Date:         Sun, 20 Jul 2008 01:25:10 -0500
Reply-To:     joel walker <uncajoel@BELLSOUTH.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         joel walker <uncajoel@BELLSOUTH.NET>
Subject:      Re: Alternative fuels
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
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> It's gotten to the point, for me, that every time I buy another
> additional
> part for my Tristar, I think, "why am I investing in this thing?
> Lately,
> I've been telling myself that I can keep the truck and just use it
> on the
> weekends for errands, hauling stuff, etc., but during the week, I
> need an
> alternative that doesn't burn gas and cost a lot to run.
>  Anyone else out there starting to get this same nagging feeling?

yeah, well ... which is kinda why i'm making payments on a 2008 honda
fit sport, which gets me 30 mpg so far. hoping to get over 35mpg on
the highway, if i ever have to go on a trip.

but i really really don't want to be without a vanagon. :(  just too
damned useful. and honda or anybody else doesn't make a decent van ...
them chrysler things and ford things and chevy things are basically
just swollen cars (musta got bit by a snake or something. maybe
they're just retaining water!) :)

so there's absolutely nothing new available ... or even close to the
utility and versatility of a vanagon. and a double-cab is just, to me,
the greatest ... i had a 1968 doka and am still impressed at it's
utility as a household vehicle ... it's a pickup, but you can carry
six people (mine was not a walk-thru), and carry groceries and/or dry
cleaning/laundry inside, out of the rain, but at the same time you can
bring home a compressor, new washing machine, sofa, almost any sort of
furniture (if it's small enough to fit through the door, it'll fit in
the back of a doka!), and haul firewood or even sandbox sand for the
kids. or cinder blocks, lumber, plywood. and yes, i even hauled a baby
grand piano once. had to leave the passenger side gate down to do it,
but it worked. :)

i just really don't understand why the money maggots can't see that
... and why they can't come up with a decent doka today ... but all we
get are these super-expensive (cause they're "popular"!) crappy
extended cab pickup trucks with almost no bed length in back at all!
basically useless as a cargo carrier ... all they're good for is
hauling people around. with luggage exposed to the weather.

joel