Date: Fri, 16 Nov 2007 01:12:42 -0500
Reply-To: Poppie Jagersand <poppie.jagersand@YAHOO.CA>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Poppie Jagersand <poppie.jagersand@YAHOO.CA>
Subject: Re: Does anyone have experience with these specific points? Was
Re: Vanagon vs Eurovan
In-Reply-To: <36BE8301-5CD6-45A9-B027-FBBCD4198966@newclear.us>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
I have '82, '85 and '94 Westies.
Short summary: If you haven't had a vanagon, there's a
longer learning curve to get to like it (and learn how to
fix it). A Eurovan you can deal with more like any other
car, ie take to dealer for service, less quirky things etc.
On the other hand, if you are truly going on week long trips
(without being in a hurry) I find the Vanagon Westy much more
practical to live in.
My personal impression (that few apparenlty share...)
is that the '82 interior is the nicest. (green-beige striped
fabric. Obviously very durable with no rips at 25years and 180kmiles.
I also prefer no armrests as they make it harder to walk between
front seats.
'85 browish interior hides dirt well, but is, well, too brown...
'94 has grey more synthetic interior. Stains easier, but cleans up
ok with a carpet cleaner steamvac.
The "dinner" table arrangement in the Vanagon Westy is much more practical
than in the '94 Eurovan Westy. In fact it is better than any other
van camper model I've seen.
There is 1 foot more space between front and back seats in
Vanagon compared to Eurovan Westy. In the long wheel base
Winnie Eurovan length is propably similar to Vanagon.
Non-PS vanagons have very tight turning radius = can get into
very tight spots but you have to provide the muscle power yourself.
PS vanagons and Eurovans are ok but not great.
Eurovan is likely to be more acceptable with "normal" people
(ie your average narrow minded types). It is also more comfortable
on highways and with front wheel drive handles more like what
people expect.
Martin
Kai Mei <kai@NEWCLEAR.US> wrote: Hi everyone,
I'm sorry I titled my original post the way I did... I'm concerned
about these five points...Not campers, not manual vs automatic, not
offroad capability, While perhaps interesting discussion, they bear
no relevance for my current decision making.
Is a Eurovan much harder to park in tight spaces? I live in NYC,
always, always parallel park.
Is the MV Eurovan smaller in the interior than the 87 wolfie interior?
Would I get better mileage with a Auto vanagon, or auto eurovan...
assuming good tune, 50/50 city/hwy and conservative driving?
Is a Eurovan still good for DIY repair, or do they have costly
systems that are almost impossible to repair by an average shadetree
mechanic?
Do Eurovan's handle as well as vanagons?
Cost of ownership of an Eurovan, much higher or lower than Vanagon?
On Nov 13, 2007, at 9:05 AM, Chris S. wrote:
> There's are two things missing in this comparison:
>
> 1) EVC - FWD, Vanagon Westy - RWD. I've seen Eurovan Campers get
> "stuck" on a remotely wet uneven grassy surface. Vanagons are not
> much better, but they are better than that.
> 2) EVC - Automatic transmission ONLY. Vanagon - manual
> transmission. For me and camping/driving in the mountains, or
> just having fun on the back roads only a manual transmission will
> do. I will not buy an automatic.
>
> Chris S.
>
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> ______________________________________________________________________
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