Ya know, other cars have problems, too, believe it or not. Not just Vanagons.

Here's what I do when I really start coveting a new car or van. 
I go to www.cars.com and plug some numbers into the laon calculator.
Nothing like a $500-600/month car payment to bring one back to reality. 

Thomas Brobst
Accu-Sort Systems, Inc
Staff Mechanical Engineer
215-721-5061
fax 215-799-1600

If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it? -Albert Einstein 

>>> David Brodbeck <gull@GULL.US> 6/25/03 >>>
On Wed, 25 Jun 2003, Andrew Fox wrote:

> Easy there.  Its good to take a look at reality every once in a while,
> otherwise we forget the real reasons we own vanagons.  Yes our vehicles
> suck mechanically and there are better vans out there but we continue to
> put up with the crap because we love vw's.

True enough.  I will say that while I loved the power and reliability of
my E-150, I hated parking it.  I also hated getting 16 mpg and having to
put 35 gallons worth of gas in it to fill it.  It was a nightmare to work
on as well; the part I needed to get at always seemed to be in that
no-man's-land between the doghouse and the hood.

Later in life it started to suffer from two problems that Vanagon owners
might find familiar: Low oil pressure and overheating.  (Guess maybe we
should have flushed the cooling system at least *once* in 12 years.)

David Brodbeck, N8SRE
'82 Diesel Westfalia
'94 Honda Civic Si