Well, its with some tripidation that I wade into to this debate, but it
being Easter Sunday , a time of redemption and forgivenesss, I'll take the
chance.....  :)

Last week I was driving the company van, a GMC Safari (probably not the
best of a sorry lot), from the office into the university. On the way I
passed by Elk Lake which butts right up against the hwy. "Gee" I thought
to myself, "look at the whitecaps on the lake", the waves were steep and
short, breaking against the side of the lake against the hwy. 
So what is wrong with this picture? Well, until that point I hadn't
noticed how windy it was. The van wasn't affected at all by the crosswind,
mmm.If I had been driving the Vanagon, I sure would have noticed the
weather conditions, grrr.
So where does that leave me? Am I going to rush out and trade the Vanagon
in on a Safari? Not on your life!
What it does to me is start me thinking about how to further improve the
Vanagon's handling. But thats the way I think, others, if test driving the
two vans, would be right annoyed at the Vanagon's crosswind handling
ability. 

The Safari is a lot faster with the gas sucking V-6, and it has WONDERFUL
ABS brakes. Honestly, they are the best thing about that van. I really
wish I could retrofit ABS onto the Vanagon.

So, what my point? No van is perfect. There is no ultimate, or even
penultimate van. We like Vanagons for many tangible and a few
intangible reasons. But it is not a perfect vehicle,
so quit casting stones   :)

Alistair