Hello I am new to this forum, I am american and did minivan living in Europe

[Zerviz]

View attachment 6584View attachment 6585Hi just to introduce myself,

I watch the Enigmatic videos on Youtube and love them,  Bob Wells is a really great guy and very inspiring.   Thank you Bob.

Well I have started off small, in the UK I had a few Renault minivans called an Espace, they are all plastic minivans.

I had 3 minivans before picking  my current minivan to live in.   The current minivan is a 1996 Renault Espace MK2 with a 2.2 litre pump diesel.   I run it on 100% vegetable oil during the summers in the UK and in the winter I do usually a 60/40 mix of Vege oil and Diesel.   The Renault gets 40mpg in city traffic and over 50mpg on the motorways, although its a very slow van and wont go above 60MPH unless the wind is blowing.   I chose the Renault Minivan as its small and perfect for urban boondocking.  Its is also very fuel efficient and plastic so there is no rust.  The only metal on the body is the fuel door.  I bought the van from the third owner, however he owned it since 1996.   

Sadly i have a family member that is ill and being in my mid 40's I have had to come back to the USA.
I lived and worked all over Europe in this van and have had it for 3 years.  

I have recently returned to the USA and I have found out that my minivan should be 25 years old to be allowed to be imported into the USA.   So I will get maybe a Chrysler minivan in the USA and start my USA adventures and only travel on my time off when i get chances when caring for my family member.  

But when my Renault is 25 years old I will bring it to the USA and hopefully by that time my family member is feeling better.  Then I can start more travels in my Renault Minivan around the USA.

Unfortunately I dont have any photos of when I did the full living conversion of my Renault but I do have a few photos of the 6 foot pallet bed i made for it, the microwave etc.   I did have a Kampa toilet in it, 20 litre water, mini cooler, etc.   I only have videos of the full conversion, but you will see from my photos the general idea.  I know more people in the USA have larger vans, but i was impressed to see Bob interview a few people lately that had smaller vans.   

Well will say more later, but this is me just a 44 year old american returning to the USA after 25 years in Europe.  its great to be on the forum and to say hi to all of you!

Take care

Irving

 

[rvwandering]

Welcome to the CRVL forums Zervic! And welcome back to the USA! Best wishes for better health for your family member.

To help you learn the ins and outs of these forums, this "Tips & Tricks" post lists some helpful information to get you started. We look forward to hearing more from you.

 

[ilovemyvan]

Welcome to the forum. It'll be interesting to hear your observations about vandwelling in the US as oppose to Europe.

 

[Zerviz]

Thank you everyone for your support, its nice to join a nice forum where people are friendly! Yes two things I never prepared for in life is my own health deterioration and my parents, so I had to drop what I was doing put the van in a garage in Eastern Europe and catch the next flight home! So I have been back in USA for a month and so glad that I did as family is the most important thing in life. It just made my life do a 180 degree turn! But I guess this personifies van culture anywhere in that many people have faced similar situations and the van gives you that flexibility to make quick changes in your life.

So I am sitting in USA going through the list of to do's, I do not even have a USA drivers license, although my British one expires at age 70 with photo card renewals every 5 years, I can only drive on it a short time in USA. My state verbally over the phone said i should be treated the same as an out of state license holder for the purposes of obtaining an in state license.

Its funny I got all my systems in place for van living in Europe and I am starting from scratch again! No van,no usa drivers license, no history of car insurance in last 20 years in usa etc. So it will be a lot of paperwork and stuff!

I am thinking about a minivan again and would like any input from anyone with experience with USA minivans,Chrysler-Dodge-Plymouth seem to be most common, but I hear a lot had auto transmission problems. To my knowledge no USA minivans with manuals and diesels,which presents me with dodge cummins truck with diesel and camper which would be way too expensive for my budget ...even used!

SO I think a Chrysler minivan to start with as I need to drive my parents around and it would have the advantage of being more like a car in the short to mid term. my parents health problems will be long term and spreading many years so I need something I can take off on a few weekends to to some light camping somewhere locally.

Any ideas would be great! I know the Honda and Toyota minivans are pretty expensive even used, and at their prices I could buy an old class C. I have seen a few old chevy suburbans with diesels from the 1990's.

