In Vanagons the automatic tranny  is better/stronger, less trouble prone
than the manual tranny, especially if you service the thing regularly.
Also, you can rebuild the automatic yourself with a modest tool set,
whereas the manual tranny requires jigs for assembly and considerably
more knowledge about them.

The power steering pump is no biggie, except for the cost of a
replacement. I have replaced several of them. Not hard.

If you like what you see, go for it.

John Rodgers
88 GL Driver

Bradley Flubacher wrote:

> I found a '90 GL for sale, A/T, A/C, PW. Broken PS pump. 140k miles. I
> haven't looked at it yet. They want to sell it. Asking $2900 or best
> offer. They're very anxious to get rid of it because they're moving the
> Europe.
>
> I have an '84 with a four speed.  I'm not nuts about the idea of an
> automatic. Comments?
>
> Brad
>