In fact, when the Vanagon came out, most motoring magazines that roadtested it
had lots of praise for the braking power of the Vanagon. Compared with the
cars of that era, of course.

But if you have good pads and functioning rear drums (driving down an Italian
highway through the Apennines with the handbrake on for 10 minutes is a good
way of making sure they don't function anymore, BTDT), with the added bonus of
the diesel's engine braking, you should have no problems.

That is one of the few downsides of the 1.6 TD with 5speed that I own now; the
TD seems to have less engine braking power than the 1.6 NA 4speed that I had
before.

Regards,
Robin
90 Vanagon Westfalia Atlantic TD
The Netherlands

Greg Rich wrote:

> I'll second Stan's comments, the brakes are fine for that type of vehicle
> Plus, your driving a diesel (I own many), you never need to use the brakes
> with all that engine compression slowing you down (decelerating).
> Greg

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