Best van for regional touring?

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Mbira

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 4, 2004
Messages
2,422
Location
Austin, TX
What do you think?

I'm planning on selling the school bus (too noisey and not comfortable enough.)

I want a good van that can comfortable hold six-ten people and carry a trailor of our gear.

Thoughts? Gas? Diesel?

Let's say it needs to be under $10,000 so no Sprinters.
 
Dude... there's a lot at Koenig and Woodrow (across from Thunderbird Coffee) that has a shit load of vans. No clue what they cost but it's a place to look.

Crust drove a Dodge Maxi, the biggest of the beasts, but after my previous pickup I'll never own another Dodge. I would vote Ford.
 
Get something with a diesel in it and convert it to run on bio. Willie did it!

Peace,
Paul

PS A live-sound guy I know did it with an old Mercedes diesel. It works great; the only drawback is that his car always smells like French fries, and it makes him hungry. No, I'm not kidding.
 
Ford makes a 15-passenger E-series ("econoline"; -usually E350, I think) which is common as muck and easy to fix. -Don't know if they came with Powerstroke Diesel motors or not, but if they did, that's your ticket. You can pull the last row of seats for instrument/baggage storage if you wish -Just think about security (as you would with a bus) before you leave anything inside it, since it has a lot of window area.

The Armada -or anything like it- will be useless when it comes to the flexibility which you need, and anyhow, Wavebourne plainly didn't read the bit about the price restriction... :roll: :wink:

Just be aware that ALL vehicles which you are looking at are prone to rollover and about as safe as a 20% glass box on roller wheels... -which is basically what they are. Accident avoidance is about as good as the school bus, brakes and steering are marginal, and a combination use of the two at speed will roll the vehicle over.

That goes for Ford, Dodge, Chevy and everyone else in this market. -Also, "five-star crash rating" means bugger-all, because the guv'mint sets the bar MUCH lower for trucks and commercial vehicles, which these are. -Even the Armada is crash-tested to commercial vehicle status. -In an impact with a tree, you're better off in a Honda accord.

Keith
 
The E-series is the top of my list. I'd love to get a diesel and actually try and make it a WVO this time. Was going to do that with the bus, but it's not comfortable to do the investment.

But, dang, they are still pretty expensive.
 
Well, I'm SSLtech after all... -of COURSE I'm going to recommend anything called "E-Series"... :wink:

If you DO get one of those buses, make sure that you have a good spare tire, and one of those electric air compressors that plugs into the cigarette lighter socket...

...Because, after all...

The E-series is famous for it's "Bus compressor"

:green:

Keef
 
[quote author="SSLtech"]

The Armada -or anything like it- will be useless when it comes to the flexibility which you need, and anyhow, Wavebourne plainly didn't read the bit about the price restriction... :roll: :wink:

[/quote]

Ford, Dodge, Chevy means higher cost of ownership though parts are easy to find, service centers and gas stations are all around. However, facts are not always patriotic...
 
What do you think?

I want a good van that can comfortable hold six-ten people and carry a trailer of our gear.

Thoughts? Gas? Diesel?

Let's say it needs to be under $10,000 so no Sprinters.

Keef
 
I want a good van for regional touring that can seat 300-400 people comfortably, plus haul equipment.

I really like the vans made by Tardis, because they're bigger on the inside than on the out, but they're really pricey and I don't need the time travel feature.

Anyone have any recommendations?
 
Dude... there's a lot at Koenig and Woodrow (across from Thunderbird Coffee) that has a shit load of vans. No clue what they cost but it's a place to look.

Crust drove a Dodge Maxi, the biggest of the beasts, but after my previous pickup I'll never own another Dodge. I would vote Ford.
 
FWIW, I recently came in possession of a 1995 Ford E150 Econoline with about 130,000 miles on it and it runs like a champ. I've never been a big fan of Fords, but it rides nice, has a good stereo, is dependable, and doesn't cost much to fix.
 
[quote author="Mbira"]bus is going. It's for sale if you want it! Too loud, Too hot, and too uncomfortable.[/quote]
That's why I bought Armada: fast, powerful, reliable, and very comfortable. My brother in law even teared off the back of a front seat: he thought it is a table like in a passenger airplane. :grin:
 
Yes, but here -where up to ten people plus gear is the requirement- it's about as much use as a chocolate teapot.

Try the Tardis. -It's not a bad suggestion.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ghGzyrk6-Gk

Keef
 

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