Is the Vanagon Worth the Trouble?
The Vanagon (year doesn’t matter) is a labor of love. You probably know it. What you might not know is that eventually there is actually a sweet spot, where the mechanical bugs and electrical gremlins don’t exist, where the Vanagon behaves somewhat like a modern car. Albeit, with more creaks and groans.
That’s where I’m at with my Vanagon. I’m in the sweet spot.
But I ask myself all the time… was it worth it? Does owning a Vanagon (especially the camper version) override every last dollar I’ve spent? Every last knuckle-buster I’ve had? Every last 10mm I’ve lost,
Some say that the resale market continues to be stable. I wrote about resale in detail in the post titled Exploring the Vanagon. Read it. It goes into the ever changing market of resale. In the end maybe, the resale value of a Vanagon might justify all the pain, tears and long nights of wrenching. You know these vehicles aren’t cheap to find. Not the great ones! But there has to be more to it for me than resale dollars. Because you can spend as much as you make.
PROS
A Vanagon is worth the trouble by factoring in the good times you had traveling in it. I don’t mean regular road trips to Vegas. I mean road trips that are meaningful in other ways. My wife and I spent two months on the road to Canada from our home in Southern California and every second behind the wheel of my 1986 T3 with her was filled with long lasting memories; a hard drive full of memories.
I could never reproduce that road trip in any other vehicle. The hum of the little flat four-banger out back and the campfires under the stars when we arrived at our destination. The time we parked inches off the coastal sands near Washington State — with a beverage or two at sunset. You can’t replicate those moments with any old vehicle.
The Vanagon is part city slicker and part outdoor runabout. It’s small enough to be agile, and large enough to get a good night’s sleep.
The Vanagon is a vessel for making memories.
CONS
There is a downside to Vanagon and that’s with the lack of modern safety features. Vanagon has few and without the engine in front one would view its design as flawed. But personally I don’t think so.
Airbags were not required during Vanagon’s production. It wasn’t until 1998 that the US required airbags on all cars and trucks. By that time Vanagon was officially out of production. That’s a big deal because airbags save lives. I speak on experience. I had an airbag go off when I hit a center divider on the freeway after losing my rear tire to a blow out. It would have been worse had I not had the airbag. It’s not only airbags. It’s about the frame design too. Fortuantely, Vanagon has excellent frame design. There are shoulder harnesses on most Vanagons and that’s a good thing.
Front end impact area exposed on Vanagon
My understanding (please fact check) is that Vanagons were designed with a front “deformation zone.” That frame zone is essentially where the spare tire sits in front. Some say that having the spare tire in place actually helps absorb front end crashes. There is a video online that you can watch that talks about this area in more detail. Again, according to the video in question, the Vanagon has extensive safety frame work around and in front of the cab and the A-pillar. But another safety feature in the Vanagon is that the steering column was designed to be pushed away from the cab in the event of an accident. While it doesn’t have airbags, VW did ensure that the entire frame construction could withstand a front end or other collision without causing serious injury. Keep in mind that even modern vehicles with airbags are not 100 percent safe in an accident.
CONCLUSION
After weighing in both the pros and cons I believe it’s a vehicle that gives back as much as you’re willing to put into it. It will never be a modern car and you can’t retrofit airbags. It is what it is. It will never be as fast as a new BMW on the Autobahn. It will never be as sexy as a Ferrari. But in it’s own humble way it is a welcomed traveler from another era. A constant reminder to me that at one point in automotive history this is exactly what vehicles drove like… not very fast, not very comfortable and not as safe as cars are today. That’s how to look at the Vanagon.
Every time the urge arises to move onto something else… I block out the idea of parting ways with my Vanagon. Will I ever sell her? Maybe one day. But not because she wasn’t worth the trouble. Nope.
