Why did you pick your van?

[mothercoder]

Aside from stealth factors (not an issue for me), why did you choose the van you did and which one did you choose?

 

[SternWake]

My 89 dodge b250 was the first one that popped up in 2001 when I was searching, and the Dodge 318 is a venerable engine. I would have bought a low top or high top, but am glad it has a conversion van TV top, as my surfboards reside up there and I still have more headroom than a low top van.

Been my primary residence for 15 years

 

[LeeRevell]

2005 Dodge Grand Caravan.
At the time, I had only a motorcycle as my sole transportation. I wanted versatility, good gas mileage and the abilty to camp out in it. Also it fits me well, bei g comfortable to drive, and I am a big guy.
It has "Stow&Go Seating", so with them folded down, I have a full eight feet of open cargo space. Plenty room for my 6'4" body to stretch out in.
25MPG highway mileage, 18MPG city loaded. Good enough for me. Eventually I will remove the rear and one middle seat, to free those underfloor bins for storage. A raised midtop roof is a possibility too. Looking into what's available.

1988 Ford E150 Conversion Van.
More recently, I wanted a larger van for longerterm camping and roadtrips. I am most familiar with Ford fullsize vans, and found this one to my liking. Still need a lot of work to build what I want, but it has the midtop and side barndoors. Three swiveling Captain's Chairs (will remove the third), and a rear bench to be removed.
Standard length, as it's hard to find one with a mid or high top and the Extended Body.
These are my two rigs.

 

[cyndi]

Because I had been looking for 2 years and it ticked every box except that it wasn't a cargo van and that was a negotiable priority.

96 or newer (97)
Less than a 120,000 miles (117,000)
V-8
3 owners or less ( I would be the third)
Clean car fax with no blanks
maintenance records
high/bubble top
As a bonus it was a CA vehicle and had only been in New England for 2 years

 

[Almost There]

2002 GMC Savana 2500 with the high top

Picked because I finally found a relatively new van (it was only 12 years old when I bought it) that had low mileage, needed only minor body work AND it had the high top already installed.

Truthfully I would have bought it even if I knew it needed more work than it did because it had the high top...I had 4 grand Cdn set aside in the budget for the high top.

I'd spent 6 months diligently looking for a van. This one was hidden way back on page 7 of Kijiji listings because the owners'  daughter put it up on Friday on her lunch and all the dealers came along and posted theirs at 4 PM for the weekend crowd.

 

[Gadget728]

"Almost There" and I have very similar vans - Mine is a 06' GMC Savana 2500 Extended with a factory hi top. I didn't buy mine for stealth, I bought it for it's length & height. I'm going to use it for a work & recreation vehicle. I've camped in it several times now and love, love, love the high top!
I found mine in Dallas & watched it for a month, then someone here posted the ad here, so I jumped on it before it got grabbed. I ended up putting more into the engine than I wanted to, but I have no regrets and love the "GadgetVan"!! Good luck with what ever you decide to get.

 

[eDJ_]

1990 Ford E 350 (1 ton) high top extended.  351 V8 4spd O/D.   Windows in driver compartment and in rear doors only. (these windows tilt out to ventilate)  Original White paint. 

I bought it cause I got a great deal on it.  The company was going out of business and hadn't used it that much.

I've owned a number of Ford products and am familiar with this motor and transmission combination. 

The only issue I've had so far is with the electric fuel pump in the tank and a starter relay.  Replacing them has restored dependability.  

As this is more of a "Truck" it will last long enough for me to enjoy using it for some time to come.

 

[user 13081]

I'm in the car business so I have access to a lot of vans. When I was looking for a van 2 yrs ago I looked at 4-5 vans that came through and had the mechanics at work check them out for me. I got pretty lucky with this one and have had no problems with it. Put 4 tires on it, new battery, alternator, front pads and rotors, and a water pump since I've had it. Have done oil changes and changed out the trans fluid once a year. I'm thinking of down sizing to an NV200 but not sure about it just yet. I am also looking into doing some travelling and working as I need money and having my van registered in South Dakota.

