Bensalvage
Member
When I finally get my act together and finally decide what I want to do I plan for my van to stay as a life/long term vehicle all going well
Do you plan on keeping your van?
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In 20 plus years I want people to look at our van and say, "Ah how cute, My dad remembers those when they were new"! And hopefully not one of those I always see broken down on the M5 while going down South! I really can't be doing with buying a Ford!
I always intended to keep my Beetle (or at least one of them) but life with Children and no free or even cheap storage meant it had to go 
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The kids are almost grown up now so I’ll have time to work on the van and money to keep it going… as long as Diesels don’t get forced off the road.
.The kids are almost grown up now so I’ll have time to work on the van and money to keep it going… as long as Diesels don’t get forced off the road.
I intend to keep my T6.1 until there's a workable EV version. 200 miles just won't cut it for me, and it will still need to be a Kombi, hopefully with the VAT off as it will be my work vehicle. My current van is 18 months old and I hope to go upto about six years old, but will wait for the appropriate EV, if not, who knows.
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I always intended to keep my Beetle (or at least one of them) but life with Children and no free or even cheap storage meant it had to go
The kids are almost grown up now so I’ll have time to work on the van and money to keep it going… as long as Diesels don’t get forced off the road.
I agree. I also regret parting with some of my previous cars and I now have plenty of time and dry storage at home so I'll keep my T6 until diesel vehicles are banned from the roads or the penalties are prohibitive, in which case all of our current vans will be worth their scrap value.
What a sad thought...
I intend to keep mine for a very long time. Want to retire it into a day van when I retire in a few years time. Hope it makes it to Bora Bora 
I agree, but few people keep vehicles for so long, diesel fuel will still be sold after the 2030 ban on the sale of new fossil fuel vehicles, but I doubt it'll get cheaper!
Anyway, it's too early to know how it will affect those of us who wish to keep our vans for the long term, we can only speculate, which isn't much use.
Fair comment. Pleased to get on the MOT Gov site to see my old Triumph Stag 3Ltr V8 I sold 10 years ago is still getting through its MOT and still on the road. There's hope for us yet!
I bought mine in September 2020 with a plan to use it as my family car for 10 or so years, i'll be keeping hold of it for the foreseeable future, unless I get all 6 numbers then I think a 7 series or S class will be the new family runabout.
I have my own personal battle in my head and heart. I have a old 5.1 BiTDI on 140k miles now. It was an ex-company one owner vehicle before I bought it. Retro Resus went over it and gave me a list to work through. Everything baring the engine work I have done myself for the first time in 30 years. Really enjoyed it. I replaced the front end completly, the brakes, got some mint same wheels, all good quality tyres now, replaced a few broken items etc. RR put in a new DPF, and have helped me with the EGR (
).
It goes like hell, its doing anything between 30-40mpg, and its drinking oil at a rate of mayby 500-750mls per 1k miles depending how loaded it is. It starts first time. All not bad for a 140,000 mile BiTDI DSG 4motion I think. Everyone who sees it underneath, RR, tyre people and Hunter tracking guy, say how nice it is underneath. It looks better than some of the pictures I see on this site of van with half the milage. It was thrashed back and fouth to Amsterdam and London by a flower import business and owned by one of the directors. All foot to the floor big roads.
I tend to keep cars a while. We live right next to the new ULEZ expansion for Gt London (and its a 2014), but I dont go that way often and we also have a Merc EV we use 97% of the time. The van is for holidays (North Wales and Anglesea this year), Mtb's to the Surrey Hills and Swinley, Wales etc, Hiking weekends last month to the Quantocks and the odd collection of garden/building stuff. I am going to the Alps at Christmas in it (4motion is important) and we are planning to drive to Greece next summer. A Caravelle is brilliant for this. My first VW van and I want more. As soon as I can I want a T3 Syncro project, but in the meantime we need a practicle sometime second car. This works
If I am keeping this I need to put a new engine in it. £10k and RR will put in a new VW engine with injectors EGR and turbo. Or I sell it for nowt (burning oil BiTDI right!) and add £30k for a much newer and might also have engine issues (all Caravelle 4motions seem to be BiTDI's). If it wasnt for the ULEZ type issues that will impact this age of diesel more and more of I would just stick an engine in it and wait for all the ULEZ Euro7 type stuff to eventually drive it off the road.
).It goes like hell, its doing anything between 30-40mpg, and its drinking oil at a rate of mayby 500-750mls per 1k miles depending how loaded it is. It starts first time. All not bad for a 140,000 mile BiTDI DSG 4motion I think. Everyone who sees it underneath, RR, tyre people and Hunter tracking guy, say how nice it is underneath. It looks better than some of the pictures I see on this site of van with half the milage. It was thrashed back and fouth to Amsterdam and London by a flower import business and owned by one of the directors. All foot to the floor big roads.
I tend to keep cars a while. We live right next to the new ULEZ expansion for Gt London (and its a 2014), but I dont go that way often and we also have a Merc EV we use 97% of the time. The van is for holidays (North Wales and Anglesea this year), Mtb's to the Surrey Hills and Swinley, Wales etc, Hiking weekends last month to the Quantocks and the odd collection of garden/building stuff. I am going to the Alps at Christmas in it (4motion is important) and we are planning to drive to Greece next summer. A Caravelle is brilliant for this. My first VW van and I want more. As soon as I can I want a T3 Syncro project, but in the meantime we need a practicle sometime second car. This works
If I am keeping this I need to put a new engine in it. £10k and RR will put in a new VW engine with injectors EGR and turbo. Or I sell it for nowt (burning oil BiTDI right!) and add £30k for a much newer and might also have engine issues (all Caravelle 4motions seem to be BiTDI's). If it wasnt for the ULEZ type issues that will impact this age of diesel more and more of I would just stick an engine in it and wait for all the ULEZ Euro7 type stuff to eventually drive it off the road.
defo a top end swamper t3 and a nice tricked out t6 camper
Sure do, main reason I upgraded from my 5.1 to a 6.1 was because it was nicked and the insurers paid a lot out for both the vehicle and contents. I do occasionally have to go to London and making the replacement ULEZ compatible was on my agenda plus I am in Paris a fair bit and can only see it getting worse for low emission zones so bought the most up to date I could with a view to keeping it a LONG time. It is almost where I want it
Who do you insure with @archersam ?!Sure do, main reason I upgraded from my 5.1 to a 6.1 was because it was nicked and the insurers paid a lot out for both the vehicle and contents. I do occasionally have to go to London and making the replacement ULEZ compatible was on my agenda plus I am in Paris a fair bit and can only see it getting worse for low emission zones so bought the most up to date I could with a view to keeping it a LONG time. It is almost where I want it
Ah, they are pretty exclusive aren't they? I now remember the thread about expensive armchairs!
Yes I’m sure they are not competitive compared to others however peace of mind and simplicity is something I value so I am prepared to take it on the chin so to speak (let’s see when this renewal comes in).
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