Vanagon EuroVan
Previous messageNext messagePrevious in topicNext in topicPrevious by same authorNext by same authorPrevious page (March 1999, week 3)Back to main VANAGON pageJoin or leave VANAGON (or change settings)ReplyPost a new messageSearchProportional fontNon-proportional font
Date:         Sun, 21 Mar 1999 22:33:59 -0800
Reply-To:     Rubatoguy <Rubatoguy@MINDSPRING.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Rubatoguy <Rubatoguy@MINDSPRING.COM>
Subject:      Re: Westfalia...to buy or not to buy?
Comments: To: pmunce <pmunce@EARTHLINK.NET>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

I have an '88 Westy, and with the caveat that it has all the famous problems that Water-cooled Vanagons are known for, I think it is great. It is fine as a commuter.

Things that I see as minuses against a Westy are:

1.) Seating arrangement makes it a bit hard to hold a conversation with people in the back seats - however, depending on who is sitting in the back seat, and how you feel about them, this may be a good thing.

2.) If you have the models with the taller springs (mid 88 and earlier), you may not fit under some garages. A potential problem for parking in some city areas.

3.) The fridge. Even on its good days, it is a marginal unit (IMHO)

Of course, one of the pluses is that if you take your Westy to work, you always have a place you can take a nap during lunch. <g>

But the biggest plus of having a Westy is that you can use the on-board water tank to hold extra water to refill your cooling system en-route when the headgaskets start to leak. This saved me from being stranded in the middle of nowhere once.

Todd '88 Westy

pmunce wrote:

> I have always wanted to buy a pre'92 VW Westphalia and of course I > now own a VWVanagon. > > My fear has always been the same as that of a boat owner. The two > best days of a boat owners life are when he buys a boat and when he sells > his boat. > > My Westfalia would be mostly used for my commute to work and an > occasional outing or road trip. > > Any advice would be much appreciated. My biggest hurdle will be my > ego as I am slave to it. > Thanks, Patrick.


Back to: Top of message | Previous page | Main VANAGON page

Please note - During the past 17 years of operation, several gigabytes of Vanagon mail messages have been archived. Searching the entire collection will take up to five minutes to complete. Please be patient!


Return to the archives @ gerry.vanagon.com


The vanagon mailing list archives are copyright (c) 1994-2011, and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the list administrators. Posting messages to this mailing list grants a license to the mailing list administrators to reproduce the message in a compilation, either printed or electronic. All compilations will be not-for-profit, with any excess proceeds going to the Vanagon mailing list.

Any profits from list compilations go exclusively towards the management and operation of the Vanagon mailing list and vanagon mailing list web site.