a good looking trashcan. But the new vehicle represents the company, and so design is also something to consider.

Submissions are OPEN until December 31.

Klick here to get into the mood for this.

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A smaller car would certainly come in handy when driving through narrow urban streets, while a larger one would generally have more cargo space - so this is going to be a challenge in which size matters. It’s likely that striking a balance between size and interior space will be a priority for the post office.

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If it helps, the Italy map in Beam.NG should be a real good testing site for our cars.

What kind of gasoline should we be using? 95 Premium perhaps?
or 91 Regular?

Most cars of the era ran on 95 Premium (in Europe). That said, some car could also run on 91 and 92 Leaded, though the ones that could run with Leaded didn’t have any cats.

How would one go about recreating a diesel? Low revs, high compression, torque-focus?

Addition:

91 RON, because it was cheaper than 95 one in early 90s Germany.

Reliability (medium, as minimum 60 is already a good score) and Service cost (highly) do matter.

Submissions will be opened tomorrow evening.

Yes, that is the right direction. Try it out, but a “real” petrol enigne would also be competitive.

Would 95 RON be accepted as it can then be prepared for when 95 becomes standardised in Europe later on?

Do we need 2 full seats as a requirement?

Questions have been answered in the opening thread now, and SUBMISSIONS ARE OOOOOOPEEEEEEEN

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Will these cars be driven in BeamNG?

No, this makes only sense imo for challenges with a strong focus on handling. These cars should barely go into the direction you turn and then its fine.

Can we get a ballpark number for competitive service cost?

Maximum is 600, the strict consumption rule requites some newer technology, so I think everything below 500 is really decent.

2 Likes

dang, my costs just don’t want to dip below 530. Alright, thanks CMT!

If a Car is thrifty, reliable and attractive, 530 dollar for the service are definitely worth it.

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To make things more clear for all, I condsider it as a realistic Diesel when the maximum torque is reached at 2500 rpm and below and the maximum power at 4700 and below.

Conan C43 Classic Van


This thing will outlast your children’s grandchildren.

4 Likes

Sparsam Citivan 1.4 F

From the same family of the famous (or infamous) Citisport 1.4, the Citivan comes with the same peppy little engine, tuned for efficiency and torque delivery.

Now more reliable and much more cost-friendly! Only for $12,700 for the specialized Fleet variant. Buy one now!

Moar Pics

Uploading…

psst, it has a Japanese spec engine and does 5.6L/100KM

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