Best Used Vans To Buy
When the minivan came on the scene way back in 1983, it was an unequivocal success here in the United States. As soon as Dodge and (now defunct) Plymouth began to sell the Voyager and Grand Caravan, families found much to love in their roomy interiors, fair gas mileage, and various configurations. The 80s or 90s kids undoubtedly have fond memories of piling into minivans with all of their friends and heading to school or soccer practice.
best used vans to buy
Fortunately, many manufacturers have continued to build minivans for families looking for the ultimate companion that excels at shuttling around people and all their stuff. This article will cover the 8 best minivans based on their reliability and overall rating with reviewers and owners alike.
Chrysler knows a thing or two about minivans, and it shows in the 2015 Town and Country design. Although it pulls in a lower reliability rating than the stalwart Honda, it bests the Sienna in reliability. Its real calling card is its interior flexibility and luxurious appointments that impress owners and reviewers alike.
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In the US, there are a good number of excellent options for vans amenable to conversion into mobile camper-style homes. Sure, Europe has even more choice, but there are upsides to choosing a van made stateside, such as greater availability, lower costs overall, and easier repairs.
Highlights: A variety of available models allow you to choose the one best suited for your particular needs and wants with a generously-sized cabin that makes for a particularly comfortable drive. Best for a single person, or a minimalist couple.
Ford Transits are known for their maneuverability and are narrower than many other vans popular for conversion for mobile living. This may make the Transit a great choice to tuck into narrower spaces, but could also cramp your conversion style. That said, the shape of these vans makes it easy to add wood paneling and other interior touches without a lot of hassle.
Highlights: The Vauxhall Movano boasts a choice between automatic or manual transmission with a fuel efficient diesel engine while being one of the tallest vans around, but can be notoriously difficult to find new in the US.
The Vauxhall Movano is one of the tallest vans around, with a fiberglass roof that lends itself well to some fun custom builds (such as installing a log-burning stove!). On the shorter side, the Movano is easy to park, but does come in three different heights and four different lengths. Even in the shorter length builds, the Movano offers decent cargo space.
There are so many great older van models on the used car market, so which do you choose? If you're looking for the best work van on a budget, you should be aware of which models have the features you'd like to get. Learn about the capabilities of the best pre-owned work van models below.
The 2015 Ford Transit is the first of Ford's current-generation Transit lines on the market, often considered one of the best work van models. These vehicles are well known for their dependability, and they are commonly sought after for commercial use regardless of their depreciation. You can get an older Transit model for around $27,000 to $42,000.
Your operators will enjoy this model because it drives as smoothly as a compact car, but it has enough cargo space for most equipment and tools. The Transit Connect is a hot van on the used car market, and you can usually find one starting at $14,000. Most Transit Connects sell for up to $27,000.
General Motors offers work vans on a truck chassis with great dependability regardless of the number of miles. Although these vans are less modern than some of the other options, operators like the Express and Savana for their powerful engines and towing capabilities. These vans have remained largely unchanged since 1996, so if you buy an older model, it will offer about the same features as a more expensive new model.
This is the vehicle that replaced the C/V Tradesman, and as the successor, it has more modern features. The ProMaster City holds the best-in-class cargo capacity, with plenty of space for transporting heavy equipment, appliances or packages. Its engine is a 2.4-liter Tigershark inline-4, offering horsepower of 178, torque of 174 lb-ft and a payload of 1,855 lbs.
Sprinter vans are another of the most popular tall cargo work vehicles and have been sold under Volkswagen, Dodge and other brands. With the new 2022 Sprinter in circulation, the older models continue to lower in price. The Sprinter tends to be a more expensive vehicle, and you can expect to pay up to $60,000 even for a used model.
A dealer will know more about different makes and models. If you buy from a dealer, you can ask about other vehicles to get the best for your needs. You can also enjoy the safety of a warranty and professional inspection.
