Was going to stay silent on this one but I can't.....For sure, some people
do get remarkable dependability from their own WBX motors, but from
everything I hear, read and see..that is the exception rather than
rule...Spin it like a Politician , but there it is....they are known to be
'blower-uppers' to be 'leakers' and 'dogs' for power.   Or so say most
everyone with experience with those motors...I also see people frequently
spending rather large sums to have major work done on them....and I wonder
why they do, but that is personal choice.
  I had extensive flat four VW experience when I began looking for
vans....after reading up carefully on the Vanagon and it's dependability I
ruled-out the WBX Vangon as a vehicle because I didn't want another VW to
work on all the time, a van that statistics were showing to be pretty
sketchy, motor-wise...I looked extensively for one with a Subiemotor that I
could afford....no dice, people thought these were worth more than I wanted
to pay for a van...I ended up, almost sight unseen, with an inline VW van
and it's been good to me so far.....just what I was looking for in a
van...simple, economical, dependable and cheap....When my inline motor
blows up I'll get another for a few hundred bucks at the
junkyard...probably less than a set of headgaskets for a WBX
motor...grin...Happy turkey day everyone.

On Thu, Nov 27, 2014 at 1:09 PM, Dan N <dn92610@gmail.com> wrote:

> to share experience.. when I got my Syncro tintop 5 years ago it has an
> unknown age rebuilt engine... and I feel it's quite underpowered compared
> to my Carat because the Syncro is heavier...
>
> so after 6 months of ownership I considered a new engine... I even ordered
> one from Vanistan but then canceled the order.. the idea is just wait and
> see... I learn to live with it and I add an external oil cooler.. a little
> experiment of my own... wait till it dies and replace...
>
> it's still running... and I am still waiting.. off-road and long distance
> travels and all... and it's still refuse to die...
>
> as a joke a friend asked "you want a new engine? take out the oil and drive
> 3 times around the block and you will need new engine..."
>
> :-)
>