Once again thank you for your kind wishes! Anyone with questions about camping/boondocking in Europe please feel free to ask me. I will post some videos of a walkround of my renault in the UK before I left for Eastern Europe.

But I look forward to my USA adventures over time and rediscovering the country I grew up in! Also meeting all of you in the desert at a get together, i think it was called Rubber tramp?

Have a nice day!

 

[Zerviz]

ps. its only fitting in 6 years when my renault meets the 25 year import provisions that I try to ship it over, so maybe you will see an odd right hand drive plastic minivan smoking around! My goal in Europe was to keep driving it until it reached 500,000 miles! It has 209,000 miles on it so its a good start!

 

[Zerviz]

Welcome to the forum. It'll be interesting to hear your observations about vandwelling in the US as oppose to Europe.

Wow I love your van,just saw the pics !!! Great Job!

 

[rvpopeye]

Welcome aboard Zerviz.
Your experience will make you a valuable asset to our tribe!
I'm stationary after 35 years on the road , now looking after my mom.
Post questions , post answers ,post observations , post jokes , post........................

 

[ascii_man]

The newer Mopar minivans have less fragile transmissions than the early (pre-1990) ones.

The largest minivans are the Chevrolet Astro / GMC Safari (mini-vans based on compact trucks: initially (1985) offered in short and long; long only 1995-2005) and the Dodge Grand Caravan / Chrysler Town & Country (still in production). For a camper, you want space, so I wouldn't consider any other models. The Mopars are also very popular, so you should have a large selection in any town.

Maybe look at each and take some measurements and see which you prefer (the volumes are very similar, but I think the Astro is more vertical, so the DGC gives you more floor space). But always make sure it's a Grand Caravan, not a smaller Caravan (you care, even if the morons posting on Craigslist don't know what kind of van they spent tens of thousands of dollars to buy !). The newer models with "Stow 'n Go" seating give you a little more space: if you completely remove the seats, you can use the stowage compartments for more space.

 

[mockturtle]

Welcome to the forum and welcome back to the USA.

 

[Zerviz]

The newer Mopar minivans have less fragile transmissions than the early (pre-1990) ones.

The largest minivans are the Chevrolet Astro / GMC Safari (mini-vans based on compact trucks: initially (1985) offered in short and long; long only 1995-2005) and the Dodge Grand Caravan / Chrysler Town & Country (still in production).  For a camper, you want space, so I wouldn't consider any other models.  The Mopars are also very popular, so you should have a large selection in any town.

Maybe look at each and take some measurements and see which you prefer (the volumes are very similar, but I think the Astro is more vertical, so the DGC gives you more floor space).  But always make sure it's a Grand Caravan, not a smaller Caravan (you care, even if the morons posting on Craigslist don't know what kind of van they spent tens of thousands of dollars to buy !).  The newer models with "Stow 'n Go" seating give you a little more space: if you completely remove the seats, you can use the stowage compartments for more space.

Thank you very much, it will be at least 6 months minimum before i can afford a van,but you pointed me in the right direction!  Its strange situation to be vandweller now "house bound", I feel like i am looking out the window watching other people live the life i once did!

 

[ascii_man]

Thank you very much, it will be at least 6 months minimum before i can afford a van,but you pointed me in the right direction!  Its strange situation to be vandweller now "house bound", I feel like i am looking out the window watching other people live the life i once did!

One more thing: the Grand Caravans tend to be much more fuel efficient than the Astro/Safaris. Though I've heard that they won't hit their EPA numbers when loaded, their EPA numbers are better.

At https://www.fueleconomy.gov/ , I always use the "compare side-by-side" function. If you look closely, they also list fuel consumption (gal/100 miles), which is probably the more scientific way to look at it.


Did you make arrangements for anyone to drive your Renault periodically?

 

[Zerviz]

One more thing: the Grand Caravans tend to be much more fuel efficient than the Astro/Safaris.  Though I've heard that they won't hit their EPA numbers when loaded, their EPA numbers are better.

At https://www.fueleconomy.gov/ , I always use the "compare side-by-side" function.  If you look closely, they also list fuel consumption (gal/100 miles), which is probably the more scientific way to look at it.


Did you make arrangements for anyone to drive your Renault periodically?

