Date: Wed, 12 Oct 2005 16:34:07 -0500
Reply-To: John Rodgers <inua@CHARTER.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: John Rodgers <inua@CHARTER.NET>
Subject: Re: Automatic vs. 4 Speed Transmission
In-Reply-To: <20051012182525.39586.qmail@web30705.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
I have owned three manual tranny vans - a '68 aircooled, an 85 Vanagon
GL with the 1.9L engine and curently an '88GL bot of the latter are the
watercooled vehicles. On the '68 I had to have the tranny rebuilt -
pricey! on the '88 GL I had to have the tranny rebuild - Pricey!, the
'85 GL went 205,000 miles without a rebuild but did call for a new
clutch at about 190,000.
While I have never driven the autotranny version of these vehicles, from
every bit of information I have gleaned from the Vanagon list the auto
tranny is hell-for-stout. Mile for mile it will give you fewer problems
than the manual tranny will. Also, the auto tranny has the added
advantage of being easily rebuildable by the home mechanic with
reasonable mechanical skills and a decent tool box. The manual tranny
requires special jigs for assembly and those suckers ain't cheap.
I suspect the auto tranny vehicle is easy to drive, and one on the road
and rolling along it's not much different thant driving a manual tranny
in high gear. There is a big difference in city driving however, with
all the stopping and starting. manual trannies will wear you out in
heavy city traffic, 'specially around quitting time.
Then there is the age factor - not the Vanagons age, but the Vanagon
drivers age. I don't know how many of us out there are over 60, or for
that matter even over 50, but the knees begin to tell us maybe we
shoul'da bought that nice auto tranny unit last time around. I'll be 66
this month and the left knee keeps telling me to think about an auto
tranny model for my daily driver. And I'm starting to listen real close.
The bottom line is - "Yuz pays yuz money and yuz takes yuz chances!"
Good luck,
John Rodgers
88 GL Driver
Mark Baker wrote:
>Hello all:
>
>New to the list and about to purchase my first Vanagon, hopefully this weekend! Wondering which you'd prefer--auto or manual transmission, and why? Is one or the other more prone to breakdown? Is there a performance boost with one or the other?
>
>Looking forward to your input. Been reading the list for a couple of days and have been overwhelmed by the knowledge here!
>
>Mark in Minnesota
>
>
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