Looking for A Replacement

Welcome.

Thanks for the review. I looks like the older 175 is about the same camper as the 179? Am I missing something important in the layout?

I've got a good bit of German in my genes, too. Even the mechanicals are suspect in too many VW vehicles. There was a spate of timing chain sprockets they "forgot" to properly harden on the 2.6L 6-cylinder motors, a problem VW simply ignored in spite of evidence they knew about the problems. VW assemblers are notorious for "forgetting" to completely seal windshields, allowing water to drip on to the poorly positioned and wire-prepped electronic controls on the inside of the firewall. Several independent mechanics have told me that the plastics VW/Mercedes uses "dissolve" in a few years, unlike Chinese and Japanese vehicle plastics. Usually, that indicates poor processing/cleaning tactics, but I won't have to know about it from here out.

In all, it was a painful but cheap lesson for me. I'm a motorcyclist and at 66 the day when I get off of two wheels for the last time is not that distant. My "plan," before the Rialta, was to trade the motorcycles for a new VW Beetle. Now, I wouldn't touch one of those disasters on wheels with your money. Since I'd have been looking at $30k for a new Beetle convertible, the Rialta saved me a lot of pain and suffering and a big dent in my retirement savings.

There is a little comfort in knowing "we're not the only ones." I belonged to a Yahoo! group of "full-timers" when we first started having problems with the Rialta. One member said the two best days of ownership were the day they bought it and the day they sold it. Since I put so much work (even SOOOOO much work) into getting ours ready to travel, then repairing it, the day we sold it was bittersweet. However, the only thing we've missed was the living quarters. Servicing a VW is a nightmare: no decent available manuals, the worst OEM customer service (nationally) in the industry, terrible quality control and haphazard engineering, and unreliable parts availability.

However, I'm an insanely engineering-oriented and anal record-keeper. Not counting 2 seconds of my labor, let alone the misery of crawling around under that sad vehicle in New Mexico goatheads, gravel, blowing sand, ice and snow, and on the side of the road in the middle of New Mexico nowhere, our cost of ownership was $2.03 a day and $0.10/mile for 9703 miles. The upside of the maintenance was that we were stuck in a place we came to love, Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, made some dear friends, and had a great time between cursing at all things VW/German. I think we escaped relatively unharmed. And, as you said, we learned what sort of camper we need.

As much as I love VW.. I have heard bad things about the Rialta for years.. Glad you got home, glad you didn't get soaked getting rid of it.