After joining a VW Van club and meeting lots of actual Vanagon owners in
person I came to a conclusion which goes like this:
Happy Vanagon owners fall into 3 categories:

1.  Those who spend LOTS of time and energy working on them and
understanding them to make them reliable.

2.  Those who spend LOTS of money paying someone to make their vanagon
reliable.

3.  Those who are very lucky and have very few problems with their
vanagons (very rare).

If you dont fall into one of these 3 categories you live in "Vanagon
Hell".  Without actally meeting Vanagon owners in person (like on this
list) it can be really hard to determine how much time and/or money they
spend on this "hobby".

It ticks me off when someone writes to the list asking about advice on
buying their first vanagon and someone who owns several vanagons and knows
all their ins and outs and designs aircraft parts for a living writes them
back saying what a great vehicle they are and how trouble free they are.
Bottom line is its not a vehicle for the layperson who wants to travel on
the cheap like many of us thought when we bought these vans.  Its more of
a hobby for technically skilled and financially healthy persons.  Nothing
wrong with that, just everyone please stop giving the average joe the
impression that these things just need a little TLC and they're good to
go.

Thanks,

Andrew Fox
86 Westy