Date:         Tue, 19 Dec 2006 21:25:49 -0500
Reply-To:     Damon Lowe <dlowe93@COMCAST.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Damon Lowe <dlowe93@COMCAST.NET>
Subject:      Re: Vanagon vs. Toyota Van
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

My Dad bought a toyota van new in 1987, with 4wd that you had to get out to lock the hubs.  It ran almost 400k when he finally sent it off to the scrap yard.  They weren't particulary fun to work on engine wise, but since the engine was pretty solid it wasn't a big deal.  The main problems were radiators (x2), brakes went out fairly quickly, and the wheel bearings up front went bad.

The 4wd wasn't too agressive, but it did very well in snow, carrying several skiers and their gear and stayed very warm.  Alternately, in the summer it stayed very cool and had front and rear A/C that blew very cold.  I drove that van on summer dead tour 3 years in a row, back and forth to florida a dozen times and camped numerous times.  Not as sweet as the 69 westy I had back then, but the rear benches folded flat and made a decent bed.  


just my 2 cents