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shadetreetim
Samba Member
Joined: January 10, 2011
Posts: 1994
Location: Riverside, California
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 Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2011 5:01 pm Post subject: |
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| VisPacem wrote: |
| There is no good Vanagon for $3000. |
VisPacem, don’t kid yourself that the price of a vehicle has ANYTHING to do with actual reliability. Looks sell. The appearance of reliability sells. The likelihood of reliability sells. The promise of reliability sells. But actual reliability isn't a commodity that can be sold. It’s an elusive concept that we all chase. All we can know for certain is whether something has been reliable in the past.
You can try to nudge the balance of reliability in your favor by making informed decisions, replacing parts that are suspect, getting to know the normal sounds your vehicle makes and investigating the abnormal. But as we all know, sometimes the new part is no better than the old part it replaced. And sometimes new parts are lipstick on a pig.
A test drive is a more accurate indicator of reliability than price, at least for those with experience. But even that is not foolproof.
Now in regards to the original post, the video of the Vanagon tells me two things;
1. It makes a ticking sound.
2. There are a lot of new parts on it.
What this video can’t tell me is whether this particular Vanagon is reliable or not.
A1. The ticking is “probably” a weak lifter that will “probably” pump up over time or “more likely” after a good application of Marvel Mystery Oil.
A2. New parts are … less old than old parts. By that I mean that new parts can be bad out of the box. They can fail after two weeks. Or they can last a lifetime. They are not automatically better because they are new. It’s one of the reasons some of us replace perfectly good parts with new parts and carry the old as a spare. We haven’t reduced the likelihood of the part failing, we just like having a field tested backup to save our ass when we’re 200 miles from a parts store.
I agree with the majority here that this Vanagon is a good price for what it appears to be. But what I hope you do, ccr152, is find out if one of our learned members here in Sambaland that lives around Columbus could go with you to look at it. Get an opinion by someone with Vanagon experience who can actually test drive it with you. That would be far more informative than a video. The video helped determine if it’s worth pursuing, a test drive is needed before a final decision is made.
Good luck ccr152. There are inexpensive reliable Vanagons out there. I hope you found one of them. Keep us posted.
_________________
Tim Potts
Doing my best every time I drive it to dispel the myth these Vanagons have to be slow!
'89 Vanagon Bluestar/Country Homes 1.8T & .77 4th
'74 Jeep CJ5 |
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seanjenn
Samba Member
Joined: March 07, 2009
Posts: 722
Location: TAOS
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| Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2011 5:22 pm Post subject: |
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Wow  So..... anyway. I agree that it is a lifter and not a big deal and that it will probably go away with some driving, seafoam etc.
I'd say buy it. Even if you are on a budget. These things are pretty cheap to fix most of the time if you do your own work.
GO FOR IT!!
_________________
1987 GL Sunroof
2.1 4 spd |
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VisPacem
Samba Member
Joined: July 15, 2007
Posts: 1143
Location: Las Vegas
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| Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2011 7:23 pm Post subject: |
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| PDXWesty wrote: |
Apparently all you really need to make your van reliable is a sh*t load of gauges and switches. 
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It's only a matter of experience and savoir faire with those gauges which give me a hint and notice of things to come.
I do recall on a sunny day on the I-5 near Disneyland driving my air cooled Westy when I saw my oil pressure gauge drop to ZERO [a hose from my external oil cooler had come off and I promptly dumped the best part of 5 quarts of oil on the poor freeway] . The gauge gave me instant notice and saved my motor by my prompt action to turn off ignition immediately. Another is seeing oil temp or water temp climb steadily and take the necessary action to prevent meltdown.
BUT I AM WRONG. I am wrong because one has to KNOW how to use said gauges which obviously is NOT given equally to all mortals this is why I suppose in addition to gauges and some cases instead of gauges the car manufacturers have provided "IDIOT" lights [that is what they call them no?] for the less gifted among us.
So, again , YES YOU ARE RIGHT AND RIGHTEOUS **IAM WRONG** I admit everything. One can /should buy a Vanagon for under $2000. One should strip all gauges from the car, they only are there for bling and cool factor. They are useless instruments of the devil and one should only rely on the flashes of light from the blinking eye of the True God of the Idiot Light.
Well now I feel better, I shan't be burnt at the stake, I shan't be decapitated by the sword and I shan't be sent to Poland in a cattle train car.
ps. EPPURE SI MUOVE (GG)
nb. I am not and never have been trying to prove anything and even less to prove myself right and other wrong. I am not trying to convince anyone or to be argumentative for the sake of argument and to prove that the whole world should walk of the same [goose?] step,
So the best thing have to come to an end, and this is the end of this thread for me.
cheerio, I hope you have fun with it, I know I did
_________________
LG aka VisPacemPB, *The* party Pooper
No Regrets (Nothing to do with Vanagons) |
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