As the owner of 2 1985 vanagons,I can state some differences between early
and late 85 vanagons. I think the changes were made around november 85.
the late 85 has plastic coolant tubes that fit the 1.9.,but not the 2.1
(rare?). The late 85 has the cast iorn lower control arm suspension found
in 86 and later vanagons.Since I have both vehicles,I can say that the
later suspension gives a far superior ride.This lower control arm acts like
a flywheel and stores many of the bumps and shocks rather than transmit
them into the passenger compartment. However,the early sway bar(21mm verses
the 19mm)is still used in this late 85 vanagon.The early sway bar can be
used in 86-91 vanagons if you change the inner and outter sway bar bushings
(will this improve drivability?).There are many more small differences ,but
I cant think of them now.Oh yeah,I think the price went up.