What is a Good Mini-Van to Live In?

[Unchained]

I'm a BIG fan of the Astro, but It's hard for me recommend them beause their MPG is so mediocre.

The Astro is still on my list, mostly because I can't swing the cost of a newer full sized van, and the older ones that I can afford tend to guzzle at the pump. Unfortunately, most of the Astros for sale here have about 200,000 miles on them, which is a bit much.

That said, I think the Astro is a good option for someone who wants more space than a regular minivan but more stealth than a full sized van. Honestly, the Astro is damned near invisible because there are so many of them, at least here in Cali.
As always with our lifestyle, everything is a trade off. In this case it's stealth and room for MPG

 

[decodancer]

Heres a good rear pic of the Sedona. They have not changed since 2006 so a used one should be the same. Great safety rating too and no, I don't work for KIA

 

[GrayWhale]

They're very rare, but there are some Dodge Grand Caravans that were made into conversion vans with a hightop. Still much less headroom than a full sized conversion van, but decently better than no extra headroom at all. And the 4-cyl models are supposed to get very good MPG (25mpg maybe) but I've only seen them in 6-cyl.

There are Ford Aerostars with hightops too, and they're 4-cyl with excellent MPG (28+mpg?). Just most of them are very old. While the Grand Caravans I've seen in the 2000'ish years.

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Heres a good rear pic of the Sedona. They have not changed since 2006 so a used one should be the same. Great safety rating too and no, I don't work for KIA

Wow, those Kia's are great buys. $1000-3000 for 2002-2005 models. Some have more than 180,000 miles which at least shows that they can make it there. If $1,000 was my budget, I'd get one over a big American van with a V8 because gas will kill me on such a budget. 14/21 for an '04 Sedona with FWD is pretty nice. Way more room than having to live in an econo sedan with much more modern amenities than an older, V8 van.

 

[Blue]

According to the owners kias get worse mpg than caravans, 2004 sedona is here... http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/bymake/Kia2004.shtml only available in a v6 and my 97 caravan gets better mpg. I think there's this weird assumption that anything made in asian countries must better built and get better gas mileage than anything American... I haven't found that to be true.

 

[akrvbob]

I'm very impressed with how well the Kia seats fold down and leaves so much room. That looks like a LOT of room to live in.
Bob

 

[decodancer]

I took the Kia seats out completely and used the areas for storage. I even hauled a 17 foot travel trailer all over the place with the darned thing. I was told it weighed less than my tow rating, then had it weighed. That's the only reason I sold it.

 

[RVTravel]

Yep, second row Kia seats don't fold. They have been removed in that pic.

 

[flying kurbmaster]

Kia also make another little van with a higher roof , more of a cargo van, lighter and I would think better fuel economy, Mitsubishi have made a little van with two different roofs for years with a very good reputation, all be it a little tinny but very economical to buy and run, I rented one in Australian a few years back it was very functional. tradesmen use them here in NZ for light use. Isuzu make a nice van, Nissan Fargo, unfortunately most of these like the Toyota Townace, Liteace, Hiace and Dyna are all forward control vans unavailable in North America. I am sure Tata, and some of the obscure Chinese manufacturers make some pretty decent vans also likely outlawed in North America for the same reason which is a shame as some of these come with very reliable little diesels, and would make great livaboards.

 

[Belinda2]

Living in several places in the world, I especially loved the dependable Hiace. It was very comfortable, daily even in the 127 degree weather.

 

[akrvbob]

I think we are going to start seeing some of the wonderful vans the rest of the world has had for decades. Ford is bringing in the "full-size" transit this year to replace the econoline series and hopefully it will lead to others, especially the Toyotas.
Bob

 

[SoulRaven]

Heres a good rear pic of the Sedona. They have not changed since 2006 so a used one should be the same. Great safety rating too and no, I don't work for KIA

Greetings!

That looks a lot like one a friend of mine has, she put the kitchen across the back teardrop trailer style, except she could use it from either inside or outside. Her porta-potti was on drawer slides under the bed and would pull out just forward of the kitchen. She had 3 two drawer plastic jobs under the rest of the bed for clothes etc.

Her kitchen had enough room for food, pots/pans, plates, water & everything.

