Its an 83 model year, 4 spd, water cooled engine. I haven't looked at it yet but First need to know, what, if any towing capacity does a van like this have?
Its an 83 model year, 4 spd, water cooled engine. I haven't looked at it yet but First need to know, what, if any towing capacity does a van like this have?
none.
if it were a diesel, it would barely be able to get out of it's own way
Thankfully, repowering with a subaru engine is just a kit away
Stock not only is there no towing there is also no heat. But a subi swap could fix that
Let me put it this way: If you get it dirty, you'll really notice the extra weight from the dirt when accelerating. They are that slow.
You might want to think about a EuroVan.
Now if the trailer had it's own functioning jet propulsion unit you could probably tow that. 
a vanagon with the poptop westafala caper option is a leisure vehicle... They leisurely go, they leisurely stop, and they leisurely turn.
Normally, threads like this are filled with people exaggerating how much a vehicle sucks.
This is not one of those threads.
The only thing slower than a wasserboxer Vanagon is a diesel Vanagon. This includes the old air-cooled buses in the calculations.
In reply to Knurled:
Even the 36 HP bus?
The 36hp one had gear reduction boxes in the ends of the axles to help give it some get up and go.
And yes, still better than a diesel.
With a boring 2.2 Subaru swap, they'll climb Pike's Peak, cruise at 75 mph and drive normally enough. I've never actually driven a Vanagon with the stock engine, come to think of it.
I have. You know how you warm up a car on cold days? I used to put it in gear and send it up the street, then go in the house and collect up my stuff. That way, it would have 5 minutes or so to accelerate before I jumped in.
Seldom everybody agrees on something around here. I'm shocked nobody has defended them yet.
I love the "spoon in a bowl of oatmeal" shifter action, myself.
As already noted, the only reason to buy a wasserboxer vanagon is to do a subie swap.
That being said, I'd love to find one cheap so I can do the swap.
and the only thing that pops heads faster and more often than a subaru.. is a VW wasserboxer engine. Expect about 60,000 miles between headgaskets.
A good thing though.. if you get a diesel vanagon.. most of the regular inline VW engines will bolt up to the bellhousing. I am not sure if it will fit, but I bet a 1.8t would be fun
JThw8 wrote: As already noted, the only reason to buy a wasserboxer vanagon is to do a subie swap. That being said, I'd love to find one cheap so I can do the swap.
My coworker Brandon did a Subaru swap on a $500 Westy. An air-cooled, so he's had to deal with adding a radiator and heat and the like. He's now got about $7000 and two years in it. It still kinda feels like a $500 bus in some ways, although it was a pretty good $500 bus.
Meanwhile, for $7000, I bought one that already had a Subaru swap. And mine feels more like a $7000 bus. Let someone else do the work 
In their defense, the packaging of the Vanagon is really good. And they're hilarious to drive. It always puts a smile on my face. Although the towing capacity of mine with the Subaru engine is limited to bikes on the bike rack. And this is from a guy who used a 38 rwhp Land Rover to tow a 1960's Cadillac across town.
You'll need to log in to post.