Hi Ascii Man,

Unfortunately,  due to the urgency of my fathers condition I had to leave it in a garage locked where no one has access to the renault, and catch the next flight out.Thank you for the fuel efficiency link!   I will definately go for a grand caravan, the Mark 3  Renault espace also had a grand espace variant called "grand espace"  
heres a review of it:


it was 1 foot longer than my espace

thanks again and its going to be tough now to choose the right vehicle, the grand caravan they did sell them in the uk with 2.8 diesels with some  with  manuals

topgear always made fun of the espace:



and even made a convertible version of mine:



so my van in the uk is a bit of a joke, this is why i like it so much many were destroyed and they are rare now,especially right hand drive versions

 

[Ken in Anaheim]

Kind of surprised that the Chevy and Mopar minivans were mentioned but not Toyota Sienna and Honda (?) For used there's also Mazda, Ford,Kia.
KinA

 

[ascii_man]

Kind of surprised that the Chevy and Mopar minivans were mentioned but not Toyota Sienna and Honda (?) For used there's also Mazda, Ford,Kia.
KinA

They weren't mentioned because they are smaller and this is intended for vandwelling. Additionally, many of those other models are widely considered inferior products and failed in the marketplace, never sold widely so they are rare on the market and hard to find parts for, or are Japanese and command a price premium. While being smaller.

Yes, some people do make smaller minivans work, but since he's starting from scratch, he doesn't need to compromise and can pick a van that is good for vandwelling. These vans are both plentiful on the market due to being the market leaders (especially Mopar now that the GM's are discontinued), and are domestic vehicles which are relatively affordable to buy and repair.

Since he could get a long, unprocessed list of minivans from Google or Craigslist, I thought it would be more helpful to skip to actionable conclusions based on analysis.

If there is a specific model that someone thinks would be a better solution than an Astro or Dodge Grand Caravan, please name it and explain your reasons.

 

[ascii_man]

Oh, the VW Eurovans (and their predecessor Vanagons) are even larger than the other two that I mentioned (maybe even larger than your definition of "minivan"). But they tend to be fairly rare, priced high, and need frequent, expensive repairs.

 

[Patd4u2]

Hi just to introduce myself,

I watch the Enigmatic videos on Youtube and love them,  Bob Wells is a really great guy and very inspiring.   Thank you Bob.

Well I have started off small, in the UK I had a few Renault minivans called an Espace, they are all plastic minivans.

I had 3 minivans before picking  my current minivan to live in.   The current minivan is a 1996 Renault Espace MK2 with a 2.2 litre pump diesel.   I run it on 100% vegetable oil during the summers in the UK and in the winter I do usually a 60/40 mix of Vege oil and Diesel.   The Renault gets 40mpg in city traffic and over 50mpg on the motorways, although its a very slow van and wont go above 60MPH unless the wind is blowing.   I chose the Renault Minivan as its small and perfect for urban boondocking.  Its is also very fuel efficient and plastic so there is no rust.  The only metal on the body is the fuel door.  I bought the van from the third owner, however he owned it since 1996.   

Sadly i have a family member that is ill and being in my mid 40's I have had to come back to the USA.
I lived and worked all over Europe in this van and have had it for 3 years.  

I have recently returned to the USA and I have found out that my minivan should be 25 years old to be allowed to be imported into the USA.   So I will get maybe a Chrysler minivan in the USA and start my USA adventures and only travel on my time off when i get chances when caring for my family member.  

But when my Renault is 25 years old I will bring it to the USA and hopefully by that time my family member is feeling better.  Then I can start more travels in my Renault Minivan around the USA.

Unfortunately I dont have any photos of when I did the full living conversion of my Renault but I do have a few photos of the 6 foot pallet bed i made for it, the microwave etc.   I did have a Kampa toilet in it, 20 litre water, mini cooler, etc.   I only have videos of the full conversion, but you will see from my photos the general idea.  I know more people in the USA have larger vans, but i was impressed to see Bob interview a few people lately that had smaller vans.   

Well will say more later, but this is me just a 44 year old american returning to the USA after 25 years in Europe.  its great to be on the forum and to say hi to all of you!

Take care

Irving

I saw one of those Renault Espace with a de-tuned Renault V10  F1 engine go around Silverstone back in 91. That thing hauled but.