Try to find a diesel VW Vanagon. They are sturdy, very roomy, get about 25-30 MPG and they absolutely LOVE biodiesel. They are easy to fix and parts are still inexpensive. They will u-turn in a lane and a half and were the FIRST VW van to REALLY have brakes AND a good ride. VERY EASY to convert into a pop top camper which makes them even way cooler. The rear hatch is a BEAUTIFUL blank pallet for your bumper stickers too. WE have the beater and a diesel Westy camper. LOVE 'em. NOW...............
They are SLOW and evoke many middle finger salutes here in YUPPPIE land. They will hit 70 on the freeway, but are very happy at 55 and most don't have AC. I keep a coke can in the beater that holds the vent wing open to blow air on me. The camper is nice.....the vent window stays open by itself. Check ebay for Vanny diesels. They turn up from time to time. RUST is not nearly the problem that the older Volksys had, but watch the camper models and check them for rust behind the camper stuff. If you can find a Vanny diesel with a blown engine, grab it. There are SCADS of rusted diesel Wabbits out there with great cheap donor enginers. Swapping an engine in a Vanny is EASY. As for other diesels out there, the Sprinter is BIG and roomy and will run just fine on bio (but the "water in fuel" light stays on), but it is kinda junky. I bought a 2003 and we sold it 8 months later. They could never fix the AC and it had scads of electrical problems that the dealer was nevber able to fix. GREAT engine tied to a crappy van. Can't recommend any Benz, Volvo opr BMW cars of late as the quality is so bad. Benz diesels up to about 86 are very good. They last a long time and love bio. VW diesels are good, but not the later ones. Let me explain. VW cars were always cheap to buy, made cheap, parts were cheap and they were easy to fix. Now, they are getting expensive, parts are EXPENSIVE, they are still cheaply built, they still break a lot and they are no longer easy to fix. BUT, BUT, BUT, they ARE the only game in town for a diesel car that gets good milage. We have an 81 Wabbit diesel that gets 55 mpg on bio and a 99 Golf that gets about 50+ on Bio. I had to put a clutch in the 99 and the clutch kit was $750!!!! A clutch for a Vanny is $80. Chrysler is putting a 2.5 diesel in the Jeep Liberty, but they will only sell it to you as an upmarket EXPENSIVE version to get the diesel. That company is now owned by Benz, so that puts up a red flag to me. Wish the other makes would bring their diesels here..........man a diesel Honde El;ement would be cool. So, I ramble. Check out the Vanigon diesels and the PRE 2004 VW Jetta Wagon . BTW, we have a multi bike rack that fits on the back of the Vanny. Cool device, but it DOES cover up some of the stickers.... Take care and GOOD LUCK Kitch in Scottsdale ------------------------------------------------- FastQ Communications Providing Innovative Internet Solutions Since 1993 _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://wwia.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/biofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuel archives at Infoarchive.net (searchable): http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/
