I have driven VW vans my entire life.

As far as the Vanagon goes, I would take a manual transmission any day.

Currently I have 3 Vanagons with manual transmissions, and 1 with
automatic. While none have ever given me any trouble, I have noticed that
the automatic is somewhat "sluggish" when ascending hills, compared to the
manual transmission.

Michael J Vickey
vickrail@velocity.net

85 DblCab PickUp light gray 62,000 km
87 GL Syncro Wolfram gray 98,700 mi.
87 GL Syncro dove blue met. 107,000 mi.
91 GL Westfalia Camper Orly blue 26,000 mi.
93 Eurovan MV/Westfalia top Alpine white 52,000 mi.(FS)
93 Eurovan MV Tornado red 47,000 mi.