We had a diesel Westy for just over a year. It slept four got 25-30mpg and you
could make hot chocolate without really getting out of bed... as good as this
sounds we have two little girls that usually go to sleep on road trips. This
translates to us wanting to cover a lot of ground while they sleep. The diesel is
not good for this. If you are patient and enjoy the world at your own pace it is
an awesome vehicle. I have driven old split window busses my whole driving career
and the diesel vanagon makes the splitties look fast. Part of it is the loooow
gearing. They rev really high on the highway. You will spend most of your time
around 55-60mph. Any hill (I am talking about normal freeway rises not just
mountain passes) or headwind will drop you to 40mph. We now have a 90 Gas powered
Westy multi-van and love it. The mileage sucks but we can cruise at 70 and pull
most hills at around 60. I still miss the diesel from time to time. It had a ton
of character. We got passed by some friends returning from a VW show. I saw them
later and they said they though we had blown up our engine. We were going very
slow and there was smoke coming out the back. I just said no it's a diesel.
Good luck deciding,
Craig
the Gorge VW club