After some trepidation, we set out last Thursday to Salmon Arm, BC, via the
Coquihalla Hwy. Those who've driven this road know why, and those who
haven't should, if only to see the ultimate in poorly engineered mountain
highways. (the railway managed to do it in 2% grades 100 years ago, but
the highway now forces us to climb 8% grades over countless long climbs
and descents.)

The good news is the van performed flawlessly, with the first "burp" not
occurring until after Kamloops, which is ~450km into the trip. It burped only
once as we accelerated from a slower section of road through the city back
up to 100km/h, as if to remind me that the Vanagon Syndrome is still
lurking. Mileage over 471km from Langley to Salmon Arm was a decent
11.2 L/100km, or 25.2 MPG Imperial. This was keeping the van to a max of
around 95-100km/h (except for the neutral downhill coasting...!)

Return trip over the same section of road saw mileage of 11.9 L/100km
(23.7MPG), a bit lower since I was driving at 100-110km/h most of the way.

The VS returned with a vengeance as we got off the ferry on the way home
tonight however - violent bucking and sputtering as we acclerated off the
ferry. Just a reminder that I need to fix this I guess... :-(

Shawn Wright
http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright
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