In a message dated 98-05-04 12:45:23 EDT, shea@GTSDESIGN.COM writes:

> Just to add to the confusion... here in SLC there was an ad this
>  weekend for an '80 5-speed vanagon.  I called the guy; he has two
>  vanagons, '80 and '82, both have 5-speeds, and he claims they're
>  "pretty much like sedan 5-speeds"... that's how he described it.

With  just 2 exceptions, all manual transmission Vanagons VW imported to the
USA had 4 forward gears.  The exceptions were a few 1982/3 Vanagon diesels and
the 1986-91 Vanagon Syncros.

Somewhere in the mid eighties it seems that just about every manual
transmissin vehicle had switched from 4 gears to 5 and the term "5 speed"
became somehow synonomous with "manual".  Many peeople see any manual
transmission vehicle and automaticlly say "5 speed" without bothering to count
the gears!!

Regards,
Jim Davis