Bought our '87 new - the factory shocks were kinda ok, but realizing I 
was gonna keep my shiny new baby 4ever, I treated her to a complete set 
of new Bilsteins @~25k miles (the objective reason was to make her more 
stable/safe while doing all the mountain driving we did/do loaded with 
very precious commodities-children)... anyhow, the gas pressurization 
makes for a very effective spring; she's a 2wd with the ride-height of a 
Synchro. For the first 20+k miles you could feel every little pebble in 
the road, but then they softened somewhat so that even now, with 73k on 
them, they are very smooth, stable, and the handling is much more precise 
and predictable than other Vanagons Ive driven. Yup, they sure are 
pricey, but since I bought 'em way back in '88, & I intended to hang on 
to her forever, I looked at it as an investment - I've certainly spent 
more than they cost & received less in return elsewhere.

& BTW, getting rid of the stock Contis @ 45k & replacing them with 
reinforced Michelins was another *very* positive handling improvement.

Now, ref the NON-Porsche flat 6 boxer in the bus....oops, gotta go to 
sleep....

Austin