RRC Archives

I think you should go for the Donkey

We know there are soooo many choices for the perfect road trip vehicle. However Eurovans are
(to us) interesting and we would like to check one out in person before we give up on them. There aren't very many of them for sale in the east. I don't want to fly to Denver just to look at a one. Posting here was just a shot in the dark...

OK Jill, these are purely my opinions, but I'm a bit of a fan of VW's as you know.

I'm not too psyched on the eurovans. From my conversations with other owners they don't have a noticeable advantage in terms of power/speed/reliability when compared to vanagons.

The interiors were OEM'd to Winnebago and have questionable quality and design (I've seen a few that were falling apart inside).

You sacrifice a lot in terms of ground clearance and turning radius (which are big pluses for vanagons).

And then there's the style you get from a vanagon westy!

That said, I consider the Sprinter a pipe dream unless you're gonna drop over 40K. 35K minimum for a panel van, with 14in wheels and then you begin the customization? For 35K you could completely outfit a decently used 4x4 Ford/GMC Panel van and get parts in any Autozone in the country, not to mention the fully styled and beautiful Synchro VW 30K would get you.

Of course, all things are dependent of the deal you get. If you are forced to own a eurovan cause it was a steal, buy the freakin eurovan!

p0stc0unt!

Here is another retro opinion.
If you are thinking of owning an old Vanagon Westie, then perhaps consider going more retro with a VW Bus Westie. I have had two and they are ideal for two people camping. You could probably substitute any comment made about a Vanagon Westie for the Bus Westie regarding comfort. Yes, they are older and the problems with finding a good one are obvious. But if you can, then they would probably be cheaper than a Vanagon (and much cheaper than a Eurovan), and if it needs work, the repairs are much cheaper.
Aircooled 2 liter working well is very reliable, they have great clearance, have center of weight over the rear axel so they pull hills well, etc... A new /rebuilt engine costs $2-3k.
The transimissions are good for 250K.
Talk with Miguel if you want an informed opinion on Air Cooled Buses.

I really think the eurovans are overpriced for what you get - to me it would be better to get an older westy and deal with fixing it, or get a ford/chevy/sprinter van and do the conversion yourself. Steve is a pretty handy guy, I remember him redoing a bathroom or something like that. So, find a solid van to start with and add what you think is important. Unless you really want a pop up roof thing, you can do everything else you want with a cargo van, for less, and have less trouble fixing / maintaining it.

The sprinters are a little bit pricy new, but you can find some deals on ones that are a couple years old.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4u0_FVG ... re=related to see what you can do with a little bit of creativity, and not look like a misplaced soccer mom in a euro van with the dvd players in the back seat...

Awesome. ha!