The Nissan NV200 is an affordable compact cargo van that boasts similar functionalities to other compact cargo van models. It contains a small body frame, which makes it easy to maneuver. Although you can find better gas mileage and power in the models listed above, the NV200 is generally sold at a noticeably lower price than its competitors. The NV200 is a safe, cost-effective choice for those looking to own a compact cargo van with solid capabilities. You can find a used Nissan NV200 on Autotrader going anywhere from $12,000 to $21,000.
One of the major attractions of buying your used cargo van from a private seller is their profound knowledge of the vehicle that they are selling. Since many private sellers have previously owned the vehicle that they are selling and deal with a much lower volume of vehicles compared to a dealership, they are able to deliver important insights to customers.
Take into account the amount of past recalls that certain cargo van models have undergone. Similar to salvage titles, recalls present a nuisance that can affect your finances and safety. Avoid the risk of purchasing a used recalled cargo van model if possible. If you do consider the purchase of a used cargo van with a past or active recall, take the right step by inquiring from the previous owner about its repair history on the affected parts.
When taking used vans out on the roads, find a safe, straight piece of road on which you can test out the brakes. A brake test will help you to determine whether the brakes have a solid feel and whether you stop in a straight line. When testing the brakes, listen out for squealing or grinding noises.
A Mercedes Sprinter is considered one of the best vans for van life, even though it has a heftier price tag than similar vans in its class. We chose a Sprinter van as our second camper van due to its 44 capabilities, clearance, diesel engine and resale value.
The Chevy Astro van is one of the best affordable vans you can live in. These sturdy cargo and passenger vans have a cult following, with people either jacking them up to make them off-road capable, or lowering them.
Each Nissan NV200 is powered by a 4-cylinder, 2.0-liter engine, which offers less power than similar vans, like the Ford Transit Connect and Mercedes Metris. That means it also hauls less weight than other vans of a similar size.
While there are always exceptions, the bread and butter of Experimental aviation has always been sport aircraft. Like sports cars, sport aircraft tend to be small, fast, fun and a lot of times, aerobatic. Either that or minimalist and cheap. All are predominantly two seaters. Meanwhile, the certified side has focused primarily on serious traveling machines and/or highly utilitarian workhorses with usually four or more seats. For decades the two markets rarely crossed over or competed with each other.
With modern CAD design and a new non-NACA airfoil, the end product, the RV-10, met or exceeded all of the design parameters and has truly been an amazing success. As of this writing, about 1000 RV-10s are flying and almost 2400 kits have been started. Kit sales of late are reported to be better than ever, and the market on nice used ones is hot.
The RV-10 not only bested its certified competition in several aspects, but also fundamentally changed the E/A-B market. Traditionally, a nice Experimental sport plane could be expected to hold a resale value at roughly the cost of the project, simply because that was what pilots looking for sport aircraft were willing to pay.
In the early days, James Aircraft offered a Holy Cowl product for the RV-10 with trendy round air intakes and claimed lower drag. It was often used with a plenum. However, many early adopters struggled with heat-related issues and the product was discontinued. A few remain and they look great and should have the heat issues sorted out by now.
The first factory fix was a magnet-based indication system that was supposed to alert the pilot when not all pins were in the correct position. When problems continued, the second factory solution was a simple spring clasp that secures the center part of the lower door to the doorsill and prevents it from bowing out in flight. It was simple and supplied free to retrofit but not well received by the marketplace, mostly for its aesthetics. In a rare besting by the aftermarket, a Utah shop called PlaneAround LLC developed a brilliant solution to the problem called the RV-10 Door Center Cam. It meshes (literally) an angled rotating cam into the original mechanism that grabs the doorsill and pulls the door in and holds it securely.
The other recent service bulletin concerning the RV-10 landing gear requires inspecting the gear weldments bolted to the main wing spar under the main cabin seats. There have been a few reports, generally from heavily used aircraft, of cracks in the support structure and aft part of the footwell skins. The weldment design has been changed in new kits and retro kits are available. But changeout is neither required nor encouraged unless verified cracking is documented because both weldments must be changed together and significant redrilling is required. Just a heads-up. 041b061a72