Is this Campervan worth the advertised price?

Hi,

I'm a new member but have been viewing the forum for some time, and looking at vans for a good few months now.

We travelled to view a van yesterday that we are thinking of putting a deposit on this week. To us, based on what we've been looking at, it seems pretty good value. A fitted bike rack is also included. Would really appreciate some more knowledgeable members' thoughts on the van in general before we commit to the outlay!

Link to ad

My only reservations (cautious and tend to have some with every van we look at!):
- lots of people seem to say that air con is a must - is this your standard air con that runs when the engine is running, or something that cools e.g. overnight? Although the description lists air con, it didn't actually have any. We had only been looking at vans with, based on reading on this forum, but don't know if it's an essential. We don't plan to take the van abroad
- the ad lists 140 bhp, however after doing HPI check it lists 102 bhp. The van feels really quick and so think it has been remapped however no paperwork for this and dealer not sure - so wonder if it could have detrimental effect on engine in long term (don't know who did it) and also what to declare to insurer..

Cheers,
Marc
 
Looks nice, but for me air con is a deal breaker. Nearly £3k to have it retrofitted is a problem if you decide that you’d like to have it afterwards.
It gets hot in the uk as well as abroad, plus it removes the moisture from the van, which is of great benefit after you’ve been sleeping in it.
Also I wouldn’t have the 5speed, especially with a spurious map added. However, you could quite easily have it remapped again by a company familiar with this engine/gearbox combo for peace of mind that the map isn’t going to destroy the gearbox with too much torque.
Many have the 5 speed are are happy with them.
Also, if the dealer’s ‘not sure’ how can they tell you it’s 140bhp? Sounds fishy to me.
 
Cars, vans, houses, etc, what represents good value to one person might not to the next, it depends what you want and your circumstances.
I didn't see on the advert if it was Euro6 or Euro5, 2016 was a changeover year. For somebody wanting to use the van in a city that could be absolutely critical, for others it might not matter.
Again maybe not relevant to you but for me air conditioning is a must have, I'm not prepared to swelter without it. I can buy a car for a grand with air conditioning so I wouldn't expect to pay 30 times that and not have it.
My van is remapped, but by a reputable well known company, I'd be less happy to buy one with the possibility of an unknown map on it, especially with the less robust 5 speed gearbox.
Whatever you decide, good luck.
 
“THIS IS ONLY MY PERSONAL OPINION”
I wouldn’t buy that van for a whole host of reasons. It un-ticks a load of my boxes, not least:-
New conversion in a relatively old base spec van, this is akin to a 90yr old business tycoon taking a 20yr old pneumatic wife imho.
Barn doors
Front bench seat
5 speed
Engine been fiddled with
Knock on edging.
No aircon (but I can’t see where it says so tbh)
That’s just for starters, I’m sure there’d be more if I took a closer look.
I thinks as the recession bites, more vans will become available & prices will fall.
 
The camper is only as good as the base van underneath, don't get hooked on nice shiny conversion bits like the fancy steering wheel and seat trim (not saying you are by all means just trying to offer helpful advice/opinion). I would try and compare the spec van to other very similar age millage and spec panel vans on here and auto trader etc.
You would need take off the value of the conversion (note the seller is a converter so should be fairly easy to work this out, they list at 17K which feels a lot but as they have shared it I would take with a pinch of salt) then see what you left with. At this age van (7 years?) big key consideration would be its past history and maintenance, granted it wont guarantee reliability but its as good as start as any.

A consideration of the conversion cost is that as its pre-done you may be paying for bits that dont suit your individual needs. Also I would want to know the brand and quality of the components, eg. pop top make/model, fridge make/model, battery specification and rock and roll bed make/model. These can make a big difference to the cost when comparing. this will be key when comparing finished vans.

Personally, I would want to spend most of my budget on getting the best van I can, prolonging the longevity of cost of the the conversion spent on it. Easier said than done as obviously as has to be affordable (as much as can be for a VW) and be suited for every budget. You can upgrade conversions bits on the way but its much harder to upgrade the fundamentals of the van.

My personal opinion echo's some of the comments above, Aircon is a must for me and I would definitely want more information on the mapping and any modifications. Its a very basic spec van underneath but the added bonus is it should make it cheaper so there are positives to that too. A higher spec usually means higher cost so its all in balance depending on budget.

The air con referred to is the standard aircon you have running when engine is on same as a car. Not many (if any, I believe have any aircon when the engine is off)

and most of all welcome and good luck!!
 
