Date: Tue, 13 Oct 2009 19:42:06 -0700
Reply-To: Richard Duvernay <richard.duvernay@SBCGLOBAL.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Richard Duvernay <richard.duvernay@SBCGLOBAL.NET>
Subject: Re: Your GoWesty Engine...how do you like it?
In-Reply-To: <31197438.39256.1255481302517.JavaMail.mcneely4@127.0.0.1>
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I disagree Dave. I thoughly enjoy the road trip experience experience in the Westy over other vehicles I own whether I am camping in it, staying in a hotel or staying with family and friends. The utilitarian benefits of the vehicle and the driving experience (yeah I like the driving it) are appreciated for carrying cargo and toys (kayaks and bikes), having a picnic lunch, day outings, etc. Expensive and troublesome? I don't know.. I enjoy maintaining it myself with much appreciated support from this listserve and so far it has never let me down. I don't watch the market every day and fret over the stock market either. Maybe it's a mindset you are either comfortable with or not. If you worry and it causes you stress, a vanagon (or any older vehicle) is not for you. -Rick
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From: Dave Mcneely <mcneely4@COX.NET>
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Sent: Tuesday, October 13, 2009 5:48:22 PM
Subject: Re: Your GoWesty Engine...how do you like it?
Hmmmm. The ONLY reason I have a VW camper is for camping. I use it for nothing else. I drive small cars otherwise, that get excellent gas mileage, and that require about as much expense for maintenance and repair over a lifetime of 200K or more miles as the VW does in a year or so. I do drive the camper on the road, but that is to camp with it, and certainly NOT for the experience of driving the damned thing (Gosh, what's going to happen this time? Will it be a cooling problem, a running issue, will the transmission act up, some linkage lose it's connections, or will the indicators misbehave, giving me false readings concerning vital matters -- what?). But for camping, especially so far as my wife is concerned, it's the greatest. Just an expensive (and troublesome) way to go. Towing something? Well, you have to have something to tow it with, then. And that is an expense, too. My alternative to the VW is a tent, and I'm comfortable
with that -- still use it sometimes, and leave the VW at home.
Dave Mc
On Tue, Oct 13, 2009 at 5:17 PM, Richard Duvernay wrote:
> But a vanagon is much more than a camper, and if getting my monies worth for campingwas the only objective, I'd find a camper to tow at much less expense. How do you place a value on the "premium" associated with the vanagon road trip experience?
>
> Rick
> 90 Westy
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: Stephen Grisanti To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Sent: Tuesday, October 13, 2009 2:43:10 PM
> Subject: Re: Your GoWesty Engine...how do you like it?
>
> "...they camp rain or shine so they can get their money's worth out of it...."
>
> This applies to any van purchase, if you think about it. Our first night of camping cost us about $5000. The very next night brought it down to $2500 per night, etc. We stopped counting when it got below $300/night.
>
> Stephen
>
> --- On Tue, 10/13/09, W Monk wrote:
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