Campervan advice please?

AdrianC

Mercdriver wrote: »

You can still buy these new. VW still make them.

Bays? No, they stopped in Brazil a few years ago.

Gloomendoom

I borrowed one of these things back in the early 1980s. It put me off owning one for life. Horrible to drive, extremely slow and incredibly thirsty. I got 15-20 miles to the gallon.

AdrianC

So one thing I didn't mention up there... We own a T3, a high-top Westfalia with the 2.1 petrol waterboxer. We lived in it for a year and a half, 20 countries and about 30,000 miles. It's been off the road for 6yrs now, but I'm getting it back on the road at the mo.

In all that time, what was the ONE and only thing we'd have changed? Thicker curtains. Seriously.

In many ways, it is the ideal package - it's small enough to park in a normal car space, it's big enough to have proper interior living space. Bays and T4s are too small inside. LWB T4s are too long to park - you trade the loss of underbed storage space for unusable length.

Parts are easily and widely available - when you've had to buy a wheel in Albania and get a water pump in Czech, these things are important.

ANY camper of any type below about five grand is going to be an unpleasant place to spend time, and is going to be more hassle than use. With that in mind, the lower end of T3 prices aren't actually ridiculous, scene-tax notwithstanding.

And, of course, if you don't know one end of a spanner from the other, owning any 20+yo vehicle is going to be a very expensive experience.

caprikid1

I would say find a dealer who has a range of campers and go and have a look and a drive.


I drove a Type 2 in the mid 80's and use to maintain one for a friend, rust is the killer as with all cars.


But they are awful to drive , hideously slow and heavy on fuel. They use a beetle engine that is best part of 70 years old now.


You are buying into a lifestyle, an image a scene, if you want a camper van look else where. My GF sold a split screen van shortly before we met , which I am slightly gutted about. Would I go an buy one maybe , but I do own 5 other classics.


Don't rule out the late Mexican buses , I believe these had watercooled engines etc. If you want an "Old" style bus then I truly suggest you budget c£20K bodywork is not cheap and most have been bodged many times. Ideally one with a photographic restoration showing the panels being cut out not just metal and filler. Ideally something that was restored more than 3-4 years ago so you have an idea if it is standing the test of time.


Personally but a nice classic a tent and cooker.

alan_d

Flobberchops wrote: »

I'm at an early stage of deciding on a purchase so I'd welcome any and all knowledge and feedback. What kind of price should I be looking to pay (I've seen everything from £5000 to £30000 online), and if anybody could give an indication of insurance and fuel costs, or any other things to be aware of, that would be fantastic.

Remember these were designed / built before the concept of NCAP crash safety ratings.
You would NOT want to be in an accident in one, there isn't much between your legs and the (minimal) front panel.
The T4 and later are MUCH better in every respect - safety, driving experience, reliability, practicability etc.

jaybeetoo

I recommend you try renting some different ones before thinking of buying one.

Jackmydad

As others have said, if you're going to have something that's an older style of vehicle, be prepared to either do your own maintenance or have deep pockets.
They all have the proclivity to turn into absolute horrors unless you really do keep on top of everything that goes wrong, leaks, or breaks.
I like old vehicles but they're as much of a hobby as a form of transport.
You can forget about "use it and ignore it" that you get with modern vehicles.

Scrapit

Try one on air bnb or similar before committing. Sounds a nightmare that could be resolved by getting a better modern version for similar money.

walwyn1978

AdrianC wrote: »

So one thing I didn't mention up there... We own a T3, a high-top Westfalia with the 2.1 petrol waterboxer. We lived in it for a year and a half, 20 countries and about 30,000 miles. It's been off the road for 6yrs now, but I'm getting it back on the road at the mo.

In all that time, what was the ONE and only thing we'd have changed? Thicker curtains. Seriously.

In many ways, it is the ideal package - it's small enough to park in a normal car space, it's big enough to have proper interior living space. Bays and T4s are too small inside. LWB T4s are too long to park - you trade the loss of underbed storage space for unusable length.

Parts are easily and widely available - when you've had to buy a wheel in Albania and get a water pump in Czech, these things are important.

ANY camper of any type below about five grand is going to be an unpleasant place to spend time, and is going to be more hassle than use. With that in mind, the lower end of T3 prices aren't actually ridiculous, scene-tax notwithstanding.

And, of course, if you don't know one end of a spanner from the other, owning any 20+yo vehicle is going to be a very expensive experience.

We’ve rented a T1, a T2 and a T3 at various times. The T3 was the biggest inside, the easiest to ‘camp’ with and the easiest to drive by some distance. It obviously doesn’t have the look of the first two, and you won’t get the admiring glances from other drivers, but both the T1 (a weekend driving the bride and groom at a wedding and then camping ) and the T2 (a week camping) we had were woefully underpowered and thirsty. The T3 was the closest to ‘modern’ driving we found, with all the issues rightly mentioned by Adrian C.

kipperman

We rented a T2 for a weekend, and jolly glad we did - as it was a complete nightmare. Could not pull the skin off a rice pudding, especially going up hills. Brakes needed a 5 minute warning before actually starting to slow the thing down, and even then slewed to one side. No air conditioning, and one of the keys broke off in the locks. Decided that retro camping was not for us, and bought a T5 - a van that drives like a modern car and that I feel safe in. YMMV though.