Campervans as your main car.

[Scramble]

Have a mad urge to get a campervan, but can't afford to run a car and a campervan.

Looking at a bargain basement ancient thing probably, will it cost too much to run day to day? I do about 140 miles a week on average. I want to be able to go off the od weekend here and there and use it for weekends away working through the summer.

Our Bongo has about the same "footprint" as a Mondeo. And it's much easier to park and drive because you're so high up.

get a ford transit convertible. they are cheap to run, and real workhorses. parts are plentiful and any garage which looks after commercial vehicles can fix it. We adore our ol' Bluebell.

was almost going to suggest an old transit...but as your taste seems similar to mine i couldnt bring myself to say it. i know theyre cheap, and big, and economical, and easy to fix. but well, i just couldnt drive around in one.
keep watching 25's, get an idea of whats around. they are far more useable than bays - they are quick, have 5 gears - yep 5, are loads bigger inside. and if you go for a watercooled - they also did aircooled 25's for a couple of years - then you have a radiator infront of you which means a real heater that works even in the winter.
oh, and i'm looking at freelanders - is as close as i'll go to a real 4x4 - used to have a landrover as my runabout, not again - a diesel 5 door might just do. not the fastest thing around tho.
happy camping.

I don't mind transits, but I ain't going to fall in love with one. If I see one for a good price I would consider it. I actually feel quite at home driving a transit , they usually have a great turning circle, not like the freelander which was like parking a hovercraft.

Don't go for a petrol freelander whatever you do SDo3.

wont be going for one at all. checked up and the early diesels just have a clunky old rover engine - not good. the better bmw diesel didnt go in until about 2000 - dont have the £3000 upwards for one of them. is time to come out of the closet. ive been looking for a sierra XR4x4 - honest, never thought i'd lower meself to driving a sierra, but 4wd, 5 door hatch, an ok engine, cheap and reliable. will do for a year at least as dd wants my corsa for work, then see when she's at uni.
am suprised you haven't resorted to talking about girl stuff yet - am doing well, just mention knitting and i'll be off

Ok I won't talk about the lovely curtains and plate set I will get for my van then .

Are there any websites that list mpg, insurance bands etc for those type of campers and vans.

My freelander had a phantom problem which involved that engine cutting out when you were doing 70 on the motorway, apparently it is quite commen fault, but hard to pinpoint and fix. But that is with the petrols. I ahted going in to the gargae and being told it wa fine nothing wrong, even the RAC that came to rescue me looked doubtfull until when he wa taking it for a drive it did it to him.

for some reason the electrics on the early ones were very dodgy, too many new gadgets i guess.

as for facts and figures, just google away - wikipedia tends to churn out plenty of vehicle stuff. otherwise the usual car guides, parkers, ciao etc.

and i made new curtains for mine too and even new bunk beds for the elevating roof, was tricky to say the least. oh, and carpets, cushions etc. spent a damn fortune on them, but had loads of fun.

and if you happen by way of safari park - longleat for instance - and you venture into the monkey enclosure, theres one that pulled the front bumper end cap off climbing up to get on the roof. give him a smack for me. they just loved the camper, all headed for it and ended up driving round with loads of them on the roof - was not impressed, our first holiday in it. and then the bumper thingy dropped off driving home thru shropshire - took the scenic route.

Ah see you are a domesticated soul really, ah curtains and cushions [teehee].

LOL at the monkey, when we had a 110 station wagon, it was a nightmare in safari parks they all thought we were the keepers and they were getting fed and would try to follow us through the gates. Ah I dream of 90's and 110's but they are simply not practical for me I suppose wonder if I could do some bunk beds int he back of a 110 . To go with all the vehicles in my front garden I have half a series 3 in my back garden, thanks to BIL.

are you sure you arent a bloke? greaming of 90's and 110's? ds was keen on a landie camper - saw one advertised - an ex military ambulance - looked cool. i still drive one at work, a 90 tho, and TD5 - is fast and handles a little better than a hovercraft but not much. beats the old transits i drove in the steelworks many years ago, tho they really did go round corners on two wheels at times!
and think i got away with the sierra mention - cant wait to get one now - and found RS500 bodykits, might just have to stick one on, not a bit chavvy tho

greaming? think that should be dreaming - tho who knows.

BIL had a series3 for a while so got the chance to play with that a bit, he sold it to a guy that shiped it to the US for his son to muck about in.

There are two young brothers near to me that have 3 lanrovers between them, a classic one, a new chiney fancy one and a lightweight .

BTW I am most definatly not a bloke, will I go back to discussing flowery curtains and cookers for my camper van .

