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Wed Feb 06, 2008 7:29 am

What's the deal with the 93 Euro.. They are so cheap.. Is it a faulty year or what? I am just starting to shop for a EuroVan...Want an affordable people mover that wont drain the wallet at the pump.

Wed Feb 06, 2008 9:47 am

The EV is a totally different thing to deal with, if your gonna be working on it, your gonna be closser to working on a litle truck than working on a bus...

93 EV has the AAF engine wich has litle less torque and is not an interfered engine, i don`t know how the parts are priced there, but if its an automatic (098), the answer is obvious: The time will come when a faulty oil seal will make the ATF and the Final drive oil have a bautifull weding inside the transmission, if you don`t fix the problem the trasmission will start to make funny stuff and/or the final gears, bearing, etc. will get fried....

I can tell you that this particullar oil getting mixed problem makes people run away from an AT EV.

Get the bentley, a vag com, and some pressure gauges, chech out main stuff like engine oil pressure, and AT oil pressure too, that way you can know for sure some stuff, also check compression, don`t worry about litle stuff like the secondary air pump stuff, that usually tends to fail and is not so important to have in proper condition, drive it aroun in tight circles pressing hard to the accelerator to se if the CV`s satrt to Tick-tick-tick.

Wed Feb 06, 2008 9:54 am

'93 EuroVan:
- prone to rust at the seams
- gauge cluster doesn't always work
- automatic for that year was goofy and finicky
- shop repairs could involve high labor costs
- a/c compressors weren't the best
- power windows may give out

I may have left something off.

Personally, I liked my EuroVan and wouldn't hesitate to get another.

The rust issue is a personal issue. It is hard to get to the seams to be totally effective. I went at it twice in eight years (seams, tailgate and one window edge), and it was okay.

The gauge cluster needed soldering.

The automatic had an "S" toggle on the dash. I guess it meant sport shifting. Most people would leave it off all of the time because it would delay shifting gears and would offer better gas mileage. This seemed to speed up the stretching of the belts. I had the tranny fixed two years into ownership, and it was fine when I sold it six years later. That is better than what some other people got. That said, I didn't like its shift points. I would get a five speed if I got another EuroVan, but they sell for more.

Some of the designs on the EuroVan weren't too intuitive for repairs. There were times I had other things replaced early just because the mechanic "was in there already" and I didn't want to duplicate the labor costs. (Someone who does his own work won't mind this as much.)

I don't know when VW finally got the air compressor issues figured out but my '93 was every bit as bad as my '81 Pickup and my '85 Vanagon. For some reason, my '86 Jetta never had a problem but from what I understand I was very lucky. (Don't believe the "It just needs a charge" claims many sellers make.) A used compressor from a junk yard can run $350-500 for a '93 EuroVan.

The power windows on my EuroVan never gave out but I was lucky. Sort of. The whole time I owned it, I thought the p/w would fail because it was so s-l-o-w especially when closing.

If you decide on a '93, make sure you get proper tires. The dealer that sold us ours had car tires on it. It drove very poorly and the tires wore down ridiculously fast. Make sure you rotate your tires often. There is a lot of weight up front and they will wear. (Some people opt to let them go and then just change the front tires more often. I don't agree with that but it really comes down to a personal choice.)

Since I mention weight, I might as well mention if you do a lot of 'round town driving, you will probably go through brakes more often than you are used to.

You may be wondering why after all of what I said, I would want another EuroVan. The five cylinder engine (if properly cared for) is an outstanding engine. It has nice torque for hauling stuff and never offered a hint of any problems. Clearly, it is not as robust as the VR6 of the later year EuroVans but it is much more economical and dependable. I also found it much more utilitarian and comfortable than the American and Japanese offerings.

In an ideal VW world, I would have a Vanagon for around town and a EuroVan for the trips -- regardless if they were seven-passenger vehicles or some sort of Westy pop-top. Alas, I currently have neither. :cry:

Don't think an inexpensive '93 EuroVan will stay inexpensive. If you get past that and find a nice example for sale, it is very rewarding to own.

Wed Feb 06, 2008 1:56 pm

Everything said so far is accurate and good advice.

I think the driving force in the low price is the automaic transmission. If you buy a 93 with auto, you are gambling on a very expensive tranny repair. For this reason, folks don't want to pay $5-6k which might be a fair price and then shell out another $3-4k a few months later.....hence the low pricing.

