Best windsurfing mini van?

[isobars]

Given that I've very deliberately, and with much deliberation, bet my very life on large-scale statistics, I consider "anecdotal evidence" to be one of the world's leading oxymorons.

1,400,000.

OTOH, statistics be damned if it's what you want to drive, as Dan says. My brother bought a second Audi Quatro despite having to spends thousands every year keeping his first one on the road (including while it was under warranty) and its being roadworthy only half the time, simply because he loved the way it drove at triple digit speeds in rainy weather. He swore off Audis when his next one was just as bad. (Heads, blocks, entire brake system, AC, etc, often at his expense). His Mercedes SUV was almost as bad.

A high-end used car dealer here ($25k and up luxury and sports vehicles) won't even carry some makes because they can't get or keep them on the road. That includes Volvo, BMW (to actually DRIVE a BMW, he and some owners have told me, you have to own two BMWs and live beside a BMW dealer), and Jaguar. He shook his head about one customer who demanded an $80,000 Jaguar (used price), so the dealership got him one. It was roadworthy for maybe one day a week, sometimes waiting weeks to months for parts like my brother's Audi. Another dealer had a very low-mileage, 1 or 2-year old, limited-production, high-performance Volvo wagon he was pushing. He HAD to (push it), because, among at least a dozen other problems I saw, it wouldn't start. He got it running, and I loved the way it drove, but he admitted they -- a Volvo dealership -- had been unable to fix the other problems in the week they had to work on the car.

When it's windy or I'm cruising down a dark, empty, rural road with thousands of bucks of WSing gear in my car, I want to be fairly sure it will get me home or to the river.

Mike \m/

[esteban]

I am diesel man and love our sprinter for family trips but IMO the best daily windsurf rig is a station wagon- easy to get the stuff in the back or on top and park in smaller spaces room to sit and change with the back door open. I have a 05 VW Passat TDI running on biodeisel and get about 35 MPg in mixed driving conditions i love it and it drives sporty on the way to the beach! Subaru makes a nice wagon too but there are plenty of other options if I had to do it again i would get a mercedes 300 series wagon and run it on veggie oil!

[DanWeiss]

[koogzah]

[koogzah]

In my opinion...

[alexw]

Try an '81 VW Vanagon. Got it for 600 clams, had it painted for work traded AND it gets great mileage when in neutral and going downhill!

Windsurf bum... and loving it.

[isobars]

My bud Greg lives full time in his VW van about 9 months each year, despite having access to a nice home. He prefers the flexibility. I thoroughly enjoyed (most of) my 4-6 months each year in a van down by the river.

Mike \m/

[alexw]

Yeah, that's the life. Unfortunately, mine's not a camper, but I'm going to search for the fold-out bench seat/bed that is found in the Westfalias and spend all spring/summer/fall chasing the wind... and breaking in the Vanagon

[DanWeiss]

[koogzah]