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I have been an adamant automatic hater all of my life. I passed looking at a few nice Westy's because they were automatic. Then we found the 90 Multi Van in Seattle
with such low mileage that we went and looked anyway. It looked good, but that automatic thing. For the first time in years I drove an automatic. I was sure there
would not be enough power, but it was fine. After about 6mos. of automatic ownership I love the automatic and would probably look for one again. It actually pulls
freeway type low hills better than the stick as the gear ratios (or what ever it is in that mystical box underneath) seem to be much better matched to the engine. In
steeper mountain type driving you might find the stick to be a little quicker but we took 7 people up to Mt Hood a little while back and it did not bog down much
worse than my sisters Syncro. The one gripe I have is that the low gear is not very low, so if it were actually really slick and you needed to creep down some ice
covered hill you would be out of luck and just have to use the brakes. We have a couple of Quantum Syncros at the moment so don't plan on using the Vanagon in the
really slick stuff, but I am sure it will happen sometime. We bought the van before finding out that they are more reliable as well. So far I am happy with driving
the Auto, (but it really makes me feel old).
Craig
the Gorge VW club
gorgevwclub.com