>Although a newbie to this forum there is one thing that I've
>noticed--most of the Vanagons are approaching twenty-years-old and
>typically have 180K miles on them.  How many other vehicles that are
>approaching their second decade of usage are still road worthy?

Untold thousands... generally from Japan.

>How
>many other vehicles with 180K are as beloved as our Vanagons?

LOTS... I love my diesel Toyotas with up to 600,000-odd km per car.

>There are things about the Vanagon that surprise me that there wasn't a
>class action lawsuit; like the AFM capacitor fix.
>
>I'm just hoping that someday someone will figure out how to drop in a
>gas efficient engine with a little more boost than what we already have.

KEP has... kits to fit a lot of different engines, including the
ideal Subarus (though these aren't great for fuel-ceonomy).
--
Andrew Grebneff
165 Evans St, Dunedin 9001, New Zealand
<andrew.grebneff@stonebow.otago.ac.nz>
Seashell, Macintosh, VW/Toyota van nut