Date: Tue, 12 Apr 94 14:24:07 CDT
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: Joel Walker <JWALKER@ua1vm.ua.edu>
Subject: Sportsvans: the saga continues ...
having watched all those comments fly by, i thought i'd put out a few of
my own:
i don't think a reworked/update Vanagon would go well in the u.s. i think
it is a problem with Volkswagen as a company ... i think that basically they
(the company) have lost touch with the u.s. market, and, because of problems
with personnel in dealerships (salespeople who didn't know the products or
the history of the company; service people who were not trained on vw cars
and especially buses; parts people who don't know what they are doing), VW
lose the confidence of the volkswagen-buying public. imho.
the Vanagon had several 'faults' as a van for america:
* you had to climb up into the vehicle. i've had just about every female that
ever rode in my bus complain about that. even the step up into the sliding
door is higher than they want it to be. note that it is NOT higher than,
say, a Chevy Astro (which, in my opinion, is a large, lumbering Truck!),
but it is high.
* there is no 'nose' on the vehicle, by which the driver (or especially the
passenger) gauges just how soon impending doom would arrive. my mother
would try to mash her feet through the floor when i pulled into a parking
place with a meter or wall ... she was certain that i was going to hit it.
never did. this lack of nose also contributes to the 'unsafe' opinion
about Vanagons. after some of the wrecks i've seen involving american iron
in which the engine moved back into the front seat, i'm not so sure that
a front engine is safer.
* the front seats are directly over the front wheels. this gives a strange
feeling to one's butt when one slams on the brakes. :) you don't get this
in a 'regular' car or chrysler minivan.
* it doesn't fit into most american garages very well. or automatic car
washes at the gas station.
the chrysler mini-van, imho, sold so well BECAUSE it was nearly a car. but
also because it was NOT a station wagon ... which had a reputation of Huge
Hard-to-Park Housewife Hardships. and Yuppie-moms didn't want that. the
chrysler mini-van was also light and basically nimble on its feet (as opposed
to the Astro and Aerstar ... both large and somewhat ponderous in nature).
it also fits easily into garages and goes through car washes with no problems.
Aside: what amazes me is that Chevy and Ford took TEN years to even try to
come up with competition for the Voyager/Caravan. it's like they didn't
really believe it was selling that well.
i personally think the Vanagon has more 'style' ... whatever 'style' is ...
than the Eurovan. the Eurovan, to me, is a combination of the chrysler mini-
van and the chevy astro. it's too large to compete with the chrysler and
costs too much to compete with the chevy.
i think one of the things to remember here is that vw bus people have always
been a little bit out of the 'mainstream' of american (european/u.k. as well?)
culture. have you folks ever noticed that other people (who don't have vw
buses/vanagons) will ask you 'Why do you drive that thing'?
now, i've been driving vw's since 1958, and have been driving vw buses since
since 1970, so i will admit to a great deal of bias here. or habit, if you
want to call it that. but i've driven other vans ... dodge, chevy, ford ...
on long trips, and even with the uncomfortable-after-two-hours seats in the
'bread-loaf' buses, i'd still rather have a vw bus. i just don't like the
engine between next to my right leg. and riding in the front passenger seat
is worse. the chrysler mini-van, to me, is much better than its big brothers,
but it has no 'personality' ... i don't know of any other way to describe it.
maybe it's all the plastic inside.
and that's the way the Eurovan strikes me: no 'personality'. and the wheel-
well makes my left leg uncomfortable. and i kept hitting my head getting
into the driver's seat.
but that's ME ... and i'm not everybody. i can see a lot of things about the
eurovan for people to like. i can see a lot of things about the chrysler
mini-vans for other people to like. my sister has one. five people here at
work have one. but we have a chevy astro as a work truck here ... and i can't
see anything about it that i think is likeable. haven't tried the new big
dodge vans yet, but i suspect they are the same as before, with only a outer
sheet metal change.
so why, with all the aggrevation and heart-ache with the water-boxer engine
and my very low opinion of dealer service departments, do i keep driving
vanagons? and why do i want another second one? and why do i want a double-
cab vanagon pickup truck? because i have found that the design fits my idea
of a van almost exactly: there are very few things i would change about the
vanagon to make it 'perfect'. i really like it's design. i feel 'comfortable'
in it. and i think that is what is important with a car.
joel