Date:         Thu, 16 Oct 2003 11:02:42 -0700
Reply-To:     Dyer Lytle <dyer@LPL.ARIZONA.EDU>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Dyer Lytle <dyer@LPL.ARIZONA.EDU>
Organization: U of A LPL
Subject:      The Ideal Road-Trip vehicle, was Re: The Ideal vanagon
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed

Aha, this is something I've been thinking about lately, in general terms.

My story goes like this:

1.  Decided VW camper was the ideal road trip vehicle for me.
2.  Bought a very bad condition '72 with homemade interior.
3.  Rebuilt engine and transmission, discovered how much work this is.
4.  Bought a '73 Westfalia, went on some trips, too many things to fix.
5.  Fell in love with split window busses, this was counterproductive
     to the road trip philosophy (see below).
6.  Bought a '66 standard microbus, basket case, rebuilt all mechanical,
     paint, interior, etc.  (I'm painting the bumpers this weekend.)
7.  Went on a few trips in the '66.
8.  Discovered that road trip friends, mostly, require quieter ride,
     air conditioning, and interstate speeds faster then 60 mph.
9.  Bought an '84 Wolfsberg Westfalia, good shape, broken head stud.
10. I am in the process of rebuilding the engine and fixing the air
     conditioning now.
11. Continue to do road trips in my '87 jetta, good air conditioning, quiet,
     75 MPH, 37 MPG.  But I have to use tents, sleep on ground, cooler, etc.

So, I have been thinking about the optimal camping vehicle for 1 or 2 people.

Requirements:
1.  fairly high cruising speed, at least 65-70
2.  fairly high ground clearance but also fits in my garage
3.  air conditioning
4.  significantly quieter than my '66
5.  ability to sleep in the back and open screened windows
6.  excellent gas mileage and clean emissions
     (at least 30 mpg, low CO, low particulates)
7.  Inexpensive, or at least much less expensive than
     new eurovan/winnebago, say 5-8 K dollers.

Things that would be nice:
1. very low first gear

Now, except for the gas mileage, the vanagon is ideal.  But the gas
mileage is fairly important to me so I have considered:

1. Engine swaps for the westfalia (complex, expensive, unwanted side effects
    like loss of ground clearance or engine intrusion above rear deck)
2. Light pickup truck with camper shell (too bare bones, no amenities,
    bed barely long enough for sleeping)
3. Some kind of weird compact station wagon conversion,
    ford focus wagen gets 35 mpg. (too much engineering and construction required)

So, it still seems to me that 84-85 vanagon is best for me.  I would like
a syncro Westfalia but they are too expensive and get worse gas mileage than 2WD.
'84-'85 vanagon has high ground clearance and water boxer (quieter) engine.

My '84 won't fit in my garage and the gas mileage won't be great but it
fits the other requirements fairly well.  I will make an effort to build the
1.9 liter engine so that it will be as efficient as I can afford to make it
(good balance, close tolerances, clear exhaust, synthetic oil after break
in, etc.) and be happy with that until a better suggestion comes along.

  -Dyer Lytle in Tucson





Dustin wrote:

 > As much as I love my Vanagon, the mechanical and engineering flaws are well known.
 > I'm wondering what the thoughts of the volks out there as to what the ideal volkswagon
 > van would be like. Any thoughts?