Andrew,
       Please forward this to the rest of the VW world.  Could
not have been said better.
                                                Eric
Andrew Fox wrote:

> 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