Getting started

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HI ALL, Getting ready to retire in a month or so. Looking for the best gas mileage or hybrid (not plug in). Just starting out I do not need much. Would love to hear what the professionals out there have to say. Dreaming of van life for 10 years plus! -Lane
Welcome Lane Bollella:)
 
HI ALL, Getting ready to retire in a month or so. Looking for the best gas mileage or hybrid (not plug in). Just starting out I do not need much. Would love to hear what the professionals out there have to say. Dreaming of van life for 10 years plus! -Lane
Hi Lane!
 
Most of the experienced van owners typically say to buy a Chevy Express. Gas mileage is not the only important factor. Because the cost of repairs can make gas prices seem puny by comparison.
 
MPG:
We full-time live-aboard our ExpeditionVehicle.
We rarely travel more than a hundred miles a month.
Fuel is a very minor part of the budget.
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Sturdy Construction:
We chose our foundation vehicle for its common components availability in the Western Hemisphere.
Cummins 8.3 mechanical (no computers), Allison 3060 automatic.
Over two decades full-time live-aboard, our only repairs were replacing the radiator.
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We also chose our vehicle for its commercial 'million-mile' heavy-duty chassis.
Our GVWR -- 29,000#.
Our weight across the scale -- 14,000#.
Our cargo capacity -- about seven ton.
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For our purposes...
...up rough logger tracks to remote mountain lakes, and
... across trackless desert to isolated Baja beaches...
... we need excess ground-clearance plus the ability to roll over minor obstacles in the road.
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Getting Started:
We suggest crafting your RequirementsStatement.
This might include souls aboard, destinations, full-time/a few weekends annually, camping experience, mechanical abilities.
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For example:
Number One in our RequirementsStatement -- 'holding hands while watching the sunrise'.
Number Two -- 'boondock exclusively, no resorts nor campgrounds'.
Also in there someplace -- 'caravanning with experienced travelers'... our caravan chums have home-built rigs instead of factory RecreateVehicles.
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We agree with your 'do not need much'.
Acquire a suitable candidate, toss in some car-camping gear, go have fun.
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[edited to add]
Our introduction with plenty of portraits, plus our reasons for our decisions:
https://vanlivingforum.com/threads/expeditionvehicle-build.44908/#post-576110
 
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Welcome Lane to the Van Living Forum :)

Just spend some time looking around plenty of information to get you started.
Fortunately it doesn't take a lot to get started. Bob Wells demonstrates a way of using a Rental Uhaul Van and some stuff he bought to use for an outing in this Youtube video he created.

How to Turn a Van into a Comfortable Home for $365 | No-Build Van Life
 
best van/car depends on HOW you want to travel and where. There are so may RVs because there are so many travel styles.

Maybe you would want to travel a lot first few years, to cherry-pick the best places, so good mpg will be VERY important. Later, you may decide to travel less, stay more in the same place, and not to worry about mpg so much. So you might need a different vehicle.

Maybe you are experienced backpacker and you know how to live out of a backpack, so prius would be a luxury. Maybe you insist on having a shower in own place, plan to stay in RV parks, and you have budget for that. What do we know?

So, to get sensible advice, we need more inputs beyond "I am ready to start".
 
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