Date: Thu, 16 Jul 1998 19:19:19 EDT
Reply-To: Ssittservl@AOL.COM
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: S Sittservl <Ssittservl@AOL.COM>
Subject: Re: Anyone not having problems?VW
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Since pretty much everyone in cyberspace has had something
to say on the "Vanagon reliability" thread, I thought I'd
go ahead and add my voice to the noise.
(1) I like my VW camper.
I have an '88 camper, which I've had for about 4 months. It's
fun to drive. It looks good, and it's in good condition. It
has a hard-to-define charm to it. It's great for camping and
day trips to the park. It's spacious. It's got lots of big
windows, and the view is great, even from the back seat. I like
all its nifty camper stuff - sink and fridge and cupboards and
beds and such. I feel happy when I'm in it.
(2) My camper is a maintenance headache.
In 4 months, I've had the following problems:
- It died on the interstate due to a bad ignition coil.
Had to be towed home.
- It died on an interstate exit ramp because a fuel line broke,
and spilled out all the gas. A kind policeman took me to a
gas station. (And also to a hardware store to buy a gas can -
this was a VERY kind policeman.)
- The transmission died on the second day of a 10-day trip.
Had to abandon the camper at a transmission shop, rent a
van (Ford Windstar - very nice) to continue the trip, and
pick up the repaired camper (with a rebuilt transmission) on
the return leg of the trip (which fortunately took us within
a couple of hours of where we left the camper).
- Replaced leaky rear heater core, and leaky A/C dryer.
- A/C blows shredded black foam through vents. Covers interior
with black "soot". Shop I took it to said they'd fix it, but
it turned out they were unwilling to remove the overhead A/C
enclosure, so the problem remains.
- A/C drain lines clogged, dumping water (lots of it) into the
interior on multiple occasions. My poor wife spent lots of
time riding backwards wielding a towel, trying to keep everything
from getting soaked. (In a dress, on our way to a wedding.)
Turned out to be easy to fix, but I didn't realize that for a long time.
- Bad accelerator cable replaced.
- Horn stopped working.
- Just wouldn't start for a while - my wife was stranded in a parking lot.
Now it starts fine. Don't know why.
- I go through a lot of fuses. There's no real problem other
than a somewhat touchy electrical system: wiggle the map light
a little, and a fuse blows. Play around the wiring too much,
and a fuse blows. A relatively minor problem, worth mentioning
only because I don't think I've blown more than 1 or 2 car fuses
in my life prior to getting the Vanagon.
I know it's 10 years old, and I expected to have to put some money
into it, even though it seemed in pretty good shape when I bought it.
(85000 miles, and appeared to be well cared for by the 2 previous owners.)
I'm not a car hobbiest at all (although I can do a bit of mechanical work
when I need to) - we bought the van primarily because we wanted to
camp in it, and because we occasionally need a bigger vehicle now that
we have 2 kids. So, I was planning to not spend a lot of time working
on it, but to be willing to pay a garage instead (having taken that
into account in figuring what we could afford to buy). As it turns
out, though, I've put both a lot more money and a lot more time than
I expected into it.
The worst part is we're beginning to be a bit scared to drive it,
since it has twice died while actually moving on the road, and
has died on two out of the three camping trips we've taken in it.
With a baby and a three-year-old (or even without), getting
stranded is no fun.
(3) So do I regret buying it?
No. Well, sometimes, as the maintenence costs keep going up, we
wonder if we should have spent the extra money to get a used Eurovan
camper instead, which, being newer and (from what I hear)
better-designed, would have (presumably) had fewer problems. I'd
have saved money in other ways, too - I'm in the process of adding
camping features (like a furnace, a holding tank, and an extra seat)
to our camper that the Eurovan already has. But, I really do like our
camper. I just want it to quit failing.
However, if somebody besides VW made a camper that met our needs,
and was within our price range, I think we'd have probably jumped
on it. We knew VW has a reputation for unreliability. (Yeah,
I know some people dispute that, but from the statistics I've seen
VW is pretty consistantly on the poor side.)
(4) What else lives in my garage?
An '87 Honda Civic Wagon (mine) and an '86 Toyota Corrolla (my wife's).
