william killian writes: > > On Wed, 21 Jun 1995, David Schwarze wrote: > > > Yup. It's called the Rialta, and it's a pig. Stock engine, horrible > > ground clearance, unacceptably little interior space. But, it's > > relatively cheap (not much more than the Westy) and has a really trick > > slide-out bathroom thingie. Stop by your local RV dealer for a peek, I > > did. :) > > > Someone who drives a '73 bus thinks something ELSE is underpowered? has > little interior space? I checked one out. I'm probably gonna buy one in > a year or so. Okay so I might wait until the V6 engine is in it. BUT > according to a guy who works at a VW dealer in Penn. the Rialta IS NOT > stock VW. THe VW dealers can't work on them because Winnebago fiddles > with them a bunch. They even supposedly have a turbo version.

Hmmm... the dealer where I saw the Rialta claimed that it had a stock motor, with 108 (I think) horsepower. > as happy > as I am with the Eurovan and it PLENTY powerful engine I'm not too > worried about the power. The EV power is pretty good at the low end but > for a vehicle its size it is almost AMAZING at the high end - its the > transmission not the engine that could lead one to think there is a lack > of power.

I didn't mean to imply that the Eurovan is underpowered, certainly not compared to my bus - driving 2,000 miles behind Pete Sellers in his Eurovan proved that to me (but when I get the 2.0 installed, then we'll see!). My gripes are specifically with the Rialta. With all the extra weight and (what I was led to believe was) the stock engine, I doubt I would be very far behind it up grades. The sewer drain pipe thing on the side was a mere 5 inches off the ground - liable to hit it on speed bumps! The advertise it as having over 6 feet of headroom inside, but that is only in the entrance way - a small area about 3 feet square. The rest of the camper has about 5'9" headroom, and I can't even come close to standing upright in it.

> Drove many years in a '72 bus - pretty close in 'power' to a '73 I'd imagine. > Did they put a 1800 in the '73? not much more than a 1700...

No, 73 still had a 1700 but I went up to 1800 when I rebuilt it, cause the cylinder kits were the same price.

Again, I wasn't trying to slam the Eurovan - just giving my impression of the Rialta conversion. Sorry if I offended anyone.

-David

============================================================================ David Schwarze '73 VW Safare Custom Camper (Da Boat) San Diego, California, USA '73 Capri GT 2800 (Da Beast) e-mail: des@teleport.com '87 Mustang Lx 5.0 (Da Sleeper) http://www.teleport.com/~des '93 Weber WG-50 (Da Piano) ============================================================================