Sorry Phillip, gotta disagree.

You asked how reliable a ten year old Totyota was?  I drove my '86
Toyota van for 150K until I sold it to help pay for my Westy, my sister
drove her '85 Toyota Van to 200K till she parked it (the interior was
trashed and she wanted a sportier car), and a good friend is still
driving her '85 at 250K, and here's the catch . . . all with NO MAJOR
ENGINE PROBLEMS.  Sure, you've gotta replace an alternator, belts, and
batteries every now and then, but these engines are rock solid.  Think
about it, over 650K total with no major engine problems.  Where can you
find that?  A Toyota van. When I'm out in a cold rain hunched over my
wasserleaker, I sometimes wonder why I sold my Toyota.

Then I remind myself, no Toyota I've ever driven is as much fun as my
'85 Westy.  No 'frige, no pop top, no unique German Engineering that
attracts men and women alike to ask, can I look at your van?

A few month ago someone mentioned the true true test for a Vanagon
(Westy)lover:  if you can sit in any seat in the van and get a silly
grin on your face, your caught.

So, I'd buy another 15 year old beater Toyota van with 200K+ in a
heartbeat, but I'll never find another type of van that is as fun as my
Volkwagen.

-Patrick
  <><
  Radford, VA
  '85 Westy GL "Vicki"

>How can you get reliability out of a ten year old vehicle?  There are
>no guarantees.  Problems with vanagon are not that different from
>other ten year old vehicles, only on the vanagon list 80% of what is
>talked about is how to fix problems.  So that is mostly what we hear
>and see and expect. How reliable is a ten year old Toyota?
>
>If you want a reliability (i.e., expect to not have to keep replacing
>worn parts or rebuild the engine once every 100k or so), then just
>don't buy a ten year old vehicle, no matter what make it is.
>-Phillip