i have an '84 vanagon, and the first time i tried to cange the oil,
i had a hell of a time. first of all, the handy fix it guy, who sold me
the filter, told me that the filters on VWs are allways really tight, much
tighter than hand tight
"because the oil pressure in VWs is real high, that's why the engines last
 so long"
(i would appreciate any e-mail to dispell/confirm the bull shit of 
 the tight filter/high oil pressure of VWs)
i bought an el cheepo oil filter wrench that was made out of thing metal, and
had little teeth to help with drip (kinda looked like a very big adjustable 
plier, but thinner) and this just tore the filter apart, hence, i could
not take it into the fix it guy to save me (unless duct tape will hold
the "high" pressure of a vw oil system)...after *may* hours, i took some
climbing equipment (1/2 inch webbing), a piece of dowel and some duct tape
to get the thing off...it was bloody tight, but i got it off...

this last oil change went without drama after i used my dad's oil filter
wrench, which looks like a 1/2 inch wide swack of metal that wraps around
the filter and is levered tighter by the action of the handle (flip it 
around for tightening)
actually, that was an "el cheapo" wrench too...

bolt on the bottom of the filter:
if the filter is *really* tight, so tight that the normal filter wrench
would not work, i would think that the bolt on the bottom of the 
filter would destroy the filter, unless the filter is really sturdy...
is the bolt there so that it is easier to access (can't get the filter
wrench around the body of the filter)?