>What gives?  The vanagon has the engine and
>transmission mounted over the drive axle.  Why
>would it have poor traction?
>
I would love to know the answer to this one myself.....I have a '72 Westy
that at times I could swear must be 4wd because the traction is that good.
My '85 GL is as horrendous, though, as the '72 is good.  It must have
something to do with differential design so that power in the '85 is
completely shifting to the spinning wheel.  Maybe the old bays had "posi"
type differentials???
Mark