Date:         Wed, 17 Apr 2002 01:39:33 -0400
Reply-To:     Ben huot <huotx@VIDEOTRON.CA>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Ben huot <huotx@VIDEOTRON.CA>
Subject:      Re: Frusterated Vanagon owner
Comments: To: Locke Johnston <ljohnston@FROGCOMMISSARY.COM>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

You know what they say; a car will fall apart at a certain mileage!!!
This is the time when you have to change most parts on it!!! Now it's your
time…bad timing.

Seriously, I will resume what I think of the van in a few sentences…
I love the Westfalia, but I am not sure that I love the Vanagon…(or any new
VW)

I don't think I would buy a simple 7-seat vanagon, there is plenty of good
mini van out there. A lot more reliable than any VW product.

Here is a comparison, I have an 88 Civic CRX (2 seat) and it as 380K km
(236k miles). She barely takes 1 quart of oil for 3000miles, no strange
noise, no cooling problem and no worry… It's my winter car, very very
rusty, never did anything on the engine (except normal stuff), no head
gasket change, no worry about the very well design & simple fuel injection
system and so on. Rust will get the car before the engine.

So you want to own a VW van or westy, get a Bentley and start-loving
mechanic because you will needed sooner or later…

Don't get me wrong, I love my westy and will probably keep it for a long
time but it's not the best reliable car in the world. But the camper is the
best damn design I have ever seen. Finally, I would not recommend this van
to everyone; you need to be a tender loving owner who loves to play on it.

Lol, its not that bad, you just not very lucky…
Ben
http://www3.sympatico.ca/huotx/engine1.htm