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Thread ID: 121790	2011-11-13 22:04:00	Advice on buying a campervan please	John H (8)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1243359	2011-11-13 22:04:00	We are in the market for a campervan - a van rather than a truck, but with a toilet and shower. We have checked out quite a few, and I got the Dog and Lemon reports on all of the makes we have seen - Ford Transit, VW LT35, and Holden Rodeo. Frankly, the D & L reports (which are only on the van on which the campervan has been built) are terrifying. These brands are apparently all crap, will fall to bits in no time (particularly the VW), the turbochargers will explode at an early stage, chassis will crack, and they are all dangerous to people using them (etc, etc, etc). I wonder if D & L is owned or sponsored by Toyota, because the reports all end up saying buy a Toyota instead... Our budget is $40,000. In a spirit of depression rather than hope, I have the following questions: 1. Diesel or petrol? 2. Engine size below which I should not go for a two berth campervan? 3. What distance travelled should I stay below, and is that different for diesel and petrol? I have seen a lot of vans advertised around 260k - is that too high? 4. Is age or distance travelled more important (all other things being equal) E.g. We have seen a 2004 van with 260k, and we are going to look at a 1994 van with 87k on the clock; both Carjam reports show a 'normal' pattern of usage - the first is an ex rental being sold by the rental company agents, whereas the second one has been in the hands of a university for two years, followed by two private owners. 5. Finally, what are your thoughts about ex-rental? The 260k van (and several others like it) are being sold by a rental company's agents, so they have been solely in the hands of the rental company/hirers. They should have been regularly serviced at least... We have never owned a van, nor a diesel vehicle, so it is completely new territory for us. At the moment, I am favouring a Ford Trader based van (imported built up from Britain as new). It may be older, but my ignorant opinion feels the low mileage is important. Thanks for any thoughts.	John H (8)
1243360	2011-11-13 22:52:00	My two cents 2lt engine at a minimum, I would probably go for a 3lt, you will need plenty of power on the NZ hills. Distance and age is much less important than service history. In this you know a rental has never missed a service and has always had to pass a COF rather than a WOF. Toyota's are bullet-proof.	DeSade (984)
1243361	2011-11-13 23:07:00	the D & L reports (which are only on the van on which the campervan has been built) are terrifying. These brands are apparently all crap, will fall to bits in no time (particularly the VW), the turbochargers will explode at an early stage, chassis will crack, and they are all dangerous to people using them (etc, etc, etc). I wonder if D & L is owned or sponsored by Toyota, because the reports all end up saying buy a Toyota instead... Husband has owned a few diesel utes. He would agree about Ford, crap that falls to bits. Toyota, well, they do last........ Diesel versus petrol? Well there's your road tax and now registration has gone up - it costs $600 a year for his ute now. If we could afford to get rid of it and buy petrol we would.	pctek (84)
1243362	2011-11-13 23:30:00	I would get a Petrol effort.	Snorkbox (15764)
1243363	2011-11-13 23:34:00	I looked into this a couple years back, ended up getting a caravan. Everything I looked at in my price range needed money spent on it, where as a 20k caravan got me the same level of comfort as a 100k camper.	Metla (12)
1243364	2011-11-14 00:34:00	I also recommend Toyota trucks easy to get parts and very reliable in my experience.	CliveM (6007)
1243365	2011-11-14 01:33:00	Thanks everyone thus far - good thoughts. Unfortunately Toyota seems to have a gap between the smaller motorhome (without dunny and shower) on the one hand, and their buses that need a HD licence (which I do not have) on the other. I haven't found any Toyotas in our interest area. Secondly, diesel seems to dominate this field as well, but I personally would prefer petrol because it is what I know... Yes, DeS, I am looking for more than 2l capacity - I reckon that a vehicle carrying a turtle on its back needs all the help it can get. pcTek - I have been talking to a neighbour about his bus, and he says the word is that they are talking about changing RUC to a new system that is related to the weight a vehicle IS CAPABLE of carrying. In other words, if you have a 4 tonne camper bus but its chassis is capable of carrying 6 tonne, you would have to pay RUC based on 6 tonne - time for hubby to get rid of the ute perhaps? Sad to hear that Ford is crap like the D & L says... Metla - I have been wondering about a caravan for the same reasons you outline, but I have two problems there - both of our cars are 1.8l so we would have to replace one of them within our overall budget, and secondly we want to go to places where towing a caravan would be v difficult. However, what I have noticed is that you can get luxury in a caravan for about half the price of a campervan... Time to rethink perhaps. I asked our neighbour the same questions I have asked here, and he said "I don't know - you need to work out what you like and buy that"! He had no thoughts about the older vehicle/low mileage versus younger vehicle/higher mileage thing. I suspect it is as DeS said - at least a rental will have been serviced regularly. My dad was a taxi driver and always bemoaned the fact that no-one would pay a decent price when he sold off his old car to buy a new one. His view was that you wouldn't get a better looked after car than his taxis.	John H (8)
1243366	2011-11-14 01:46:00	Owning a campervan is damn expensive. Rego for diesel also costs a small fortune now, and you have RUC to contend with, although that won't be so bad as you wouldn't be doing too many kms in it. The vast majority of campers would be diesels, probably cause in a rental environment where they are doing a lot more kms, they are (overall) cheaper to run. Had a relative with a Mitsi 2 berth based on the L300 platform, was a nice camper (CI munro) but the 2l engine was horribly underpowered, and it was awful to drive. Any ex rental is risky - most are Mercedes, VW or Fiat, and most are probably about to break in a rather expensive manner. A turbo Transit I think would be better in that regard, but anything over 200,000km is still probably going to require work at some stage, more than likely in the turbo department. $$$. www.trademe.co.nz www.trademe.co.nz Something like that is nice, but engine wise rather risky. I would also look at spending 25k - 30k on a caravan, and trade in one of the cars for a nice V6 of some sort.	wratterus (105)
1243367	2011-11-14 03:08:00	Thanks Wratterus. Your first link is to one of the vehicles we went to look at. There are about 6 of them, with the mileages within the 250 - 270k range, all being sold by the Maui dealer. Three of them have been refurbished inside, and are about $1k more expensive than the three that are 'untouched'. The refurbishment is largely new curtains and squab covers, but they have also been made into a kind of club lounge set up. Precious little storage though. However, that is the style of vehicle we have been looking at. SWMBO is keen to buy one of them, but I am nervous about the mileage and the D & L report on the van they are built on. I assumed that VW would have been a better bet than Ford, but the D &L report is scathing about the VW build quality. Even $20k would get us a good caravan with much better specs than a van if we stayed small (which is all we need as a couple of old farts). Here is an example of something you wouldn't get in a van: www.trademe.co.nz However, I have gone through a lifetime of hating caravan towers, so it is a bit hard to swallow. My son says campervans are maggots, but they are far better on the road for other road users than caravans!	John H (8)
1243368	2011-11-14 03:22:00	However, I have gone through a lifetime of hating caravan towers, so it is a bit hard to swallow. My son says campervans are maggots, but they are far better on the road for other road users than caravans! I do agree with you about caravans... :xmouth: That one for 20k looks very nice though. As long as you pull over regularly... :lol:	wratterus (105)
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