Sounds like our 'other car' which is a 12 year old Toyota Matrix, 255,000 km/160,000 miles on the clock, still going strong and relatively maintenance free.  

Oddly enough, though, the Matrix started off as a bit of a lemon - when it was new, long before we bought our Vanagon, it had a myriad of parts fail and be replaced under warranty - driver seat tracks, hatch struts, power window motors, AC troubles, even the manual transmission (at only 40,000 km/25,000 miles!).  Once it got past five years old, though, it settled down to being the usual reliable Toyota.

Even no significant rust, which here in road-salt-loving eastern Ontario is unusual.

I'd still rather have a good VW Golf than the Matrix (my wife's choice), but I'll give it its dues as a reliable long-term car.

James
Ottawa, ON

> Date: Fri, 28 Aug 2015 11:33:04 -0500
> From: mcneely4@COX.NET
> Subject: Re: Friday: What's the perfect second car for Vanagon owners?
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> 
> 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