She really likes hers, and has been living in it for 5-6 years now. She's one of my web designers, so she can work from anywhere she has an internet connection.

Cheers!

The CamperVan_Man

 

[akrvbob]

Campervanman, I'd love to see pictures of her setup, it sounds great!
Bob

 

[nowhhs]

1995 Honda Odyssey
1) About 23mpg driving in town, close to 30 on the highway at 70-80mph
2) Very reliable, the only thing I've had to replace were upper ball joints in 20k miles. I changed all the fluids when I got it at 140k, and it has a small oil leak that I can't track down, but otherwise it's great.
3) Headroom is one of those things you give up in a mini-van. I'm 6'5", so unless I buy a step or box van, standup headroom isn't a possibility for me anyway. I had to build a subfloor because it sloped from rear to front, and now it measures about 42" from floor to ceiling.
4) My daughter and I lived in it the last 2 summers for at least a month at a time without any problems. I personally think I would have plenty of room by myself after I remove the front passenger seat and make a few other small changes. YMMV.
5) I'm coming up on 3 years of ownership now, but I don't have any plans on getting rid of it.
6) Everything is a compromise. For me, the most important things were fuel economy, stealth, and reliability, in that order. When I bought it, I was planning a trip to Alaska which included a ferry ride up from Canada, so overall size was important as well (the cost of the ferry depends on the length of the vehicle). I spent a lot of time on the fueleconomy.gov website exploring different options, both mini and full sized vans, and from what I found there I ruled out all the 6 cylinder engines. I would have preferred a manual transmission, and I still occasionally think about converting it to one (Honda Accord has exactly the same drivetrain), but it probably won't happen. With the front seats forward, I have almost 7' of floorspace x about 44" wide. I have more pictures if anybody is interested.
Norm

 

[Belinda2]

Nowhhs:
Norm,
I am very interested in seeing the photos if you don't mind. Also, where is the front support beam located for that bed platform? You did a GREAT job with it. Thanks for all your time.

 

[akrvbob]

Photos x 2. More please!!
Bob

 

[nowhhs]

The front support beam is a 2x10 that runs the width of the van. You can see it in one of these pictures. That's probably more than it needed, but when I slide back from the front seat, I don't want ANY give. It gives me about 9" of storage space at the front, tapering down to about 1.5" at the back, where I have a 2x2 supporting the floor. All the other supports are unistrut.

 

[SoulRaven]

Campervanman, I'd love to see pictures of her setup, it sounds great!
Bob

Greetings Bob!

I'll drop her a note and see if she can send me some pics.

Cheers!

The CamperVan_Man

 

[Belinda2]

Very nice and organized. I like your support beam idea and the fact it is so easy to remove. Thank you.

 

[akrvbob]

nowhhs, so you have two levels. I assume you sleep on the top and use the lower level for storage. You cut out the portholes for easy access to the storage area. I've got that right?

How much room do you have from the top of the mattress to the ceiling? And you find that is enough for you?

Essentially it is your bedroom and you spend your day outside, either at work, in libraries, cafes etc in cities or outside while boondocking, is that right?
Bob

 

[nowhhs]

No Bob, you've got it backwards. The shelf is only about 3 feet long x 4 feet wide, much too small to sleep on. I sleep under the shelf and use it for storage and as a work surface. That gives me an area of about 4'x5'x3.5' living space, not including the sometimes reversed front seat. 3.5' is more than enough to sit up in comfortably. I can stretch out by putting my legs under the shelf or forward between the seats. You're correct about the portholes though, I added those because you can't access the space under the floor without opening the doors otherwise.

I don't live full time, although I plan on at least 6-9 months at at time starting in the summer of '15. Right now my daughter and I use it for extending travel, 1-2 months at a time during the summers. It works that way, but it's cramped for two. We spend most of our time outdoors when we're on trips, sightseeing, hiking, backpacking. We spent 2 weeks last summer in Yellowstone NP just watching wolves and bears. The stealth factor of this thing was priceless. If the weather's bad, we move on. I also have a long distance wifi setup, so I can park across the street from a public wifi and connect. We've killed some rainy days in California that way.

Having done this for a couple of years with the two of us, I'm confident that as a single person, I'll have more than enough room. It helps that I have a home base, so I don't have to carry everything I own. Space would be more of a problem in that case.