I think VW really hit a sweet spot with the I-5/5 speed manual.......the combo is great to drive and super reliable. If you can find one of those you will be happy with the choice. I think a lot of folks that sell them don't realize the Eurovan market and sell them at the "going rate" which reflects the automatic tranny discount....hence the price is right.

Unfortunately VW lost their mojo after the vanagon, and their Eurovan approach became scattered. But some of them are surprisingly good cars and great on the road.

Wed Feb 06, 2008 4:03 pm

tds3pete wrote: Everything said so far is accurate and good advice.

Not so my 95 EV MV 2.5 L has an interfered engine. And I found out about it the hard and expensive way.

Wed Feb 06, 2008 4:12 pm

THanks for that info. It sounds like unless I want to pay and tinker, I should steer clear of the cheap 93 EuroVans...

HERE"S my new QUESTION>>> Is there a great Eurovan for hauling people, gas efficiency(relatively speaking), Mechanical Excellence and camping?? What should I look for and how much to pay? I would rather not be in and out of the shop with an oldie... Can spend some money if nec. I prefer the Eurovan look to the other VW bus models... Thanks...

Wed Feb 06, 2008 4:24 pm

No, this is mostly a vanagon forum and the posters on here love their vanagons but IMO the 93 and 95 EVs with a 5 speed are very reliable and roomy especially for a family. Our van tenisoner siezed and snaped the timing belt but this was at 180k +. My wife loved this van so much that she refuses to look at any other van and just wants to get another identical EV. What other EV can you get with a 5 speed?

We love it.

Wed Feb 06, 2008 4:32 pm

You have to realize that a 93 Eurovan is 15 years old, most people have nothing that old that they use every day let alone have to depend on.
You're looking for the golden goose everybody is looking for.
Spend a couple grand, get in, turn the key and go, and do this for the next ten years.
It's a crap shoot, you could buy the "best" year Eurovan with all the "good" stuff, and still have to tinker or worse pay someone to work on it all the time, basically because the last owner just got in, turned the key and went.
This is not the way of Eurovans, it's the way with all old used cars including Eurovans.

Wed Feb 06, 2008 4:41 pm

^^^^^^^ Ditto that ^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Wed Feb 06, 2008 6:19 pm

Thanks for that reality check.. I was in NZ last year and we bought a Mitsubishi Delica 8o's vintage for around $2kusd and toured both North and South Island for about 6 weeks... In NZ they have a glut of used Japanese/from Japan/rt hand drive vehicles. It is my understanding that when a vehicle turns 100,000km aka ~60,000miles n Japan, then they have to be exported...some japanese law. So we get back to USA and decide to check out the Japanese online auctions for these very cool and economical Toyota vans on the cheap. We found out that due to right hand drive USA regulations, they are not allowed as imports. So my hunt for the economical people mover shifted to vw. I think I will return now to my Volvo xc70 or xc90 and spend the bucks for a car car. My tinker car is a 73 VW THING... So thanks... and enough of the ramble.... The ol get what you pay for thing is at work here I think!

Wed Feb 06, 2008 9:58 pm

fastwagens wrote: tds3pete wrote: Everything said so far is accurate and good advice.

Not so my 95 EV MV 2.5 L has an interfered engine. And I found out about it the hard and expensive way.

You're right, your 95 is an ACU engine, which is interference. But the 93 engine is an AAF which is not interference. They increased the compression ratio in 95 for better mileage and it made the engine interference. These two models are often confused.

Fri Apr 11, 2008 6:15 pm

I own two 92's a 93EV and a 96 transporter. By far I think the 5 speed in the transporter is the way to go. A good price for a rebuilt EV auto is $3500 installed. If you can find a tranny shop that will even touch it. Hence the value pricing. Everyone sells them as the tranny is going.

If your not handy with a wrench it could get expensive fast. I just put $2000 worth of parts on one but the saving grace was that it has a great paintjob and the tranny only saw hwy km's.

A good workhorse is my transporter diesl 5 speed. A one ton van that get's 10l /100km. However I soaked alt of money into it to get it to be a reliable daily driver. Oh well. I love Eurovans. i put 2800lbs of steel into mine and although it wasn't winning races it handled the job.