Car shopping

[john4surf]

G

If you're going xcountry, I'd sell it. Imagine breaking down in middle America and having to find someone to work on it.

That's one of the main reasons we went w the transit instead of a sprinter. Ford dealer in every town. Crazy. And it's still under warranty.

Good advice! We had our Sprinter Era RV throw a wheel pressure sensor driving to a wedding in San Antonio. Great ride until something goes wrong. The loss of the sensor put the van into a computer programmed ‘Limp Home Mode.’ The van would not go over 50-55 mph, cruise control was disabled by the computer. Finally pulled into El Paso Mercedes. The service manager told me they don’t work on Sprinters! What???? Said Mercedes gives dealers the option of working on electric optioned Mercedes or, Sprinters. They only work on electric vehicles. Told me the closest dealer that works on Sprinters was located in Dallas or San Antonio! We drove a day to San Antonio (sucked at 50-55 mph). $600 to replace the sensor, all day affair. On the way back to San Diego, threw another sensor off a different wheel. Had it fixed in Sun Diego. Sold the van and bought a Fuse RV (on a turbo diesel). Sprinter RV is nice, very nice but hardly worth the aggravation. John

 

[One-Off]

I should have mentioned that the Vanagon is also my daily driver and whatever I get will also be the daily driver (although in retirement I might not be obligated to drive every everyday). I've considered the Ford Transit but wonder about driving it all the time including around town (town being Los Angeles). I guess delivery drivers do it every day. MPG would be the same if not worse than the Vanagon but not need premium gas?

I'm not a big fan of SUVs or Pick ups with the mini beds. I have looked at the Subaru Crosstrek because of modest all road ability and low price point. Anyone have one ?

 

[afoaf]

I should have mentioned that the Vanagon is also my daily driver and whatever I get will also be the daily driver (although in retirement I might not be obligated to drive every everyday). I've considered the Ford Transit but wonder about driving it all the time including around town (town being Los Angeles). I guess delivery drivers do it every day. MPG would be the same if not worse than the Vanagon but not need premium gas?

I'm not a big fan of SUVs or Pick ups with the mini beds. I have looked at the Subaru Crosstrek because of modest all road ability and low price point. Anyone have one ?

if you guys are going feral in SW, you're not going to want to set up and break down camp from a car

the luxury of the van being camp-ready when you turn it off is yuge

 

[enframed]

Should I keep this vehicle? I'm about to retire and my already paltry, public school teacher income will be halved. We're planning on wandering about the Western US.

Cons- It's become hard to find anyone to work on it. It has a tiico engine conversion, so even my old VW mechanic won't touch it. I do know an old Audi guy who will, but both guys are...old... and about to retire. Bad mpg- about 16 city 20 highway, and requires premium gas. Top speed 70-75mph but I really only like to hold that speed when passing, otherwise highway cruising speed is 65. It's kind of noisy at that speed. And it's in the truck lane going up the Grapevine. Crawls up Tioga Pass.

Pros- seats 4 very comfortably. With seat folded down it can swallow up boards and can keep them locked up. We (wife and teen daughter) sleep in it comfortably. Will probably hold value (current estimate $25,000). It's my third Vanagon and my others sold for more than I paid. It has a certain cool factor. I always get people coming up to me to talk about it, sometimes offering to buy it. No rust. Only a couple very tiny dents and scratches.

View attachment 110203

That's got to be worth at least $20K right now, yes? (Oh, NM, you are aware.)

Where do you live that no one will work on it? VW mechanics say no? It's a VW engine!

 

[ghostshaper]

I should have mentioned that the Vanagon is also my daily driver and whatever I get will also be the daily driver (although in retirement I might not be obligated to drive every everyday). I've considered the Ford Transit but wonder about driving it all the time including around town (town being Los Angeles). I guess delivery drivers do it every day. MPG would be the same if not worse than the Vanagon but not need premium gas?

I'm not a big fan of SUVs or Pick ups with the mini beds. I have looked at the Subaru Crosstrek because of modest all road ability and low price point. Anyone have one ?

We did the truck + rooftop tent thing w/ 2 different trucks. If you're on the move every day, it gets old fast. So much nicer to pull up and set up quickly.

That said, we're going to sell our Transit in the next year and get a mid size truck so that my teen can drive it to school. We'll probably get the AT Habitat for easier setup:

 

[ClearAirTurbulence]

can you put a subaru engine in the vanagon?

 

[manbearpig]

We did the truck + rooftop tent thing w/ 2 different trucks. If you're on the move every day, it gets old fast. So much nicer to pull up and set up quickly.

That said, we're going to sell our Transit in the next year and get a mid size truck so that my teen can drive it to school. We'll probably get the AT Habitat for easier setup:

Who makes that topper?

I’m thinking about getting one from AT overland.

 

[Ifallalot]

Can someone explain to me the advantage of the RTT over just setting one up like people have since prehistory? Broverlanders just say overland bro

 

[_____]

Told me the closest dealer that works on Sprinters was located in Dallas or San Antonio! We drove a day to San Antonio (sucked at 50-55 mph). $600 to replace the sensor, all day affair. On the way back to San Diego, threw another sensor off a different wheel. Had it fixed in Sun Diego. Sold the van and bought a Fuse RV (on a turbo diesel). Sprinter RV is nice, very nice but hardly worth the aggravation. John

That sucks but a thought - I wonder if having a car code reader could have made that less painful or fixed it. I have and used one on my old Tacoma for a few things. I was able to turn off the check engine light that would automatically fail a smog check (it was bc of an open gas cap and caused an EVAP code that can be a bitch to fix) and saved hundreds of $ because it passed when I turned it off. Wonder if you reset that code you might at least be able to have driven over 55mph until it turned on again (or not).

