

| Subject: | Diesel Vanagon |
| From: | Harvey Chao |
| Date: | 20 Apr 1996 15:05:01 -0700 |
Two issues: 1) After 13 years and 162K+ miles, the good wife has decided that having been stranded 4 times (twice due to unanticipated battery failure) she wants a new van that will be reliable, and has only 2 requirements: power steering and air conditioning. Although my initial reply was to the effect that I doubt that we will find a vehicle more reliable than the van has been. Any one able to provide information/suggestions on what this vehicle might be worth: Located in Northern Ca. about 45 miles south of San Francisco, '82 Diesel Vanagon, std 7 seat cloth interior. Interior and Exterior condition very good - could use a through vacuuming inside and a wash, polish and wax outside. No rust, and effectively not dents, bashes, crunches. (a few parking lot dings, minor) A California vehicle all it's life (San Francisco Bay area) 50K on long block diesel, 60K on clutch --162+K overall. New brakes all around about 6 months ago New Battery about 3 months ago Tires OK (Michelin lt truck tires, ext 30% tread???) Cooling system OK - no heating problems No obvious broken anything (that I know of) New shocks all around about a year ago Oil and filter changed every 3 months from day 1. Actually seats 8 -have added 8th seat, is stock VW seat w/seat belts and mounted to stock rails by side door. All service records 30 mpg day in and day out Color - Alpine White body, brown cordouroy fabric Stereo ASM/FM tape player, graphic equalizer amp, factory front door, rear hatch opening speakers + 2 6X9 3 ways on kickboard under third seat Clean engine compartment- no spilled oil/grease (makes it more palatable when I have to do maintenance) all 4 CV joints replaced about 18 months ago New boot on steering rack and shift linkage at tranny about 4 months ago Any defendable price suggestions? Guy saw the van on the road today and followed me to the Costco parking lot and wanted to buy it! Neither of us knew a "fair value" for it . By the way, for you other diesel Vanagon folk - this fellow says there is a guy in Marin ( North of San Francisco) that has a couple of diesel vans for sale, but body condition of the vehicles wasn't very good. What the attraction was - the guy had installed a 1.9L direct injection motor in the van, but wanted $5700. 2) With the sudden price rise in fuel - maybe this isn't the time to sell the diesel! To go from 30 mpg to 18 is a long fall. Thanks Harvey
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