Date:         Tue, 4 Oct 2005 09:59:29 -0400
Reply-To:     The Bus Depot <vanagon@BUSDEPOT.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         The Bus Depot <vanagon@BUSDEPOT.COM>
Subject:      Re: Vanagon Tire Guidelines Report
Comments: To: Jake de Villiers <crescentbeachguitar@telus.net>
In-Reply-To:  <004b01c5c8a1$33d64f20$fd23b38e@bc.hsia.telus.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

> You know Ron, I can perhaps understand that
> you are worried about losing sales, but making 
> personal insinuations is no way to persuade me 
> of your point of view.

Jake, I think you must be taking personal offense to my strong disagreement
with your OPINION, as I can't see anywhere at all where I attacked you
personally. However, if I offended you, please accept my sincere apologies,
as it certainly was not intentional.

FWIW, I've been active on the Vanagon list for a solid decade, and my
position has been consistent (and based on solid factual data) throughout.
Search the list archives and you'll find the first of my many tire posts way
back in 1996. I hadn't even started the Bus Depot yet, and it would be eight
years later before it started selling tires. Boy, I must really have been
far-sighted, to start drumming up tire business a decade in advance for a
business I hadn't even thought of yet!  :-)   

So I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree. I still reject the claim -
unsubstantiated by ANY scientific data whatsoever - that Volkswagen's specs
for correct tire use on their vans can be completely ignored, and that
standard-load passenger car tires (even good ones) are fine for VW vans.
Larry's exhaustive research into the subject - certainly the most complete
compilation of factual data regarding the subject other than Volkswagen's
own - also supports my (and Volkswagen's) position.  I'll leave it at that,
as there's no point beating a dead horse. 

> VW may have wanted to have the EPA recognise the 
> Vanagon as a Truck for the simplest of reasons. Light trucks 
> are held to much less stringent safety, emissions and CAFE 
> standards than cars.

Interestingly, it was quite the opposite. Volkswagen classified the Vanagon
as a passenger vehicle or "station wagon," NOT as a truck. This was in order
to avoid the 25% import duty on trucks, and is the same reason why they
never exported the T3 or T4 pickup trucks to the U.S..

- Ron Salmon
  The Bus Depot, Inc.
  www.busdepot.com
  (215)  234-VWVW

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