Vanagon EuroVan
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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


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