Above 100,000 miles: Ford/Chevy/Dodge vans?
Hello all! I am planning to move up to a full sized van. In my price range that usually means over 100k miles. I have not ruled out a Class B, but I think I prefer the DIY route -- buying a plain...
Forum Discussion
Hi Naio! We've got a little Mom/Pop used car lot, and we tend to sell a lot of used work vehicles. I have "borrowed" vans for camping purposes (using a cot, a portable camp kitchen, and a Luggable Loo); and most of ours have had 100k+ miles on them. Here's MY take:
They're all pretty much the same size. The Fords and Chevies have about 9' of floor space from the back of the seats to the back doors. The extended lengths will hold a 12' roll of carpet.
Here in Michigan, the Dodges rust like crazy, and seem to get the worst MPGs
We usually sell Fords because the resale on Chevies is higher. Our all-time "gem" was a Chevy 1500 with over 250k miles and ran like a charm - was sold to a man who drove it to Mexico!! (It came from a Red Cross fleet, so had good care all its life)
The E-150s are just great vans - Ed says the small V-8s are "bulletproof". They are also a dime-a-dozen, so getting parts, etc is easy.
Always ask for a Car Fax (or Auto Check) from a dealer - maybe sign up with them yourself so you can check out private vehicles. I'm not saying that having a transmission replaced will always show up on one of those, but they DO catch mileage discrepancies, etc.
Right now, they seem to be harder to find at a good price in our area - we haven't had any vans on the lot in many months :-(
They're all pretty much the same size. The Fords and Chevies have about 9' of floor space from the back of the seats to the back doors. The extended lengths will hold a 12' roll of carpet.
Here in Michigan, the Dodges rust like crazy, and seem to get the worst MPGs
We usually sell Fords because the resale on Chevies is higher. Our all-time "gem" was a Chevy 1500 with over 250k miles and ran like a charm - was sold to a man who drove it to Mexico!! (It came from a Red Cross fleet, so had good care all its life)
The E-150s are just great vans - Ed says the small V-8s are "bulletproof". They are also a dime-a-dozen, so getting parts, etc is easy.
Always ask for a Car Fax (or Auto Check) from a dealer - maybe sign up with them yourself so you can check out private vehicles. I'm not saying that having a transmission replaced will always show up on one of those, but they DO catch mileage discrepancies, etc.
Right now, they seem to be harder to find at a good price in our area - we haven't had any vans on the lot in many months :-(
