Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2008 12:58:10 -0800
Reply-To: Scott Daniel - Shazam <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Scott Daniel - Shazam <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Subject: Re: bus?
In-Reply-To: <f0510030bc3ab84437b74@[218.101.117.172]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Hi,
No, it wasn't a Polo.
The Polo has never been imported to the US, and I don't think Canada either.
Most people in the US have no idea what a VW Polo is. It was a Rabbit. I
would know.
I don't think I fuss over car model names too much. 'Shuttle' sounds 'odd'
to me for a car model name, but whatever.
Funny thing about Honda's. here's how Honda's work in
California.............particularly the late 80's ones, before they started
making them in Ohio.
Those traditional good late 80's Honda's, like an 85 to 88 Accord...........
A flawless car basically.
Runs many, many thousands of miles without issues at all commonly, in my
experience.
Like, you would never, ever even think about the power steering system for
example....
I've had a customer drive one 60 miles with the water pump impeller laying
loose in the water pump housing.........no damage at all to the engine.
I've seen them need work and repairs like any car, but very distinctly
way up the scale in longevity and reliability.
On the other hand I have an East Coast ( US ) vanagon friend who thinks
Honda's are just 'ordinary junk' . He thinks the same about Toyota's too,
but traditionally, in places like California, on older better made less
complex Toyota's like Tercels and Corrolllas............
They just run indefinitely !
Like 450,000 miles on a Tercel is 'normal' almost. Without major work
either.
So it's funny that for some people honda's say, are very ordinary or even
problem prone.....we don't have a rust issue in Oregon and
California..........that sure helps.
But, I regard Honda's as THE benchmark for a well made reliable long-lifed
car. It is just unheard of to work on the bottom end of any Honda, for
example. Head work, yes.
Crank, rods, pistons .........unheard of.
Anyway ! later !
Scott
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Andrew Grebneff
Sent: Thursday, January 10, 2008 2:25 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: bus?
>My my, you like to argue - but let's call it 'lively debate' which I love.
>
>As a life long US citizen and aware of vw's here for some 40 years or
>so.............I'm pretty sure it's officially called the Bus.....like on
>the cover of the Owner's Manual.
Well, I have a Bentley Bay manual with Bus on the cover. But that's
not a VW publication and is a US one.
>I have various vw books I could look at,
>but I do believe in the US it's an official model name. '78 Bus' ....for
>example. Or 1978 VW Bus.
It's badge-engineering, except that there's no badge.
Name-engineering? All markets but one get one name, the other (North
America) gets a diffrent one. Just to make things confusing.
>Oh, right, well the VW Bus would also be an icon of the hippy ear, for sure
Like Fat Freddy's van?
>In Japan they call what we call a Eurovan and Vanagon. How odd. Ever hear
>of a Honda Civic Wagovan ? ....yup, Honda's combination of 'van' and
>'wagon.'
Yeah, I hated that when I saw them in Canada. How do they come up
with such awful names for the NA market? The rest of the world,
including Japan, knows them as Civic Shuttle, 1980s & early-90s
generations... available with 4WD. And rust. Which comes standard
with every Honda car... road salt not needed. How can a company that
makes the best bikes (and has done since the 60s) gets it so wrong
with its cars?
>They sure didn't have vanagons or even vw's in japan when I lived there,
>except military personnel.
There's business restoring Splits and selling them in Japan.
>I'm sorry, I was being US-centric. Though I was responding to people on
the
>list that are US based.
I forgive you. It is, after all, a US-based list.
>They don't call them Vanagons in The Fatherland do they ???
>T3's I believe.
T3 or "Bulli". They call all rear-engined Transporters there "Bulli".
>What a fascinating discussion! I went out to the garage to gaze at
>the word "Vanagon" emblazoned on the rear hatch of my Vanagon. Even
>dug in the glove box to get the owner's manual out; the front cover
>says it's a "Vanagon/Transporter". I'm having a difficult time
>finding any documentation that says it's a "bus", but I guess "bus"
>must be a generic term for anything that can carry multiple
>passengers. Would this also include mini-vans?
A Transporter is hardly a minivan. That's the territory of the likes
of the Subaru Domingo, Daihatsu Hijet, Suzuki Carry and Mitsubishi
L100. Which could carry 6 passengers if they had 6 seats.
>And so far everyone seems to have missed the UK 'Type 25' for a
>Vanagon/Transporter/Caravelle. From the '25' in the VIN
The Poms get it wrong... they call then "T25s". Of course there's no
such thing. They mix-up T with Type.
>And.......for the first time in about 25 years they are calling what was
the
>Golf, the Rabbit, which is what it was originally called here, the first
>front wheel drive water cooled vw little econ-boxes. Now they're Rabbits
>again like they should be called !
>
>I think there's even a cute Rabbit logo on the back of the car. Saw one
down
>at my vw dealer today.
Bet that's a Polo...
--
Andrew Grebneff
Dunedin
New Zealand
Fossil preparator
Seashell, Macintosh, VW/Toyota van nut
, Opinions stated are mine, not those of Otago University
"There is water at the bottom of the ocean" - Talking Heads