I won't call the Japanese engines of 80-90 a class above the WBX. I can
relate a first hand experience with the two. An 86 Nissan truck driven for
170,000 abusive miles by workers at my father's construction company. I
bought it and drove it another 100k or so before getting sick of it and
selling it to a friend that drives it still today well north of 350,000
miles on the odometer. Nothing more than regular oil changes required. (BTW
that truck would meet the definition of beater)

Around this same time (mid 80's) my dad bought an 84 vanagon at auction and
was soon plagued by the cooling problems etc. of the early days before the
flawed head design was remedied. He was surprised to hear that I purposely
sought out a Vanagon and that I love it as much as I do.Despite how much I
enjoy my 84 westy I will never have the rock solid forget about it
dependability that the Nissan provided.

Owen

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jeffrey Schwaia" Sent: Monday, December 09, 2002 9:02 PM

> I must disagree about 1980 - 1990 Honda, Toyota, etc. engines being a
class
> above the WBX.  The fact that many of these manufacturers where still
using
> carburetors during this time frame is enough to condemn them in a
technology
> debate.