Date: Sun, 27 Mar 2011 01:30:48 -0500
Reply-To: Jeff Palmer <jpalmer@MYMTS.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Jeff Palmer <jpalmer@MYMTS.NET>
Subject: Re: camper conversion other than Volkswagen
In-Reply-To: <524797FBDFE54F7EA2D9C28411B5C875@troyb5bff49d63>
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My boss has a Roadtrek (I believe they are made in Kitchener Ontario) and I have an 85 Westfalia. We are very different people and neither our cars nor ourselves have much in common.
My van cost $10,000 in 1993 and is probably worth about that much today. The Roadtrek is $75 or so and probably depreciates about $10k a year.
My van is nice and simple. Small footprint literally and figuratively. My boss (and his unit) carry a rather large footprint. I suspect he's compensating for something :)
My van is small and nimble enough to be a daily driver in the city. My boss only brings his out for special occasions like the 4 week holiday he takes every year. Which is a holiday for me too but that's another story.
I guess that while I think Roadtreks are quality units, they are bulky and represent poor value. $75-85k is a ton of money for what you get - and there isn't tons of usable space in a Roadtrek. Roadtreks are not versatile - you would never drive one on a daily basis. Apples and oranges.
You can get a pretty nice Class C for that money, can't you?
If you need to shower, poop in your van and nuke your microwave dinner in your unit then the Roadtrek is right for you.
Now those James Cook/Sprinter thingys or whatever they're called - that's another story!
Jeff
On 2011-03-25, at 5:50 PM, Troy wrote:
> I have read many times that there are no replacements for our beloved vanagon. I largely agree. I was looking at the T5, aka "CALIFORNIA", and in the comments one person mentioned how lucky we are in the US to have Roadtrek's. I really had never heard of Roadtrek, but a quick Google search revealed all kinds of information. This is basically a small class B. motorhome, er van conversion. These are built on either a Dodge 2500 chassis, or the newer ones are on a Chevy 3500 chassis. They are 17 feet long (smallest) and about a foot wider than a vanagon.
>
> They had a 3 Cu.³ refrigerator (3 way), hot water heater, furnace, motorized fan in skylight, a toilet, indoor shower, tons of storage, 26 gallon freshwater tank, graywater tank, black water tank, 8 pound propane capacity, and a generator which runs an air conditioner and microwave (yuck), but I may change my mind when it was 100° outside;) auxiliary battery, swivel seats, airbags, antilock brakes, and well a bunch of other things. They kind of remind me of an adventure wagon in some ways for height, but are a bit wider. You would need a 9 foot garage door to put them inside, as I think they are about 8 feet tall. Surprisingly, they get close to 20 miles to the gallon. Engine is a 318 V8.
>
> A brand-new one would set you back probably $85,000, but there are some very nice low mileage ones at under 30K and higher mileage ones at about 15K. Seems like all the complaints that we talk about with our westy are addressed in one of these. Yes, there are drawbacks too. About 9 inches of ground clearance versus about 11 for a vanagon, longer wheelbase, but still van size. The newer ones have limited slip differentials and four-wheel-drive options. Motorized seats, leather interiors, etc.
>
> I have only seen one of these in person and liked the layout. Does anyone have any comments good or bad about these? I know virtually nothing about them other than what's been mentioned above. An alternative to a westy? or junk?
>
> Troy
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