I suspect there are as many different needs for transportation among Vanagon owners as among the car owning public at large.  For me, the Toyota Prius I have couldn't be better, of extant and available vehicles.  It is virtually maintenance free, gets extremely good gas mileage, and is reasonably roomy. I have two car seats in it to accommodate my grandkids, yet can haul quite a bit of stuff.  Priuses have proven their longevity by now.  Mine has 140K miles and is going strong.

Of course, the virtually maintenance free part would be a bit much for most Vanagon owners.  A Vanagon owner who doesn't have to fiddle with this, modify that, fix this other in order to use the vehicle would be sort of lost.  Or bored.

David McNeely