Used my usual method of telling everyone I know (apart from family who would do that think where they suck in a breath going "ah well you see") what I am after and hopefully something will turn up, already got one possible VW camper and a possible buyer for my wreck for a young lad who wants something to practice his mechanics and bodywork skills on.

ah well you see...i get that a lot - especially as i'm struggling with the idea of being a temporary sierra driver. i've a real love of lancias, used to drive a HF turbo - the martini model, a beautiful little car. have reverted back to looking for 4wd models , the HF or a very cheap integrale. and i know they break down all the time - tho mine didnt once - and have loads of electrical problems, and are allergic to...well, air, they rust so quick. but the styling is worth the odd niggle here and there.
as for 25's, body repair panels - even the cheap copies - are rather pricey so people tend to bodge and go. look at front arches all round front wheels - especially round fuel filler and pipe behind it. crap builds up behind the pipe and holds the damp, then hello Mr Rot. door bottoms of course, inc sliding door. bottom of rear corner panels also prone as the rear panel itself. otherwise, everywhere .
and check for oil/water leaks around heads-barrels and barrels to block. theyre a real pain to put right and a garage will charge a fortune to rebuild. the same goes for clouds of smoke on start up when cold - no cheap n easy top end overhaul with these. to do them properly means a strip down. i blew mine up and its wasnt pretty. took weeks to rebuild it.
all that aside, theres plenty of good ones around, just dont swoon at the sight of curtains and velour seats

Now you see I was just going to check the curtains matched the cushions. .

Thanks for the body work, rust and leaks tips. I will try and drag BIL along, he will make sure I get a decent one or I will end up harassing him to help me sort it all the time. Can't afford too decent so some bodged body work may have to be endured.

Don't like velour much.

oh but brown velour is a favourite of the 80's. ripped all the interior out of mine and started again - bought packs of large curtains and cut them up to make seat cover and curtains - well at least they matched that way. and was loads cheaper than buying material.
anyway, sleep time, to dream of lancias.

What is the going rate for a complete wreck of a VW transporter-based camper? My DM has one to sell but we are talking serious project - it hasn't been moved for at least 8 years..

Therre ar loads on ebay at various stages of decay or renovation, so you could get an idea there.

Unfortunatly the one thing I need in a camper van is it to have a fairly sound engine. I deal with reupholstering but not major engine or body work, minor stuff I could do with help .

SDof3 I dread to think what kind of dreams involve lancias .

Oooo, can I join in?

We have a 1985 VW high-top campervan (Autosleepers conversion), it is our only vehicle (apart from bicycles) and has been for the last 2 years.

Although hubby doesn't need a car for his commute, I have used it to get various jobs including 30 miles each way down the M3 on a daily basis, and other such things.

It isn't quick - 60mph is it's favourite speed, but that doesn't usually matter in the rush hour, and to be honest, whenever I am in it - even if I'm on a commute, I feel like I am on holiday, so that makes up for it

The van cost us £3k, has been very reliable (passed it's MOT first time this year - never had a newer car that's done that!), and we love it.

We have discussed whether we should buy a car as well/instead for when the baby arrives (due in June) but to be honest, the van will be about a million times more practical, we will still be able to get away when we can (hopefully) and for the hassle of not being able to park in height restricted places (which to be honest you just get used to), we are going to stay as we are.

Do it. You won't regret it - and if you do, you will have no problem selling it!

That sounds great, how much fuel do you get through if you use it on a daily basis?

I am convinced, I just need to find one now.

Well, it does about 30mpg if you are running it up to about 55mph - all goes a bit wrong from there on in.

We have a 1.9 l manual, petrol engine, which gives it reasonable (though not stunning) power for hills and the like. As an aside, if you were getting a VW van, I would recommend at least a 1.9 - the 1.6 is widely regarded as being too puny and I think you would regret it.

We did look at things like the Bongo when we bought ours, but to be honest, if you are going to do any camping - especially with a little one and all the kit they require - I think something like that would be too small.

The other thing is that the VW fits into a normal sized car parking space, the high up driving position is lovely, you can stop and have a brew anywhere you want (handy if stuck on an 'A' road in a blizzard perhaps?), and ........oh, I could go on about it all day

Ebay is a good place to look for vans - that's where we found ours, although we went round and saw it and made an offer there and then, rather than going through the whole bid process. There is lots of info on the internet about things to look out for (rust for example), and you should get something pretty good for £2 - 3k.

Ours only had 60,000 miles on the clock despite being 20 years old and was pretty clean inside - so something a bit tattier (but easily do uppable) and with a few more miles on would be cheaper.

Of coure you can't guarantee that anything you buy won't break down - but a big advantage on the old vans is that they are relatively simple to fix, although saying that - getting relatively simple things replaced (like exhausts for example) can require a bit of looking around!

Enough from me, although am happy to ramble on about this all day if you want :0

oh, one more thing - the insurance on our van is about the same as it was for our 4 year old Focus, and breakdown cover is a quite amazing £80 / year!! Incredible bargain that.

Thanks tallbird. I ahve been looking on Ebay, but they are all so far away I can't warrent a trip that far just for a look see. Hoping something will come up nearer to me.

I am not worried about doing 55mph, I am having to do that in my micra at least in a campervan I can justify it better.

I tell you what Scramble - it is soooo relaxing to not feel like you have to be racing here there and everywhere - once you get used to it (and it sounds like you have already!), you just go with the flow, the inside lane of the motorway is your new domain, people zipping in and out seem foolish - it's just bliss.

We had a pretty speedy Golf V5 before the van and I used to spend my whole time feeling frustrated because I couldn't go as fast as I wanted to - none of that now. Much better.

Keep looking on ebay as well, I think that as Easter looms people will start thinking about upgrading and that's when you will start seeing vans coming up for sale.

Good luck!