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Date:         Sat, 24 Nov 2001 23:59:42 -0800
Reply-To:     developtrust <developtrust@HOME.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         developtrust <developtrust@HOME.COM>
Subject:      Re: Vanagon versus Lazy Daze motor home

You make good points. If one can afford both and does a lot of traveling with a large family then I suppose things change. For me I am moving toward simplicity. And like you say, everything is a compromise. My neighbor just bought a huge motorhome and he is chopping his garage in half to make a driveway to his back yard where he is building another garage farther back just to accommodate the motor home and decreasing the resale value of his real estate drastically. But this is what he wants.

One man's trash is another man's treasure. I would never ruin a house to accommodate a motor home I know he will tire of much later down the road. It is only a matter of time. Hotels are easy to find for the cost.

I guess people modify their vanagons for more power for the same reason I modified my Lazy Daze. To make it more perfect. Now I am into modifying this wonderful Vanagon. It is fun.

William ----- Original Message ----- From: Dennis Haynes To: 'developtrust' ; vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM Sent: Saturday, November 24, 2001 10:40 PM Subject: RE: Vanagon versus Lazy Daze motor home

Let me start off by saying that I own both an 87 Syncro Westy and a 1999 33.5 foot Tropi-Cal motor home (With Slide-out). If the VW is so great, than why do so many Listees want to add more power, toilets, heat, AC etc.? Because they want the comforts of the real RV without the costs. Everything is a compromise. As for the awfull fuel economy, yours had a problem or you drove very fast and up a lot of hills. My first motorhome was a 1992 Tioga. Class C, 27 foot, 12,500 lbs loaded. At 55 mph I could get almost 10 mpg. At the 65 to 70 I usually traveled, I got 7.5. This was with the Ford 460 and 4 speed overdrive transmission. The coach I have now weighs 16,300 lbs. empty. With the Ford Triton V-10, I get 8.5 mpg traveling 65 to 70 mph. Maximum wieght is 20,500 pounds. I usually wiegh around 19,500 fully loaded which includes 75 gallons gas, 75 gallons water. I lose about 1 mpg when towing the Syncro Westy. In four years, I have put about 60,000 miles on the two RV 's. At least this is 60,000 miles less for the Syncro Camper which now has 185,000 miles on it, (original heads and gaskets). By the way, at best, the Westy gives me 17 mpg at those speeds. 70 to 75 mph with the AC on doing the NY to Florida runs puts me down to 14 or 15. Especially with luggage carriers on the roof and mounted to the hitch.

Anyway, I do agree with many of your comments about the Vanagon. However, there are times when we need more room or more equipment. The Westy is somewhat limited to fair weather and really only two adults. The four of us need more space. Sometimes we travel with more. I really wish VW would accomadate us with something a bit larger so we could keep on Bussin'

Dennis


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