Date:         Wed, 13 Dec 2006 08:47:41 -0600
Reply-To:     Jim Felder <felder@KNOLOGY.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Jim Felder <felder@KNOLOGY.NET>
Subject:      Re: I'll bite on the diesel---safety and getting flipped off
In-Reply-To:  <001e01c71e77$6b964460$b219e442@dhanson>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed

Seldom do I read a thread on diesel Vanagons that doesn't include
references to both safety



> We were being unsafely passed by double trailer gravel semis going
> up a long pass, Montezuma Grade, out of the So. Cal desert across
> the San Deigo mountains..We were even passed by my wife on her
> bicycle, going up a 9% climb..Slooow!
>   So, even if you were to double the hp by all kinds of mods, it
> would still be dangerous to drive due to it being so slow as to
> cause a hazard and to cause other drivers to pass unsafely due to
> their frustration..
>
>

and references to the one-fingered salute that diesel Vanagons seem
to earn from other drivers.

> but, if you aren't in a hurry and don't mind a few One finger
> greetings as people speed past...we got dozens in the canadain van
> in just 2 hours...about 60 miles..Hee hee.
>      Don Hanson
>

In respect to those issues, I have two comments.

I drive both a diesel and a gas Vanagon. I drive them in all kinds of
places and in all kinds of conditions. I have never been flipped off
by another driver that I am aware of. Maybe it's that my area of the
country (the south) is more laid back, though you wouldn't know it to
drive our Interstates. My point is that getting flipped off has as
much or more to do with the people of an area than what you happen to
be driving.

On the safety issue, can one EVER be passed safely by a double
trailer gravel semi? And does anyone on the list know of a driver
actually being rear-ended or otherwise harmed in a diesel vanagon by
driving it even among a bunch of impatient morons?

I've never heard of such an accident on the Yahoo! diesel vanagon
group (which is worth a visit if you're planning any kind of
conversion to diesel--there are several conversions that provide the
oomph you're looking for and match the diesel's slower RPM to the
gear ratios available for the Vanagon) but it is presumed so often
that I wanted to ask the question.

Sure, slow vehicles like diesel Vanagons bring out the worst in
impatient, dull-witted 24-year-olds who are late for work driving
cars with 280 horsepower and 0-to-60 times of under five seconds. But
guess what? So does just about everything else.

Jim