> I noticed in your .sig that you have reached 300k+ km in your  
> Westy.  I have recently become an owner of an 84 7-passenger with  
> 160K on the odo.  I have also been reading this list for the past  
> month, and it seems riddled with issues related to durability (*not*  
> very typical for VW).  Would you have any tips on how I can better  
> my chances at achieving the kind of durability that you seem to have  
> experienced?
> 
Actually, I bought it this year with 322k already on it, from the 
single PO. I have receipts since new showing bare minimum (IMHO) 
maintenance, such as oil changes at factory interval of 12k km using 
10w30 oil. He did spend significant $$ on repairs when they were 
done, but didn't do much unless something broke, as far as I can 
tell. (the main thing which 'broke' was the tranny at 166k - report 
says it stuck in high gear & had to be towed in. At that time it was 
deemed heads were also leaking, so a rebuilt engine and trans from 
VW Canada was put in $12k before tax!)

Careful reading of records also revealed to me a somewhat carefree 
approach to the vehicle - ie: driving 4000km+ in less than 3 days 
after the new engine was in - something tells me there wasn't a gentle 
break-in done!

As for general durability of VWs, I would rate them very high - I 
have now had 9 VWs, all but two of which I have driven to over 200k. 
I use either synthetic 15w50 oil changed at 6-8k, or in the diesel, 
20w50 changed every 4-5k. 
The *only* serious weakness in the Vanagon imho is the waterboxer 
heads, which is a real pain, but considering the quality of the rest 
of the vehicle, not all that bad. If I am faced with this problem, I 
will likely go with a VW inline4 - no big deal.

I think the number of durability issues you see on the list are 
due to the average age/mileage of the buses - most are 8-10+ yrs old. 
The difference is a VW owner *expects* to keep his bus in good shape 
for a much longer time than say a D*dge C*r*van owner. At 8 yrs old, 
a Caravan is probably on its 4th owner, interior worn out, burning 
oil, paint peeling, and waiting for the scrap heap. 

Shawn Wright (VWnut@smus.bc.ca)
'88 Westy (336k)
'85 Jetta TD (358k)
'69 Wife
'97 1st child (! :)