That's about as small as C's have been, since they stopped building them on Toyota chassis, length, width, height, weight, and capacities. It is built on a 7275 pound Eurovan (T4, globally). The chassis is good to carry what it is rated to carry, but the house uses up almost all of that rating. It is reliable as a VW, which is considered pretty good in most of the world.
The main issue one may have with the VW part of the package is finding a dealer to service it. The Eurovan was imported to the U.S. only briefly, into a dealer network not equipped to service trucks. Many VW dealers would not service the van, and didn't have the space or equipment to work with a house built on top of the van. Of course, there is a similar issue with other platforms, not all Ford or Chevy dealers will service larger trucks or motorhomes, but there is a network of truck servicing dealers, has been for at least 80 years.
Next size up, from that time, would be a small C built on 10,700 pound Ford E-350, 12,300 pound Chevy 3500. Most manufacturers were making a model or two on those platforms 22 to 23 foot long, similar floorplans to the Vista, but roomier, and a whole lot more capacity left for you to use. Examples would be Winnebago's Minnie 22E and 22R. Only a foot longer than the Vista on a Ford (Chevy need yet another foot for the longer cab), about a foot taller, more than a foot wider, and even empty a ton to a ton and a half heavier. Some manufacturers were building their 22 footers on the 14,050 pound E-450, those could have a whole lot of spare carrying capacity. There were similar 22-23 foot models from Fleetwood, FourWinds, Gulfstream, Coachmen, and Forest River, in the "entry level" lines.
Later in the decade, RV manufacturers tried to "downsize" again, Winnebago first, building the View on a 11,030 pound Sprinter chassis. This was 23 1/2 to 24 1/2 foot long, about the same height but a foot narrower than the large C's being built on Ford and Chevy chassis. But not really as small as the earlier small Cs, which were starting to disappear from retail lines, while still made for rental.
The Sprinter C's tended to be furnished as premium models, much more expensive than Ford or Chevy, because the higher cost of the M-B Sprinter chassis made it impossible to get to entry level prices, so there was no point in trying to build a low cost house. Just letting you know, if you find Sprinters they will cost more.
If you are looking for something small, and relatively inexpensive, you might consider the two smallest rental models being built for, and sold used by, CruiseAmerica. There is a "sleeps four" Majestic 19G built on E-350, actually shorter (but substantially heavier) than the old Vista. I've seen nothing quite like this retail, for many years, it is something built to rental fleet needs.
Next size up (represented by something in every manufacturers model lines) would be the "sleeps six"rear corner bed C (about 24 foot) which may be on either E-350 or E-450, and some on Chevy Express 3500. At CruiseAmerica this is the Majestic 23A, but you don't have to go there, because 1990-2006 before the industry collapse, everybody was making one of these in their entry level and rental lines. It was almost as popular as the "sleeps 7" rear-queen 28-foot everybody made.
Tom Test
Itasca Spirit 29B
