Date:         Sat, 9 Mar 2002 16:59:50 -0500
Reply-To:     alan barber <barb2375@BELLSOUTH.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         alan barber <barb2375@BELLSOUTH.NET>
Subject:      Re: vanagon Digest - 8 Mar 2002 to 9 Mar 2002 - Special issue
              (#2002-269)
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Terry sayeth:

>Now here is the real joke-----
>If a dealer wants his allocation, or more of any given model of VW, they
>have to take---like a mandatory thing--7 Eurovan's per year----and they
>can't sell the toilet's, and now VW can't even supply the parts for the
>unpopular, over priced rat's----
>
>Yea, I need a Eurovan----so when I need parts,I can sit a week or
>two--or three----
>
>What a joke----
>
>Later,
>Terry--

Careful, your anti-Eurovan bias is showing.

Don't get me wrong, you love your Vanagon and that's great. But why do you
feel it's neccessary to disseminate this crap about Eurovans?

Because inmyonionheadedopinion, you're way off base. I don't know about the
allocation thing, but when I bought my Eurovan last year, the dealer had 4
GLs and MVs on the lot and 6 campers. When I went back again two weeks later
to pick ours up, all the GLs and MVs were gone and they had 4 campers. They
were unloading a new one from a trailer, and of course mine left the lot
that day. If this allocation story were true, it would seem that it's not
that hard to move 7 EVs in a year. It looks like my local dealer sells that
many in a good month. It helps that they are interested in selling them and
even had one parked in the showroom. I have noticed that some dealers don't
want them and the attitude probably affects sales.

As far as parts availability, let's be fair. In 96 VW didn't even sell the
Eurovan here. Only the camper conversions were sold. This may affect parts
availability for that year model. When I managed to hole my oil pan during
some spirited off road driving a couple of months ago, I had a pan in 2
days. I doubt the parts problem is nearly as bad for the newer models. Why
don't you ask your "buddy" to look up the same parts for a van year that was
actually imported? Try a 93, and maybe a 2001 for comparison porpoises.

And keeping things in perspective, the modern EV is going to need a lot
fewer parts a lot less often than a Vanagon. Keeping that in mind during
your little comparisons would show a great deal of maturity and sensibility.

Az
--
AH#56