Conversion Van for Growing Family

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lifeisbeautiful said:
Ohh, I met a girl at the Post Office with one of those, she had bought it like 600 miles away. They run on diesel, right? I wonder if there are any used ones around.
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I wanted one of those, too. We did find a used one - all the way in Chicago - for $30,000! I bet the price will go down, though, after they become more readily available used. Our ATA public transportation uses one. I’m kinda hoping they’ll sell it to us soon. The other problem is service - you have to have it done at a Dodge dealer. For us that’s about an 80 mile trip!
 
just emailed this link to all 3 daughters, who all drive vans now–#3 already found a used one on e-bay
 
HouseArrest said:
I wanted one of those, too. We did find a used one - all the way in Chicago - for $30,000! I bet the price will go down, though, after they become more readily available used. Our ATA public transportation uses one. I’m kinda hoping they’ll sell it to us soon. The other problem is service - you have to have it done at a Dodge dealer. For us that’s about an 80 mile trip!
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Do you know if they sell them with captain chairs? I kind of like the idea of walking down between the kids, though it would seat less people…
 
lifeisbeautiful said:
Do you know if they sell them with captain chairs? I kind of like the idea of walking down between the kids, though it would seat less people…
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I haven’t seen the inside of the ATA bus. I just see it driving by all the time.

I had a hard time finding one that was even used as a passenger van. Most on the internet were used as cargo vans, though they are supposed to be designed for both cargo and people. The one I finally did find was your typical rows of bench seats.
 
lifeisbeautiful said:
Does anyone have any advice they would like to share with someone looking into purchasing a conversion van? We have been looking for a new (pref. used) vehicle for a while, and it seems like we are getting to a point where we might have to purchase one within the next month, if not definitely before this baby arrives, our 6th family member. We wanted something with 9 seats or more (less than 15 if possible), and it seems like we will be getting a conversion van. I know they have a higher center of gravity, but aside from that, is there anything else you think we should know? Any advice as to what to look for, what to avoid, etc. We travel a lot (we might be going 2k miles away pretty soon) and right now we have a 3 yr old, a 2 yr old and a soon to be 1 yr old, so we need car seat space and accessibility. We were also wondering if anyone knows if there are any vans that sell a bench seat that can replace two captain seats if we were to outgrow the 9 seater.
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Well, we only had 5 but we carpooled alot. In '96 we bought a Dodge Grand Caravan. It only sat 7. That was a great car for a lot of reasons. However, being a Chrysler, it was in the shop alot. But it was cheap enough to get the extended warranty so you pay more over time. What was great was that there were plenty of cup holders, places to stash stuff, room to move around. 5 years later I replaced my K5 blazer with a GMC YukonXL. Great truck. And good for long distance. It has been very reliable but has some obnoxious features, but overall, it’s a great cross country vehicle. It only seats 8.

After the Dodge died, we got a Honda. We liked it because it has a removable jump seat (Toyota has it too) so it can seat 8. However, if motion sickness is an issue with your family, I wouldn’t recommend it. It was pricier than the Dodge but has been more reliable. Although it’s in the shop for the third time for something that is broken. (26 months, so far)

So that’s our story. Happy hunting!
 
I know this is an old thread, but I tought I would add some comments.

My wife and I have five kids. We bought a new 2001 Town and Country way back in 2001. It now has 170K miles on it, no working AC, intermittent heat (Worse than no AC), and a blower fan stuck on high. We are sick of pumping money into it.

We found a dealer that had Dodge Sprinter’s in stock around 180 miles away. We begged my parents to watch the three oldest so we could go take a test drive. We just did that on Saturday. We drove a 2008 Sprinter passenger van. My wife was intimidated at first due to the size of the van, but after we got going, the thing drives almost like a minivan. I really like the 10 passenger seats in back. No more fighting kids looking for space.

Dodge is trying to clear out the older 2008 models. We were quoted $38,000 for brand new van. This included the add-on rear heat and AC unit which really made the van comfortable anywhere we sat. The price we were quoted was almost $11,000 off of sticker price. It is still a lot of money for us. We want to build or buy a newer house soon as well.

We really have outgrown the T&C. All seats are full and there is not much space in back with a stroller in tow. I think we are going to take the plunge and pray everything else works out for the best.

We looked at the Chevy express as well, but the gas mileage was almost half what the sprinter gets. The sprinter is said to get between 25 and 30 Mpg on the highway. I think after a few years of higher gas prices the diesel engine will really save us some money.

It is nice how God presents opportunites just when you need them. I would appreciate cheaper opportunites as well. :gopray:
 
Just don’t bring your crew to my house. We don’t need conversion. I did enough door knocking to convert other people to the Lord’s church that we just don’t like it when those conversion vans drop off fundamentalist evangelicals to convert us.😉
 
Our family of 7 has a conversion van. It’s big - and we all fit nicely… and it can tow our pop up camper so it works for us. We bought it off the lot new, but it was actually two years old so we got it for around $18K. It has all the bells and whistles… DVD player and leather seats. It’s very comfortable.

My biggest complaint is it’s rear wheel drive so it’s very tricky on the ice. I just go really slowly. After reading that other post, I’m not sure how safe or unsafe it is? My husband and I are both good drivers… and I sprinkle holy water on it and pray for God’s protection before any road trips. What more can I do? 🤷
 
FIrst of all.GOD bless you both and all of the family…in an age of small families being chick and PC you are right on…as a dad of seven I know how you feel…we owned a station wagon when the kids were young and that was good enough…at the drive in we could then flatten out the back and they would go to sleep in their jamies. Strange how so many of the wise ones would tease me when the babies kept arriving…‘only have as many as you can send to college or feed etc’ and all seven of our kids are college grads…they all earned some kind of scholarship and those that gave me unwanted and unasked for advice had maybe one and it was a pothead…go figure,again ,we had a station wagon and it did its job…now in the smithsonian I think…all the best…N
 
There is a buisness called “Rent an RV” or “RV for Rent” google them and you can find out. I think they have some links for used RV’s and conversion vans for sale.

Hope this helps!
 
I know where you can purchase what you need, a van if this is current. Just send me an email at lp_2vehs@yahoo.com and we can discuss about the detail. I feel awkward discussing it here. Hope you understand. Thank you. God bless.
 
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