Date:         Thu, 12 Jan 1995 14:54:23 -0800 (PST)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Patrick Tower <poser@leland.stanford.edu>
Subject:      Re: gak! another road test: 1993 VW Eurovan

First of all, Joel, have your hands gone numb yet from all of this
typing? :)  (Or is this done through the magic of OCR software?)

I actually took the time to read this whole article, and it convinced
me that, despite the fact that I still don't think a front-engine,
front-wheel drive, water-cooled vehicle belongs in the same class as
the T2 bus (microbus owners feel free to look down upon me with disdain!),
it seems like an alright vehicle.

Some other comments:

> 
> Volkswagen EuroVan
>   It's a whole new vehicle, but VW's "bus" is still space generous
>   and power hungry
> European Car, December 1992

<lots of interesting stuff removed> > 

> An important component of every Volkswagen is safety, and the EuroVan
> is no exception.  The previous Vanagon had one of the best safety
> records on the road, scoring behind only the Saab 900 in terms of
> fatalities per miles driven, and the EuroVan follows a similar
> engineering approach.

I _never_ would have guessed this.  Is this perhaps due to the demeanor
of the driver, knowing how vulnerable s/he would be in a front-end, or is
the vanagon really inherently that safer?

> The CL is available in Spicy Paprika Red,
> Arctic White, Platinum Gray Mettalic, and Smoke Silver Blue Metallic,
> with Light Gray interior.  GL models come in Arctic White, Jamaican Aqua
> Blue Metallic, Bordeaux Red Metallic, Light Sahara Sand Metallic, Deep
> Atlantic Blue Metallic and Smoke Silver Blue Metallic.  MV's are painted
> Bold Caribbean Teal, Arctic White, Bordeaux Red Metallic, Jamaican Aqua
> Blue Metallic and Deep Atlantic Blue Metallic.

We've come a long way since "Any color as long as it's black"!

> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>                              (sidebar)
> A SOTO MEMBER DRIVES THE NEW VANAGON
> 
> The bus was
> above all a highly utilitarian vehicle, capable of carrying copious
> amounts of photographic equipment while staying low profile.

Hey! That's _exactly_ why I bought it.  Who would look inside the bench
seats of a '73 VW bus for $x000 worth of photo equipment?  Plus, once I
get the curtains fixed/replaced, it will make a great changing room for
models when I'm doing model shoots!  And it has a hanging closet for the
changes of clothing.  A recent model was very envious of the 
(relatively) huge mirror I have over the sink.

Didn't someone once comment on the list about the bus being very
non-utilitarian?

>                                   -- by Les Bidrawn
> 

-Patrick
poser@leland.stanford.edu
'73 Safare' Custom Camper -- Ms. Pickle