>  Andrew  Fox wrote:
> "Disclaimer:
> Vanagons are not reliable, they are hard to find parts
> for, hard to find people to work on them, they get
> horrible gas mileage, they are bad for the
> enviornement, and they aren't safe. In short they are
> for car collectors and not people serious about
> travelling or transportation."

Ok, if you say so. Our '88 Westy had 322k kms on it when we bought it in '96, all
done by the original owner, who took it to nearly every state and continent during at
least 3 trips around the continent. Sure, it needed new heads and a trans rebuild, but
it was covered under warranty, and the rest was just routine maintenance.

In the 8 years since that we've owned it, the only engine related problems have been
a water pump (routine), and a niggling problem with the ECU relating to a cracked
solder joint. That's it. Oh, and the exhaust cracked twice, but heck, it is only the
second set of pipes, and they're now 13 years old. So that's zero show stopping
failures, and about $200 in engine repairs in 8 years. Not bad I'd say. The trans
rebuild cost a lot more, but I expect it to last another 200k or more, and it didn't fail, I
just didn't like the noise it made. Oh, and the PS line sprung a leak, a $75 fix for a
new line.

We regularly take trips to remote places on rough roads, and never worry about poor
reliability, because we haven't had any reason to.

That said, I've wanted a diesel Westy since before we got this van, so I do plan on
going that route very soon. But I won't hesitate to drive this van another 10 years or
more, with whatever powertrain it has. (body now has 387k kms).

I agree with Robert that most problems turning people sour on Vanagons can be
traced back to lack of maintenance at some point, even leaky WBX heads...

Shawn Wright
http://zuiko.sls.bc.ca/~swright
'85 Jetta TD (retired)
'85 Jetta D
'88 Westy 2.1L
'82 Diesel Westy