I think the reason there are more Vanagons out and about lately can be
traced to gas and diesel costs.  I know that is why I found mine and began
driving it around...and now I actually prefer it to my still very fine Ford
4X4 with Alaskan camper...It's more fun to drive, usually, and easier to
use....and most certainly easier on the wallet at the filling stations.
  An American Van, vanagon-sized, or a pickup truck or a full sized
SUV.....now a days you will spend  $100-$150 on each fill up.  My Ford gives
me about 400 (+/-) miles of travel for that.  Most other full sized
vehicles, until these last few years when the Sprinters, etc came onto the
scene, they give about the same dollar/per mile ratio.
   So people went to vanagons, which were cheap.  Or if 'cheap' was of no
concern, they were still relatively fuel-efficient, compared to full sized
vehicles.  Richy-rich folks felt "good" about buying a cute little Vanagon
from one of the premium vendors and driving around righteously 'saving the
planet' in that rather than driving  a Prevost diesel pusher bus with
pop-out rooms, or an Adventure Wagon giant Van....
 Worker-bees like me, we have to make ends meet...which got me into another
VW Van again.(Who'd a-thunk it--30yrs later, again driving a VW van to work,
pounding nails at the same wage?)....and now I really wouldn't go back to a
full size truck again (except when I have to tow something heavy).
   If someone gave me a Mercedes sprinter van, I might use it as my work
vehicle but I wouldn't try to camp in it....too tall, most of them.  My work
clients would be more impressed with a carpenter who shows up in a fancy
modern vehicle, probably...but those vans, the new modern equivalent of the
VW van, they are too expensive for me...and I don't care to learn to work on
something that 'modular'...or pay for an extended service warranty to let me
take it to the dealer, should it break....
  Bazillions of Vanagons in the Pacific Northwest....
  Don Hanson