I can now confidently refuse to listen to anyone bash the reliability of
Vanagons or VW's in general.

I married into a Ford/Mercury family.  My wife's parents and siblings all
own/drive primarily Ford products.  They have given me endless grief about
my VW's (especially when they do endearing little things like leave me
stranded on the Trans-Canada HWY, but that was my fault - I knew the oil
light wasn't working and was too lazy to fix it) and scoff at me when I
point out that my '90 Fox has given me 280,000 miles without a mechanical
breakdown and my '85 Vanagon is over 230,000 mi with a head job or two, but
no catastrophic failures.  My bus - well, you buy a used engine and you take
your chances...

Anyhow...I finally caved and bought my mother-in-law's '93 Mercury Cougar
six weeks ago.  I had it dealer serviced two weeks ago at 30,000(!!!) mi.
Had Les Schwab align it Monday.  Sure, it's shiny and quiet - I'll give them
that.  The acceleration is pretty good, too, but I find the steering a bit
squirly.

This morning the POS decides that it would rather stop in Grants Pass,
Oregon, than take me all the way to San Francisco.  Mechanic says it might
be a collapsed piston or broken piston skirt. A new engine is probably
cheaper than repairing this one.  So I rent a U-Haul and car trailer and am
sleeping in my own bed tonight instead of enjoying Italian food with Carla's
cousins in SF.

Anyone want to buy a shiny, quiet paperweight with 31,000 miles on it?

Randy, Carla & Anna Huyck, Olympia, WA
'75 Rustfalia
'85 Vanagon GL
'90 Fox GL (For Sale!!!)
'74 Super Beetle
'93 Mercury Cougar