 

[ArtW]

Well, mine's not a van, but what the heck
1996 Ford ranger
I bought this after a flat on the back of a motorcycle cost me $500, to transport the motorcycle if case I got stranded again
Later added the cap (CL find) and have had no luck finding vans in my area (aside from minivans) so decided to camperize it as best I can, u til I can get a van

 

[VanGrrl57]

I chose my '88 Chevy Astro because my old van finally died. I was looking around on Craig's List and a picture of the Astro popped up and I loved it! My parents had one and as it turned out, I knew the guy who owned it. Because of that, he sold it to me for a great price ($1300.00) and I have had no issues with it. It runs great and has no rust.

VanGrrl57

 

[ArtW]

Vangrrl, I sometimes see Astros for decent prices, do you have a build thread?

 

[MrNoodly]

It was as close to what I wanted as I could get at the time. I wanted a late model Chevy with less than 100k miles, extended, and swinging side doors. After searching five states, I found a clean 2007 Chevy with 115k miles, standard length and with a sliding side door. After living with it for three years, I'm fine with the standard length and sliding door. I wish I had power windows and locks, though.

 

[BigT]

My last car being a '97 Honda Civic that got 30/33mpg (I bought it new), I wanted something that got similar fuel economy, so a full-sized van was out of the question.
That left minivans, but I wanted something with a metal high top, so that narrowed my choices down quite a bit further.  I also wanted something newer with less than 80,000 miles.  

I ended up finding a 2010, then 4 year old, Ford Transit Connect with less than 60,000 miles that's in great shape and gets 27mpg on the highway.
I love it, it's a great car.  I consider it a car and not a van because it's so small and is built on a car chassis.  

It should be mentioned, that I am not living in it, full time or part time.  I only use it for camping, and it's perfect for that.  
Originally I thought I'd use it to live in full time, but now that I've slept in it multiple times, I've come to realize that it's just too darn small for that.  
I know people live in cars, but I have too many toys, namely bicycles, kayak gear, archery stuff and a banjo, that I don't want to part with, so it just won't do.  

Eventually I'm just going to have to accept the fact that excellent fuel economy and roominess aren't going to be a combination I'm likely to find.  

 

[VanGrrl57]

Vangrrl, I sometimes see Astros for decent prices, do you have a build thread?

Hi ArtW. 

No, not yet. I guess I should start one, though. All I have done for now is remove the back seats. I sleep on a camping pad with my sleeping bag and I use a cooler. I have some totes for my clothes/personal stuff/cooking stuff and I use a one-burner propane stove. I am, at this point, very much the minimalist vandweller. LOL!

VanGrrl57

 

[djkeev]

I wanted bigger than my VW Vanagon Westy Pop Top.
I wanted more freeway cruising "oomph" than my VW Van.
I wanted space for a large COMFORTABLE hotel quality sleep experience, Queen size.
I wanted space for a full bathroom.
My VW only delivers 13-16 mpg so anything in that range works for me.
I wanted some headroom but standing fully isn't important.
I had looked at prebuilt campers based on Van chassis.
The prebuilt units come with a lot of stuff I didn't want. Many are like "transformers" where to go to bed it takes 20 minutes to put away dinner and convert your table into a bed. For your effort you get to sleep on foam rubber multi piece diner booth comfort cushions...... no thanks.
I wanted a unit to serve as a travel pod and as a guest room when I visit family. My last vusit to Montana found us sleeping in our grandsons bunk beds!

Anyway,
I found an 03 Dodge conversion Van. Long Wheel base, 106,000 miles, runs strong, never towed a trailer.
I'll build my rolling hotel room to suit me.
I'm into the Van $2,500, I'll have any repairs/service finished and my hotel room build done for less than $5,000 total invested.

Dave

 

[grimmal]

We have a 1998 E-350 extended window van with the V-10. Looked for over a year and finally found it in Las Vegas. Bought it to pull travel trailer to places we work and then we use the van to go out boondocking. Has worked out extremely well. We had a regular length van, but the extra length was the main reason we bought it.

 

[ArtW]

OK Vangrrl thanks for that

 

[waldenbound]

I wanted barn doors, got them.
Wanted no windows, so I can fix the inside how I want it, got it.
Wanted a cargo divider, got it.
Wanted a newer-ish van, got it.
Wish my 2011 Chevy Express 3/4 was a little younger in the miles, but at least it was driven.

I mostly got everything I wanted.

 

[steamjam1]

It was $800, and all one colour. :-D