>My Subaru went 206,000 miles before blowing. In the time I had it, I
>changed timing belts 3 times and one time it did not make it to the
>60,000 mile mark and left me by the side of the road waiting for a
>tow. Not to mention plenty of front end work and, Exhaust system
>repairs, Axles, wheel alignments, tires wheel balancing, And one
>cylinder head gasket replacment at 164,000 miles. All about as
>expensive as the VW. My van still has the orginal axles, Only needed
>Wheel alignments when any front end work was done, only twice in 12
>years. The Exhaust is original and only needs replacement now.  I do
>think that the 2.2Subaru engine is a good choice in the Vanagon
>Since you would have the combination of sturdy chassis and a more
>powerful engine. But don't expect it to save you any money. And
>remember those pesky timing belt's can leave you stranded with no
>warning.
>John 1990 vanagon gl

The EA82 SOHC 1.8 is known to be troublesome, prone to overheating
and head-cracking. Yours seems to have done rather better than many
(not every example will fail prematurely, to be sure). The
Legacy-type EJ/EG series is one of the few engines which seem to have
no real weakness, and should be a real cheapie to own.

A faulty cambelt can of course occur, but in general they are very
reliable. A camchain can stretch or break and even a gear can fail
(though far less likely, of course). But most engines these days have
belt-driven cams... Some of the EJ series can survive a belt failure
without valve damage.
--
Regards
Andrew