Amen
I just dropped about 400 bucks into to my vanarat,
first money I've put into it other then maintenance
since last summer..I'm coming up on a pair of tires
(Thinking a set of six ply Jupiter's, though the 4's
were fine) but that's all stuff you do on a newer car too.

For that matter a large part of my cost was CV's...
I recall doing those on newer vehicles as well..
No complaints here

Tromper
1982 Dieselfant II
"The Manatee"

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com]On Behalf
Of lbmelman
Sent: Tuesday, April 16, 2002 1:30 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Frustrated Vanagon owner

a 12-16 year old car is not a new car so why would anyone expect it to
operate like one.

how much would a new car cost these days? perhaps $300-600/mo?

now, do you think you would like that new car as much as a vanagon? i
wouldn't, and i can afford a new the car.

if i pay $200/mo in repairs i think that is a pretty good deal for having
a car i like.

and those months my van does not need repairs, the money gets saved for
the months when it will.

my biggest fear is that i will want to keep this van running longer than
i will be able to or california will allow me to.

larry.

on or about 4/15/02 2:10 PM ljohnston@FROGCOMMISSARY.COM wrote:

>I am new to the list and need some advice. I bought a 1986 vanagon last
>August. It had 186,000 miles on it with a rebuilt(heads)engine. Since I
>bought it I've put about 4,000 miles on it. It broke down once immediately
>requiring $2,000 worth of work, alternator, all new wiring, new ECU. It was
>an electrical grounding problem, plus a couple things that were fixed that
>weren't right. I didn't drive it for most of the fall thinking I would sell
>it, that the karma was bad. As it turns out I reregistered it in January
and
>have driven it since. Last week one of the belts snapped and pulled the
>dipstick housing and twisted it down under the engine. So that needed to be
>fixed. Another $230. Yesterday I was driving along and there was a pop, a
>cloud of grey smoke and it died. I got it towed again, it needs a starter,
>just to get it started and who know what else. Luckily it has broken down
>close to reputable repair shops who do only VW work. It's frustrating as I
>bought it from a reputable source and it keeps leaving me stranded. I love
>the van but worry it's going to continue to let me down. Any ideas?