I'll weigh in here with my .02.  I bought my 87 Vanagon new.  I've never owned an American car (or Japanese) so I can't speak to that.  I've found that I've had very little repair or maintenance to do on my 87 (in fact a tune-up was way overdue, which is why it failed (for the first time ever, other than dead batteries) to start last month.  I have right at 125,000 miles on it.  I did the heads around 80k and sometimes wonder if that problem was simply due to two things:  (1) initial ignorance about the type of coolant to be used and (2) I didn't drive it much, as I used public transit at the time.  Also, I've been unimpressed by the overall sheetmetal "heaviness" and general appearance of both American and Japanese vans, so that's why I never even considered buying one.  (Plus I was in my 20s when I bought my 87 and Chrysler minivans seemed so uncool!)  So that's my .02.       

>>> Karl Wolz <wolzphoto@WORLDNET.ATT.NET> 01/24/01 01:22PM >>>
Just a thought.