> Martin, I don't know why you say this about the turning radius. My
> 82-88
> owners manuals all give the same turning radius with no distinction
> made
> between manual and PS. Do you have technical data that shows a
> difference?

in the 1985 vanagon brochure from VW, it sez:

"Turning circle:  35.1 feet (37.7 feet with power steering)"
same thing in the 1986 brochure.

in the 1980 camper brochure,it sez:
"turning circle,curb to curb: 34.5 feet /10.5 m."
same in the 1983 brochure.

in the 1988 brochure, it sez only:
"turning circle  35.8 feet"
no mention of power steering.
same in the 1989 brochure.
and in the 1991 brochure.

so it looks like vw just put whatever number they felt like would sell
the bus. which usually is the lower/smaller one.

i know that my 1986 bus WITH power steering did NOT turn as sharply as
my 1980 bus WITHOUT power steering. it seemed more like 3 feet
difference to me ... the 1980 bus could whip around on a two lane road
without getting too far off the pavement on either side, but the 1986
bus would get off into the grass on the side of the road. :(

now, there's also one other factor to consider:
the size of the steering wheel.
with NON-power steering, the wheel is bigger, and you can put a bit
more force/torque and haul that sucker around quicker. in my opinion.
with the smaller WITH-power steering wheel, the wheel is smaller and
you kinda have to grab at it more times to get completely locked to
one side.

or it's a combination of the two: the power steering difference in
geometry somewhere down under there, and the size of the steering
wheel.

anybody even run power steering with the non-power-steering steering
wheel? wonder if it would make the steering too twitchy?

interestingly enough, in the 1997 eurovan camper brochure (the
winnebago one), it doesn't even list the turning circle. anybody know
how the eurovan compares to the vanagon in turning circle?

joel