Hi All,
Just joined although I'm sure I have at another time with another email address long unused. This post ended up a lot longer than I was going to write but it's Friday and 4 beers in so I thought I'd add extra - you're welcome.

I'm originally from Sydney Nthn beaches (Go Manly - likely first strike from the Admins ) but now on the Gold Coast. Have always liked/driven vans from a Mitsu L300 4x4 in which was like a hovercraft on the beach to Transporters for a distribution company.

I don't currently have a VW but am in the process of deciding on which VW T6.1 SWB 4Motion Van (diff lock etc) to order mainly for sand driving to get the family camping and out on the beach. I've read a lot of posts here over the years but i'll put where i'm going below and admins can advise if they want me to break out anything here to other post for discoverability for the forum.

I'm leaning towards the Transporter, with an aftermarket rear seat fitted by dealer and complied before sale, because it means I can get the bigger TDi450 engine which is not available in the Crewvan variant.
<strong>Question</strong> It's not absolute if anyone has any reasons the bigger engine is not a good idea. <br><br>I do like the Multivan too but I'm not paying mid $90k to get the bigger engine in a van to put on the beach. I treat my vans like vans so don't really need all the luxury - throw in the kids, boards, rods, dogs and wife and go - so I'd just be getting the kids to clean the Multivan too much.

The transporter also has a 8-15mm higher starting ground clearance depending on which spec you view.

In terms of Ground clearance I'm looking at a combination of tyre size and suspension lift
The Standard VW Tyre size is 215/60/R17 = 689.8mm (27") Standard diameter.
Allowed is +50 mm on diameter = 739.8mm Max (29.1")
Allowable options within the 50mm diameter increase would be
235-70-16 (735.4 28.9")
255-65-16 (737.9 29.05")
235-65-17 (737.3)

These all give approx 25mm or 1 inch lift. This means ~25mm would be allowed on suspension lift as well to stay at 50mm total.
Question has anyone had scrubbing on any of the above tyre sizes.
I remember there being a post about what sizes you can get in the spare tyre holder underneath but i can't find it.

Ive read a previous posting on Watercooled here on tyre / wheel lift for vw Transporter 4Motion which looks from my reading is now out of date I've pasted below but so I'll update that post with current QLD regs and interpretation as an FYI and to allow for discussion.

Essentially the code now says
2.6 MODIFICATIONS TO VEHICLES EQUIPPED WITH ESC (edited)
To remain within the scope of VSB14, a vehicle fitted with ESC and modified with a suspension
lift up to 50mm beyond the original manufacturer’s standard height can be carried out under the
basic modification without certification guidelines as listed in Section 4. ....
4.11 LOWERING OR RAISING VEHICLES (edited)
....... Raising the height of the vehicle may be performed without certification providing the overall
increase in vehicle height is not more than 50mm. This <strong>may be achieved as a single
modification such as the installation of a 50mm lift kit, or by a combination of smaller lifts as
described below</strong>:
 the fitting of body blocks or lift kits (50mm maximum if no other modifications resulting
in a change of vehicle height are performed);
 suspension modification, (50mm maximum if no other modifications resulting in a
change of vehicle height are performed);
 changes to tyre size (maximum change in tyre size diameter of 50mm); or
 <strong>a combination of the above that results in a change of vehicle height not exceeding
50mm.</strong>

The discussion previously in 2016 landed that you could lift via tyre size or lift by blocks or by suspension but not a combination of. It would seem this has been amended to allow for 500mm lift via a combination of tyres and suspension. Happy days.

Any fellow 4motion sand people out there I'd love to hear your experiences or thoughts.
Cheers Carl