 

[Bob Dobbalina]

Should I keep this vehicle? I'm about to retire and my already paltry, public school teacher income will be halved. We're planning on wandering about the Western US.

Cons- It's become hard to find anyone to work on it. It has a tiico engine conversion, so even my old VW mechanic won't touch it. I do know an old Audi guy who will, but both guys are...old... and about to retire. Bad mpg- about 16 city 20 highway, and requires premium gas. Top speed 70-75mph but I really only like to hold that speed when passing, otherwise highway cruising speed is 65. It's kind of noisy at that speed. And it's in the truck lane going up the Grapevine. Crawls up Tioga Pass.

Pros- seats 4 very comfortably. With seat folded down it can swallow up boards and can keep them locked up. We (wife and teen daughter) sleep in it comfortably. Will probably hold value (current estimate $25,000). It's my third Vanagon and my others sold for more than I paid. It has a certain cool factor. I always get people coming up to me to talk about it, sometimes offering to buy it. No rust. Only a couple very tiny dents and scratches.

View attachment 110203

To think I scoffed when my friend bought one in high school for $4500.

Me? Id put it up for sale for $35k and see what happens.

 

[sdsrfr]

Wuts a 10yr old Tacoma w/ 100k miles on it worth these days? >$30k yet?

Would love to sell it for more than I got it for new one day…

 

[Havoc]

I should have mentioned that the Vanagon is also my daily driver and whatever I get will also be the daily driver (although in retirement I might not be obligated to drive every everyday). I've considered the Ford Transit but wonder about driving it all the time including around town (town being Los Angeles). I guess delivery drivers do it every day. MPG would be the same if not worse than the Vanagon but not need premium gas?

I'm not a big fan of SUVs or Pick ups with the mini beds. I have looked at the Subaru Crosstrek because of modest all road ability and low price point. Anyone have one ?

why only half? my a-hole k-12 frenz make $90k+ and brag about how they will retire on full salary with full medical etc.

 

[Havoc]

too bad toyota doesn't make a full size van. seems like everything available is super unreliable

 

[ghostshaper]

too bad toyota doesn't make a full size van. seems like everything available is super unreliable

Can you imagine how quickly they would eat up most of the market if they did? Who would buy a Sprinter or Transit if you could get a Toyota?

Who makes that topper?

I’m thinking about getting one from AT overland.

yeah, AT. $$$, though. I was tracking their price pre-covid and the habitat increased by $1000. Ouch. Nobody makes one like that, so you don't have another option if you want to be able to stand up in the back of the truck bed and still have your sleeping area set up. All the other campers have the sleeping area directly over the truck bed.

 

[manbearpig]

Can you imagine how quickly they would eat up most of the market if they did? Who would buy a Sprinter or Transit if you could get a Toyota?



yeah, AT. $$$, though. I was tracking their price pre-covid and the habitat increased by $1000. Ouch. Nobody makes one like that, so you don't have another option if you want to be able to stand up in the back of the truck bed and still have your sleeping area set up. All the other campers have the sleeping area directly over the truck bed.

Yeah they’re so much. I thought about just doing the payment plan they offered we’ll see, so tempting.

 

[One-Off]

We did the truck + rooftop tent thing w/ 2 different trucks. If you're on the move every day, it gets old fast. So much nicer to pull up and set up quickly.

That said, we're going to sell our Transit in the next year and get a mid size truck so that my teen can drive it to school. We'll probably get the AT Habitat for easier setup:

My neighbor across the street has one, but it flips over the cab and you get into the sleeping area from inside.

To answer some questions-

Why is it hard to find a mechanic? The tiico conversion is an VW/Audi engine (used in 1990's A3 and Jetta) mounted on a slant and with a different intake manifold in order to fit the engine compartment without modifications. It's a "frankenmotor." Mine was installed by a JPL engineer and has run flawlessly in the time I've had it but.... As my old school mechanics tell me, new mechanics are just "parts replacers." They read the OBD codes and just replace parts. They don't really know how to work on the engines. So if and when it breaks down...

Subaru conversion? The engine commonly used for the conversion is now old itself and hard to find low mileage examples. Also, the California legal one does not have much more HP than my engine and...the conversion costs +- $20,000

Why am I getting half pay? I'm retiring as early as I can (with health benefits). My dad was offered early retirement and refused and then died of a heart attack at 58. Don't want to repeat his mistake. I also did not max out on the pay scale because I was doing my art and at one point (prior to 2008) was making enough money that investing the time in pedagogy classes didn't seem worth it.

Roof top tents? Started in Australia to get off the ground and away from creepy crawly things. We hope to explore grizzly country and my wife does not want to tent camp in grizzly country.


I like Bob's idea to list it for $35,000 and see what happens...

 

[Havoc]

Patrolman sell now at the peak of vanlife then buy back at half price next yr

 

[VonMeister]

It's fucking wild, might as well buy new for what used cars are going for.

I did the lease sell thing last week. Got $6k for a car I didn't want to buy out and would have turned in two months later for nothing. Now I'm having trouble replacing it.

I begrudgingly bought a car in Jan just to get an allocation for a new one with an @ MSRP guarantee...which I didn't get. It's gone up 20% over what I paid for it.

 

[20W-50 and blood]

Have you looked at the used car market?

It is insane. You'll end up losing in the end unless your plan is to take that cash and buy a beater.

i Could sell my used slverado right now for about double of what i purchased it for...and i've putabout 75K miles on it

 

[silentbutdeadly]

remember when cars were depreciating assets?