Here’s another vehicle we wish would be sold in the US, and can’t understand the business plan behind not selling it here. It makes so much sense for VW to sell its T5 Multivan in the US. But we’re not here to debate Volkswagen’s poor judgment. You can read about Dieselgate to find out how dumb some of its past decisions have been, and how much it lost from those decisions. We’re here to sing the praises of this Porsche-powered people mover. Yeah, lots of Porsche stuff has been stuffed into this cool people stuffer. It’s weird, wonderful, and way expensive but we like that someone has paid the price for us to enjoy the ultimate Porsche-powered Multivan, at least visually.

VW’s Multivan has been around for years. In fact, an all-new, boxier Multivan is just around the corner. If you live somewhere that sells Multivans and you have a family in need of a minivan this is the ultimate whip. Even if you don’t need one for the kiddies this is quite the grocery getter. 

The ultimate Multivan is 997 Porsche 911 twin-turbo-powered hauler

The conversion from milquetoast Multivan centers around its 997 Porsche 911 Turbo engine. That’s a turbo flat-six of 3.6-liters hanging over the rear end. It is the handiwork of German tuners TH Automotive in Berlin. They call it the TH2-997. We don’t know but maybe this is the second one they have created?

The Porsche engine puts out 580 hp with the help from two GT2 turbos. TH says it can increase the power to 800 hp if you wish. Sure, we’ll take it! A six-speed manual transmission puts the power to the rear wheels. It had to have a manual to be so great. If you are so inclined TH will convert it to all-wheel-drive, just bring your credit card. 

The Multivan has more Porsche bits like dash, seats, steering wheel and more

Inside the two-tone leather looks rich yet utilitarian in a weird way. Besides its power train, the 911 donor gave up its steering wheel, front seats, some miscellaneous pieces, and instrument cluster. We aren’t familiar with the computer system in Multivans. That said, the Porsche instrument cluster conversion might have been a fairly easy swap. But, if the Multivan has typical ECU-driven electrical features this is a difficult deal to pull off. The fact that it blends fairly well into the stock dash is amazing. 

TH built this black beauty a few years ago. It came up for sale in Germany through Car Special with a price tag of $160,000 back in 2018. We’re sure that price is far below what it cost to actually build the Porsche van. We noticed recently that Car Special in Germany has a white one done by the same tuner that also looks amazing. 

The T5 came out in 2003 and has received only minor facelifts through the years. The US chicken tax is probably to blame for it not being sold here, but it is sold in Mexico. With the 25 year rule for imported vehicles that don’t meet federal regulations, it will be a few years before we’ll start seeing Multivans in the US. But, count on seeing them once they hit the 25-year milestone.