On Jan 18, 2011, at 12:12 PM, Dave McNeely wrote:

>> having
>> been spoiled by things like Toyota Corolla and Honda Civic, that
>> never break.

I could have easily said that about my BRAND NEW '88 Westy when I bought it in '88.
I don't think I've heard expressed here, a more entirely "apples vs tires" analogy than
that one pasted above? Puzzling to me what the actual motive is?
Alistair is absolutely correct: 
"Think about it, the "newest" Vanagon is now almost 20 years old. It is
unreasonable to expect the van to be trouble free."
I'm not aware of ANY 20 year-old vehicle, used as much as most of our Van's are,
that don't require considerable maintenance, time, $$.

If I had the dissatisfaction that "some" here express, I'd be gone in a heart beat,
buy another more modern, less-maintenace-requiring vehicle and hit the road .....
unless my motives were other than simply enjoying my travels in a trouble-free
vehicle.

bob