Hello;  I was visiting an old friend who bought a 84 Westy on my advice 5
years ago.  We were comparing the lives that the vans we have, have to
live.  I have an 87 GL which does about 50,000 kms. a year as I live way
out in the stix.  His had 43,000 kms. total on his, he puts less than 2200
kms. on it in a year.  Mine has 217,000 kms. I have to go 42 kms. to get
anywhere, he lives in the city, he rarely does more than 6 kms. a day.  He
recently replaced his exhaust system, it rusted/rotted off.  Another thing
he mentioned was that someone offered him $13,000 for it last week, whereas
I would value mine at about $8000.
These seem to be extremes, but it begs the question; which regime better
suits the Vanagon?
We both love our vans, and wouldn't consider giving them up for anything.
             Larry Carter