You appear to be passionately against personally owning or driving an automatic trans Vanagon, while admitting little or no personal experience driving one yourself.
 Did I mention that I've owned a couple of each type? (I try my best not to pre-judge anything or anyone......)
 I love my '87auto Westy! Excellent vehicle overall (warts and all!).
 
Mike B.
    I can't recall ever owning an automatic vehicle.  I do not care for them.
  I hate the way they are in snow...They suck in soft sand and having some
  engineer pre-determine when the vehicle will shift under +his+ conditions,
  the one's they simulated on the computer in China, Japan, Germany or where
  ever, that is often awkward.  It can be fatal, if you're in an emergency
  situation right at the limits of traction, and your silly automatic tranny
  decides it must shift...  You can't really tow them, you can't push start
  them and you can't usually "baby" a faulty one back home in whatever gear
  remains.  They seem to be more expensive to have repaired and most of them
  are less effective for fuel economy..maybe brand new ones can match a manual
  trans for MPG..but I doubt I will every buy one until they get really good
  or there are no manual tranny vehicles allowed on the highway..

    I really can't picture myself driving an automatic Vanagon..Mine, I drive
  it like a small truck..It's pretty heavy and has a similar power to weight
  ratio to a loaded truck, so I like to control where my RPMs are with an eye
  on the highway ahead and the traffic I anticipate..  If I'm caught going
  slow with a long grade ahead I like to have the option to be in any of 3
  gears in my 5speed manual..depending on how slow and how steep the
  road ahead is..Fishing around for a usable gear in a slush box Vanagon just
  makes me shudder thinking about it.  On mountain or winding roads, as I
  brake and enter a corner I can select the proper gear that I will need to
  exit the corner effectively and lose no momentum at all nor induce any
  stress into the drive line with a shift under load, like an auto does.

    Only if I lived in a big city would I consider an auto-shift...and I will
  never willingly live in a big city again.
    Don Hanson