Buying my first VW Campervan

daveyjp

You need to have a basic understanding of fixing them as like all old vehicles they will break down. In the 1970s My parents had a neighbour with quite a new Beetle, all I remember is him constantly taking the engine out to fix something. Fuel economy is also dire.

We were on the M1 a couple of weeks ago and there must have been a VW rally somewhere - we got tired of spotting campers parked on the hard shoulder or on the back of breakdown wagons!

They are good fun, but for what you pay for an old one you can probably get a more modern equivalent

Gloomendoom

colino wrote: »

Have you driven one? They really have to owned and maintained by fans because they are slow, uncomfortable antiques. I think their time has long since passed.

You forgot to mention insanely thirsty.

mandym

I would recommend asking someone who really knows about these vans to go along with you when you look at a potential bus. There's a brilliant forum at volkszone where you can get loads of advice, there's a good technical forum too. I'd also recommend joining a local club, whereabouts are you based?

I really miss my old bay, I had such good times with her. The vdub scene is brilliant, people are so helpful and friendly. I once broke down on the way to a show and no end of people stopped to see if they could help and when we couldn't get her started, a complete stranger from Germany towed me the rest of the way to the show (about 80 miles!) with his van, when would this ever usually happen?

They are money pits, but oh, so worth it for the pleasure they bring. Good luck!

Rolandtheroadie

I drove my sisters ebay purchase up from plymouth to central scotland. Great fun.
It's in getting serious treatment, not sure she realises how much the costs will be yet.
But it'll be done right.

WLM21

I hope you decide to get one.

After years of camping, I have just bought my first campervan, a Westfalia T3 (T25 in UK) California.

There are a few good VW forums you could take a look at, such as

http://forum.earlybay.com/

http://www.brick-yard.co.uk/forum/forums.html

and here too

http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/chatter/display_forum_topics.asp?ForumID=12


Regards !

ps the forums above are all free. There are a couple of other motohome forums which charge you to post, after giving you a few free ones first

pendulum

I half thought about it once, but in the end I decided they were unreliable and too expensive. If I was going down that road, I think I'd buy a reliable van and convert it in to something I could live and sleep in. You can customise it exactly to your requirements then.

LudaMusser

The guy on Camper Van Crisis lives near me. I went to VanFest for the first time in 2009 and remember seeing a bus insured for £38,000 !!!

Good luck, wish I could afford to do a project too