Treachery, thy name is Volkswagen!

© 2011 Lydia Hinshaw

Home sweet van, most of the time

  WEST GLACIER, MT -- When we bought the Magic Bus we knew we were asking for trouble.  Volkswagen Eurovans have not been imported into this country since 2003.  They have a reputation for small problems that result in big bills.
 There are only a few thousand of them on the road, so there is no after-market for parts.
  Until last week we had been lucky.  The van had not presented us with any ugly surprises.  But Friday at work, when we locked up and then as usual remembered we needed something else out of it, we discovered that the driver's door would no longer open from the outside.  From the inside it worked fine, but the outside handle did nothing.
 It was Tuesday before we could get a VW specialist to take a look.  He said it was a common failure, a small plastic part in the latch had snapped and therefore the whole assembly would have to be replaced.  Cost:  Well over $400, most of it for the part.  The shop manager called several junkyards, but could not locate a junked Eurovan.
 We tried to look at the bright side as the Prince handed over his credit card for a deposit to order the part.
  We had not been stranded by the roadside.  We are working in an area only 30 miles from an independent VW garage (last summer the closest one was three hours away.)
 We thought of the fun we've had in 30,000 miles, two cross-country trips and a vacation to Nova Scotia, without a single problem.  We told ourselves, again, that there is no other vehicle out there that will provide us with a mobile residence and still get 20+ miles to the gallon.
 And then we  realized with horror that the Magic Bus has three other doors, all manufactured by Volkswagen.