In the mid-80s I helped a girlfriend who was starting in real estate find a
nice car. We settled on a pristine 79 Audi 5000 owned by a fireman. (Always
buy a car from a fireman IMHO.) Years later when she was an ex-girlfriend she
was having a few problems with the car and wanted me to look at it. I
(wisely) begged off and recommended a shop opened by two factory trained
ex-Porsche-Audi dealership mechanics that I knew personally. After they
quoted her for a new heater core, front-end work, and a possible head gasket
she offered the car to me at less than  trade-in value. It was still pristine
inside and out so I bought it. A quality ceramic-based coolant system sealer
"fixed" the heater, a new thermostat fixed the "head gasket", and $35 worth
of new bushings fixed the front-end. Did I tell her? Catch22. Hell no. I told
her I had to put a little money into it. Did I question the "technicians" (as
Porsche mechanics like to be called) ? Hell yes. But after many plausible
excuses the bottom line was that they didn't like to work on older Audis AND
Vanagons because the owners were usually "cheap". Cheap meaning they bought a
quality piece of German engineering at a good price and expected to pay
domestic car prices for parts and repairs. (This attitude doesn't extend to
Audi Quattros and Vanagon Syncros for some reason, and it's not an isolated
instance).
I guess the moral to the story is how important it is to find your mechanic
,parts, and advice resource before committing to one of these cars and ALWAYS
get a second opinion.
. Especially women!  My wife loves our Vanagon but bitches about the money I
have to spend on it. I occasionally remind her that she would be astounded!!!
if she had to take it to a shop.

Ken Hunter
82 Westy 1.9D
84 Jetta 1.5D
89 Mitsubishi van