Ben,

Any idea of the driving habits of this person, and their friend.  What
about maintenance habits.  Are they mechanically inclined, or do they
just drive the things?  This just sounds too abnormal.

The first thing I tell my non mechanically inclined friends who want a
Westy like mine is, you better find a good VW mechanic and have lots of
spare money for repairs...I actually discourage them.  However, for my
mechanically inclined friends, I say "fill your boots", I point them to
all the online resources, and encourage them to get one as I know they
will get a lot of enjoyment from both camping, and tinkering on them.

Pascal 

---
This morning i was talking to a customer/friend in the shop wile
drinking a
cofee and he was telling me about his 84 Westy life that he bought new
in 84
(sold it once and bought it back 3 years ago), when new, and in a 60k
miles
period he had to go through 3 set of heads and heads gasket, after
90kmiles
he sold the westy to a friend, they had to go through 2 engine
rebuilt... so
this morning i was looking at the heads gasket leaking again, the van as
now
about 140k mile. Anyway, many had better luck but what is the % of
those...
who knows. The conclusion is simply that they are getting old, as much i
we
can save and rebuilt the van itself (body, steering, suspension), the
power
plant (including the FI and cooling system)is getting obsolete.

Cheers, Ben
http://www.benplace.com/