Date: Mon, 11 Sep 2000 23:01:16 -0400
Reply-To: Donald Baxter <onanov@MINDSPRING.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Donald Baxter <onanov@MINDSPRING.COM>
Subject: Re: re. daily driver
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
I certainly prefer my '85 wasserboxer to the air-cooled models. I bought a
well-abused van with 125,000 miles--drove it for a year until the engine
leaks got so bad and then I decided to replace the engine with a factory
remanufactured unit. Four years later, I have close to 80,000 miles on this
engine with no problems (211,000 actual miles). While this was an expensive
proposition, it's turned out to be a great investment, making the Vanagon
the cheapest car to run I've ever owned. It's relatively powerful, will run
well with the air-conditioning and never overheats. In fact, I just drove
the van to Iowa to leave it there in advance of my move and only in heavy
St. Louis traffic at 102 degrees did the temperature gauge register in the
middle--it usually runs just a bit on the cold side of that.
I think the issue with wasserboxer unreliability has to do with maintenance.
I change the coolant every year to 18 months, I keep synthetic oil in the
crankcase changed at 5,000 mile intervals. It works for me!
___________________________________________________
Donald Baxter TransCore
onanov@mindspring.com (home) 404 325 1991
donald.baxter@transcore.com (work) 770 246 6261
(Iowa City) 319 337 0494
www.mindspring.com/~onanov
Creationists claim that dinosaurs co-existed with man. That explains the
Flintstones.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Gary" <glee@ULTRALINK.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Monday, September 11, 2000 12:07 AM
Subject: re. daily driver
> kevin <ironfly@HOME.COM> wrote:
> Subject: daily driver
>
> Sometimes I wonder why anyone would even
> consider a 83 or newer with the water cooled, from the sound of this
> list they don't sound like a financially attractive way to go.
> Air-cooled and happy in CA.
>
> -----------------------------
> Thats a good question. But for all their shortcomings and weaknesses,
IMHO
> the later models offer features and body/interior improvements the early
> vanagons did not have.
> >From my bad memory:
> 85 got a better sliding door latch requiring much less effort to close and
> Power steering!
> 86 got more attractive interior fabric, seats with arm rests and syncro
> 87 got PW, PL, Cruise, more modern paint colors
> And a few more things up through the years.
>
> The water cooled engines are more expensive to fix and have cooling
system
> problems. But the WBX also has more power, is quieter, lower overall
> emissions and have better heating systems.
> A trade off maybe, but I personally prefer the later versions.
>
> Gary Lee
> 1987 syncro westy, propane/gasoline
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