Why Vanagons are better - anyone who can drive a car can be safe while
driving a Vanagon.  As a city transit  bus driver and a CDL holder, I am
shocked (and quite a bit uncomfortable) with some RVs on the road.  Some
RVs people are driving here in Iowa are larger than a transit bus and
yet those drivers need nothing more than a written test to drive that
huge thing.  Frankly, as Dennis said, RV design is getting bigger and I
personally would feel safer with more Vanagons on the road than the RVs.

Andrew

Dennis Haynes wrote:
> I guess you have to define fairly new. I don't recall a 26 foot
> Southwind.
> The model line starts at 30 or 32 feet now. It was a step above the
> Bounder
> and under the Pace Arrow for Fleetwoods gas line up. Fleetwood
> products in
> general depreciate quickly due to there being so many and thier
> tendency to
> age rapidly.
>
> No doubt the RV and boating industries are geting hit really hard. Except
> for a trip to a ball game with some friends, I haven't used mine since
> Christmas time. The cost of fuel though isn't the only issue as the
> economy
> is turning. I also haven'tdone any trips in the Westy this summer.
>
> I doubt the big RV industry is going to be gone any more than people
> will be
> living in large houses. Yes there will be a turn but the reality is
> vehicles
> like the westy are really only good for single folks, couples, and
> maybe 2
> kids. A family of 6 or more is not going to comfortably live in one
> without
> the aid of tents, trailers, roof racks, and then some.
>
> Hopefully what we will see is usable sized RVs becoming more fuel
> effecient.
> Over the last ten years they not only got larger, but also heavier
> with no
> attention paid to aerodynamics. The one I have now is so bad that rain
> will
> hit the windshield and be pegged in place, even with rainx.  Why do
> tractor
> trialers get better mileage than even disel pusher RVs?
>
> Most RVs will do better 5 mpg. I get 8.5 solo, 7.5 pulling the Syncro
> Westy.
> The Westy is now only getting 16. My last RV was a Gas unit, 34' with the
> triton V-10 and it did about the same.
>
> What I would be more concerned about is folks in the north having to heat
> there homes. We may be huddling in our vanagons with the propex heater to
> avoid those oil deliveries.
>
> Dennis
>
>
>> From: Don Hanson <dhanson@GORGE.NET>
>> Reply-To: Don Hanson <dhanson@GORGE.NET>
>> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>> Subject: Vanagons  compared to RVs
>> Date: Mon, 21 Jul 2008 09:16:32 -0700
>>
>>   I just saw a fairly new Southwind RV, maybe a 26-footer,  for sale in
>> The
>> Dalles, Oregon.  This one was nice looking well cared for but without
>> all
>> the fancy extra rooms that slide out, etc..Still, a "Substantial
>> Vehicle"
>> $7k was the asking price.
>>   You can't find a decent Westie for that without being pretty
>> diligent..Guess the big RV era is done..gone the way of the
>> dinosaurs...  I
>> suppose it would be difficult to fund a cross country trip at 5mpg when
>> diesel in Oregon is (today..) $5.10/gallon..
>>   Don Hanson
>