...OK, sounds sort of lame, but I got to thinking later...I didn't even
worry or downshift or anything.   Cruising along the Lewis and Clark Hwy
(SR 14 on the Washington side) heading out to catch a bit of windsurfing in
my inline VW powered tin top with westie interior...and I come up behind a
car doing about 55, going uphill.  2 lane highway with fairly limited
passing sections in the part I was driving...No Problem.  I just checked
the oncoming and the mirrors then pushed down on the go pedal and
....accelerated up to about 70.   Same on the way home...climbing a pretty
steep section and I encountered an older Honda Hybrid...the weird looking
one...who was slowing up a winding steep hill with, of course, the normal
Gorge headwind further killing his speed...down to about 45 when we got to
the straight upper section of the climb...again, push down, speed up, go
around....no problemo.....

   People always say Vanagons are slow and dangerously underpowered..Not
mine, it works just like a Real Car...yet it has room inside for all three
sailboards,  5 sails, wetsuits and I can still brew up a cup of coffee,
take a nap or change without grossing out the public.   Love the vanagons.