I jes' gotta say this: After owning and loving a '72 and a '77 VW bus, we
bought an 81 Vanagon. I have NEVER HATED a vehicle more. The build
quality wasn't. Gawd, in less than 30k miles the air flow flap on the
injection broke.
I mean .. this does not support anything..does not bear any load. Yet it
broke.
Had to run a wire cable from the carb air flow unit up thru the tunnel and
into the cab to "simulate" air flow whilst driving the beast to VW to pay a
really exorbitant fee to replace the "replaceable unit." I bought the
unit and
lay on my back, under the car, in their sales lot, bolting the damned thing
in. Guess I was not a really big sales item for VW.
Bud Osbourne wrote:
> I'm not at all surprised. Those Type 2s ("buses") are rated at slightly
> more than a 1 ton load capacity; depending on what equipment it carries
> (seats, camper or cargo van). They really are built stoutly.
> Too bad VW of America had it's corporate head stuck deep up it's rectum,
> by 1980, or they could have OWNED the "mini-van" boom of the 80s & 90s.
> They had far, far more useable space than any of the domestics, and were
> way more comfortable and reliable. Unfortunately, VWofA chose to price
> them uncompetitively and not offer more power, such as VW of South
> Africa's Vanagon's 2.25 liter 5 cyl). To make matters worse,
> replacement parts were priced far above ridiculous levels (typical VW
> forced obsolescence).
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