Both have been largely trouble-free. They've been given their
scheduled maintenence each year, and almost nothing major has ever
gone wrong with them.
I like my Honda a lot. It's a perfect fit for me in many ways, and it
does all I ask of it. It's been "totaled" twice in accidents, and
both times I had it repaired rather than replaced, because I like it.
It's got over 120000 miles on it, and I think about the only big
repair I ever had done to it (other than the body work from the accidents)
was replacing the front axels when the CV joints finally went bad (they'd
been rattling for years). It burns some oil and needs an A/C recharge
each summer, and I seem to go through brake pads faster than I ought
to, but other than that it works just fine.
The Toyota's record is similar or perhaps better. I trust the Toyota
and Honda to not fail while I'm driving them.
When we bought the camper, we figured we'd probably sell one of our
other cars. I don't think we'll do that now - they're old enough that
they're not worth much, and we've been so glad to have a "spare" so
often lately (not surprising when all three vehicles are 10 years old or
more), that we'll probably hold on to them.
(5) So what's so great about high-maintenence?
I have occasionally noticed what seems to me to be a rather odd
point of view coming from some corners of the list: that the high
maintenence needs of the VW's is somehow a good thing, and that
only lazy, hopeless wimps would buy something as reliable
as a Toyota. Now, I can certainly understand feeling that the
disadvantage of the high maintenence needs is outweighed by other
advantages - sometimes even by warm, fuzzy, Karmic advantages.
But, for a car to work reliably with little fuss is a Good Thing,
and for it to work unreliably and need lots of fuss is a Bad Thing.
Oh, sure, if you like working on cars it might be more fun to work
on something that really needs you, and responds to your attention -
that's part of the essence of the hobby, and there's nothing wrong
with that. But that fact that problems are fun to solve doesn't mean
that things with more problems are better engineered than things
with fewer problems.
(6) What are my plans for the future?
I suspect I will slowly replace every single mechanical part of the
van as they fail one by one, after which the van will run flawlessly
for another 10 years. If this is unrealistic, please don't tell me.
(7) Advice for potential Vanagon Owners
I suppose the (somewhat obvious) question to ask yourself is, do the
advantages of owning a Vanagon outweigh the disadvantages? I'd
say the chief disadvantages are unenviable reliability, high
maintenence costs, comparatively low (but generally adequate)
availablity of parts and service, and an underpowered engine.
Objective advantages include spaciousness (especially compared to
its size), safety (I think), and the fact that it's easy to work on.
Subjective advantages include karma (for those who feel it), how
fun it is to drive, charm, etc.
For me, the primary objective advantage was that I could get
a garagable pop-top camper that would handle 4 people, and would
also work well as a 4-person passenger and cargo van when not camping.
Subjective advantages include the aformentioned charm, the "Hey, cool,
one of those old VW campers!" factor, and the fact that my three-year-
old daughter has fallen in love with camper vans. (Even though we
have our own now, she still likes to stop at the dealers and look in
the windows if there's a camper there.) As to whether the advantages
outweigh the disadvantages, my answer is a resounding "Ummm, yeah,
I guess so."
If you get a Vanagon, I think you need at least one of the following:
1 - To enjoy doing work on your car (or at least be willing to)
2 - To find a good mechanic
3 - To be lucky and not have much trouble
I was hoping for 3, I'm still working on 2 (though I think I may
kind of like the dealer near my house, believe it or not), and I
end up pushed into 1 a bit more than I'd like.
Last advice: keep a cell phone, tools, and duct tape in the van,
and get "AAA Plus".
(8) The people and the list
And there's one more big advantage that I didn't fully realize
until after I bought the VW: there's a group of friendly, helpful
people out there who really love Volkswagens. They're both good
company and a tremendous resource. My exposure to them (by
which I mean you, reading this) is mostly through the vanagon
mailing list, which has been a great help to me over and over.
A while back, I bought a van accessory by mail from a nice woman
who said she normally requested payment in advance, but she'd
never had a VW owner who didn't pay, so she makes an exception
for them.
Vanagon owners wave at each other when they pass on the road.
(9) The end
There, I'm done. All that verbiage is based on only a few months
of experience, so it's probably best not to take it too seriously.
Good thing I haven't had my van longer, or I'd probably talk even
more.
-Steven
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