Date:         Wed, 9 May 2001 08:44:00 -0700
Reply-To:     Rachel Cogent <cogent@gntech.net>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Rachel Cogent <cogent@gntech.net>
Organization: Gnarlodious
Subject:      Re: 1.6L NA diesel "rebuild?"
Comments: To: Bradley Flubacher <flubach@home.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; x-mac-type="54455854";
              x-mac-creator="4D4F5353"

Mr Flubacher;

I guess by now you have been horrified at thereaction to your simple question.
Forgive them,  it is a full moon.

If you persist in owning a VW Diesel, you should get used to the derision you will
encounter, i will now explain why this is.

There is a vast and unbridgeable gap, and it is called the Pacific Ocean
In the New World, we grew up on cars that you could fix with baling wire and duct
tape,      they had names  like Ford and DeSoto. The reason is, "so what if it
breaks down, your just stuck on the side of the road!". It is not like the force
of gravity is going to cause you to fall out of the sky and die if your motor
stops.
         In Europe,  the approach is the exact opposite, the airplane analogy is
taken very seriously. When it gets to a certain point of depreciation, you take
the whole thing apart and rebuild it. The logical extreme to this approach is the
Citroen.(I will raise some hackles with that word!).

In the case of either type of transportation, it is "built into the machine" how
you get your money's worth out of it.. if you dont understand the European way,
you will end up cursing the machine in fit of xenophobia.
this is why Volkswagen has such a  loyal customer base in the US, the  Nazis who
built it really wanted a car that you could keep running, so it was a natural for
US export. The diesel, however, fits more into the European category, this is whe
the poor souls end  condemning it.

I know you already knew all this,  because you have a German name, but it really
is for the edification of our less international members.
Good day.

                                    Gnarlodious