Date:         Sat, 11 Jan 97 13:39:42 EST
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         jag@cs.rochester.edu
Subject:      Optimal bus to bring to Germany Was:Part II: Please help my family find a camper/van

If I was in your situation (employer pays one free return trip
for a VW bus during assignment in Germany) here is what I would do:

Get an early eighties rust free and good condition Westy. Bring to 
Germany and have a TDI engine installed. When moving back from Germany
take Westy with you to the US.

My motivation:

Economy: Used good condition Westy in US $3000-5000. Cost for conversion
to TDI using a low milage engine from a wreck (guess): $3000 if
having a mechanic doing it (I saw several places advertizing this
when I was in Germany last summer), less if you do it yourself.

Result: You get an engine wise up to date camper, but without the 
unnecessary stuff added to the late '80's models (power steering, power
windows, AC etc in my opinion are just more things that break, and
add unnecessary weight). Fuel economy should be eccellent (Listees,
including myself, get around 28 mpg with the old IDI diesel, the 
TDI has about 25% higher thermal efficiency, so milage should
be even better, provided the additional power (110 or 90 hp instead
of 52 (D) or 68 (TD)) doesn't make one stray too much from economic 
driving behaviour.

Advantages: All the components used (van, camper package and engine)
are availible in both countries, so parts can be found, and mechanics
can be expected to know how to work on it (at least as well/bad as
other vw's). (ok the 110hp 1.9L TDI is not availible here yet, but is
basically the same (except turbocharger) as the 90hp one which
comes in the passat, and will come in the jetta and a4 golf.
Fuel economy and cost was already mentioned. The new TDI engine
fixes the lack of power problem with the diesel, while preserving
the classic diesel advantages: Little mainenance, efficiency,
cheaper fuel (in Europe, US has more tax on diesel than gas),
longevity (vw diesel owners routinely get 100-200kmiles on their
engines before needing overhaul).

Martin ('82 Diesel Westy. (do you think I'm biased ;-) ... )