Any Volkswagen Eurovan Experts Out There?

[Peasant on the Pavement]

Greetings,

So, I spent a little fortune at Bass Pro buying some creature comforts for my Eurovan. I am going to put in an order for a Fan-tastic fan to install, I am going to give it a try, but, worse case, I find a nice RV shop who can install it.
Anyways, the reason for this thread. A few days ago, some people were looking at the van at said Bass Pro and loved it, bright red, tons of room, very clean, but they mentioned how repairs tend to be pricey. To be fair, I do not really ever expect repairs on anything to be cheap, but is the Volkswagen Eurovan (I have named mine Boris) really that bad in terms of repairs. If it is a matter of maintenance to prevent said hideous emptying of my account, well doable, but if there is any hint that maybe I should have gone for my original intention a Chevy 1500, then I still have time to make some changes. I cannot get on the road until Thanksgiving.
I am really just interested in anyone who can enlighten me on this.

Thanks all

Peasant

 

[Jeremy]

All I can say is that I bought a Eurovan a few weeks ago and lost over $2000 on it. It was pretty rusty though.

It was a 97' 2.4L Diesel and the parts were really difficult to find. For example, the starter was $260, rear brake pads $120, rear rotors $90. All had to be ordered.

It had a transmission leak that just needed a new end cap, but the part wasn't to be found anywhere.

They are certainly cool, but I learned my lesson. I think they're great as hobby vehicles for weekend trips, but I'd never buy one again with the intention of using it for anything serious.

 

[Donedirtcheap]

I'mno expert on those but I have owned 3 bugs many years ago. You could have the sweetest and best maintained van in the country but when it breaks its going to cost more to fix it. Its like M&M's or any other item. if there are not many around and there are not many who deal with them, they are going to cost more. You can walk into an auto parts store on a Sunday and buy a starter for a big three van AND they are cheap. Why? Because there are hundreds of thousands or millions of them in circulation. I'm not saying to get rid of your van. You could get rid of it and buy a big three and blow the trans 2 weeks later but you can be sure that there are tons of used transmissions in the junk yards and tons of people who know how to swap them or rebuild them.
If it was me, I want the most common one of all. It's had to tell someone what to do because we cant be there to look over what you would buy or know how any of them were taken care of.
VW would scare the heck out of me today. My first bug was a 1959, slide back fabric sunroof, reserve fuel valve on the floor. My girlfriend used to sit on top of the seat backrest with her body out the sunroof. I found the sunroof handy for winging beer cans out. It dropped a valve on the eway one day and destroyed the cylinder, head, piston, rod. I tore it apart and went to a junk yard where they had junk engine parts in a pile about 10 feet high. I sorted through and found the parts I needed including used piston rings and bought new gaskets and seal rings etc. The point is there were literally huge piles of parts at junk yards because there were so many bugs around. I'd try to go big three. We had a lot of "fun" in those bugs. NO, they have more room than you think they would.

 

[Bdog1]

Think I remember something about the timing chain bring in the bell housing on that one.

If you get onto "expo" look up the user name "Cole", check out his adventure with the euro.

 

[user 423]

We had a lot of "fun" in those bugs. NO, they have more room than you think they would.

Where there's a will there's a way...

 

[LeeRevell]

I'mno expert on those but I have owned 3 bugs many years ago. You could have the sweetest and best maintained van in the country but when it breaks its going to cost more to fix it. Its like M&M's or any other item. if there are not many around and there are not many who deal with them, they are going to cost more. You can walk into an auto parts store on a Sunday and buy a starter for a big three van AND they are cheap. Why? Because there are hundreds of thousands or millions of them in circulation. I'm not saying to get rid of your van. You could get rid of it and buy a big three and blow the trans 2 weeks later but you can be sure that there are tons of used transmissions in the junk yards and tons of people who know how to swap them or rebuild them.
If it was me, I want the most common one of all. It's had to tell someone what to do because we cant be there to look over what you would buy or know how any of them were taken care of.
VW would scare the heck out of me today. My first bug was a 1959, slide back fabric sunroof, reserve fuel valve on the floor. My girlfriend used to sit on top of the seat backrest with her body out the sunroof. I found the sunroof handy for winging beer cans out. It dropped a valve on the eway one day and destroyed the cylinder, head, piston, rod. I tore it apart and went to a junk yard where they had junk engine parts in a pile about 10 feet high. I sorted through and found the parts I needed including used piston rings and bought new gaskets and seal rings etc. The point is there were literally huge piles of parts at junk yards because there were so many bugs around. I'd try to go big three. We had a lot of "fun" in those bugs. NO, they have more room than you think they would.

Reminds me of a buddy who had a 1969 Type Three Squareback wagon. He would blow something on the motor fairly regularly, would go to the local junkyard and get the parts he needed, or even a complete engine, CHEAP! He replaced the chintzy early FI with the earlier carburetor system. Much easier to work on.

 

[caseyc]

I'm no expert, but when I started out a few years ago, I researched many sites that specialized in VW Vanagons. The general consensus I found is that pretty much all the innards needs to be replaced on those 30 year old vehicles for them to be considered reliable. That would jack up the cost of a refurbished Vanagon to well over $30k to $40k for something nice. That was way more than I was willing to pay. I believe Eurovans are newer compared to Vanagons, so hopefully an Eurovan doesn't need to have the same amount of refurb in order for one to be considered reliable. Even still, a good condition fully equipped Eurovan is up there in price. I'd love to have one myself, but I don't have an extra $35k+ that I can plop down for one. Oh well, I guess I'll settle for a good ol' full size American conversion van.

 

[highdesertranger]

if you got a good one you will be ok but if you got a bad one watch out. dirt cheap has some good advice. if you do some research you will see that vw's do not have a very good reputation. not the old ones(50's and 60's) but later ones. on older vehicles look at it this way the more you see on the road the cheaper they are to repair. very few foreign vehicles are cheap to repair. some but not many. highdesertranger

 

[user 423]

Limit your travel to areas around college towns. Seems most of them have little shops run by holdovers from the '60s who are VW enthusiasts.

 

[Peasant on the Pavement]

Thank you to all the van dwelling sages out there. I have 2000 Eurovan and I spoke with a VW dealership bubba and he said that for the much older vans it does tend to more difficult, but the 2000 was built pretty sturdy, it gets way better gas mileage than the older ones. I am still on the fence about whether I am going to keep it. I might just give it to my daughter and find a domestic. I only paid $6000 and it looks, smells and sounds brand new, minus a few little rock chips. In the meantime I am gathering a few of the creature comforts I have decided I cannot live without, and a Fan tastic Vent from Amazon. Life is still good. And has become even better with a fun and interesting forum like this. I haven't really worked up the nerve to tell anyone what my plans are yet, but when I do, bwahahahahaha

 

[akrvbob]

Hey, that's cruel and unusual punishment!! Now we HAFFTA KNOW!!!!!!!!!
Bob