DaveD said:
Cars, vans, houses, etc, what represents good value to one person might not to the next, it depends what you want and your circumstances.
I didn't see on the advert if it was Euro6 or Euro5, 2016 was a changeover year. For somebody wanting to use the van in a city that could be absolutely critical, for others it might not matter.
Again maybe not relevant to you but for me air conditioning is a must have, I'm not prepared to swelter without it. I can buy a car for a grand with air conditioning so I wouldn't expect to pay 30 times that and not have it.
My van is remapped, but by a reputable well known company, I'd be less happy to buy one with the possibility of an unknown map on it, especially with the less robust 5 speed gearbox.
Whatever you decide, good luck.
Click to expand...
65 plate would be euro 5 I believe
 
Thank you all so much for taking the time to respond! What a great welcome to the forum, some really valuable information to consider on this one and future vans.

We are going to keep looking for the perfect van, hoping to have something by March so there is time yet.. our worry is that prices will start to increase as winter becomes spring becomes summer. But then the cost of living etc. may cause prices to fall further! Who knows o_O Are you guys seeing prices come down?

We did have air con on our nice to have but sounds like it should be a must. I don't think I've ever had a car without so can't really envisage what it would be like on hot days.
 
I think prices are slowly coming down! Ideally you would want to start off with a trend line or highline for air con highline comes with a few more things as standard mfsw sensors etc but these I believe can also come on a trend line if option box ticked!
The problem is these conversion company’s are generally starting off with basic startline vans as they are cheaper then putting in pretty basic camper conversions and charging a fortune!
Don’t get me wrong people are happy with these conversions and are sacrificing little luxuries like air con etc but for that sort of money I wouldn’t be without them
 
Better buying a honest good base van and spec/build to how you want.
Also go and try and test a few different vans with options and spec.

When I looked for our current kombi I’d put things into three sections NEED, CANT RETRO FIT/(hard expensive to retro fit)
COMPROMISE.

Don’t compromise on things because something looks/sounds a good deal, don’t “make it work”.

As said above a lot more vans will and are becoming available.

Noticed my local van centre has alot more stock in new and slightly used.
 
marc.07 said:
Hi,

I'm a new member but have been viewing the forum for some time, and looking at vans for a good few months now.

We travelled to view a van yesterday that we are thinking of putting a deposit on this week. To us, based on what we've been looking at, it seems pretty good value. A fitted bike rack is also included. Would really appreciate some more knowledgeable members' thoughts on the van in general before we commit to the outlay!

Link to ad

My only reservations (cautious and tend to have some with every van we look at!):
- lots of people seem to say that air con is a must - is this your standard air con that runs when the engine is running, or something that cools e.g. overnight? Although the description lists air con, it didn't actually have any. We had only been looking at vans with, based on reading on this forum, but don't know if it's an essential. We don't plan to take the van abroad
- the ad lists 140 bhp, however after doing HPI check it lists 102 bhp. The van feels really quick and so think it has been remapped however no paperwork for this and dealer not sure - so wonder if it could have detrimental effect on engine in long term (don't know who did it) and also what to declare to insurer..

Cheers,
Marc
Click to expand...
Hi Marc,

Looks lovely but TBH i,d stay away. if they cannot get the AD right. Attention to details sells in my book.
Whatever you do, welcome and hope to see you on the road 1 day.
 
I would strongly advise renting a couple of campervans from different convertors that will tell you alot about what works for you and what does not!
Its what we did and we ended up with the right van for us.
Good luck in your search!
 
Thank you all! :cool:

A few have suggested renting, we have done so before but it was a Fiat Ducato which needless to say we are not looking to now buy one!
 
marc.07 said:
No, it was being viewed by others in the same week.

Glad it sold as it was a nice van just not perfect for us :)
Click to expand...
Bear in mind that you’ve now strayed into a world of VW geeks & nerds. The person who bought that van is probably very happy with it, as he/she/it doesn’t know any different. Now you’ve been snared by the collective, your standards will be higher & your choices fewer.
Ignorance is bliss.
 
Salty Spuds said:
Bear in mind that you’ve now strayed into a world of VW geeks & nerds. The person who bought that van is probably very happy with it, as he/she/it doesn’t know any different. Now you’ve been snared by the collective, your standards will be higher & your choices fewer.
Ignorance is bliss.
Click to expand...
and your wallet (or purse) significantly lighter
 
marc.07 said:
No, it was being viewed by others in the same week.

Glad it sold as it was a nice van just not perfect for us :)
Click to expand...
If you want to hire a van you are welcome to hire mine. The conversion was done by Denby so might give you an insight to what their conversion offers
 
T6ChrisO said:
If you want to hire a van you are welcome to hire mine. The conversion was done by Denby so might give you an insight to what their conversion offers
Click to expand...
Think denby near me would also let you rent/hire a van for the day.
Or at worse they have a “range” of vans with different options that are built for you to take a look at
 
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