r/nextfuckinglevel 17h ago

The Transformation of a Van

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u/InternationalRead925 17h ago

I'm guessing that cost a bit of cash.

63

u/Rex51230 17h ago

Those vans have a base price of 100k add in the renovations and probably close to 150k cheap for a house but it's not a house it's an rv

24

u/aagusgus 16h ago

And you could buy a ready made RV for significantly less.

24

u/NorthTempleStreet 15h ago

Or, you know, a house in the Midwest

3

u/AndreasVesalius 10h ago

Does it drive tho?

3

u/amalgaman 10h ago

Depending on where it is, it has the potential to be a boat.

3

u/zkareface 14h ago

These are way more secure in a crash than a regular RV though.

1

u/anastis 14h ago

How come?

3

u/zkareface 14h ago

Regular RVs usually have wood pillars, the whole cabin just turn into splinters in a crash.

Example when they crash tested some RVs here few years ago https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuNOarORALM

This is our government agency responsible for roads (so including all safety around them).

The vans are usually built like a car and will crash like one.

3

u/mrlt10 14h ago

Yes, but the appeal of these vans is that you can take them off-roading to spots you could never dream of taking an RV. That’s assuming you get the 4WD version. Raise it a bit and throw on some large off-roading tires to have good clearance then upgrade the suspension and you can take it on truck trails to spots most people can only access if they’re willing to hike for days at a time.

1

u/breadwhore 8h ago

Depends what you want to haul around. There's value to not having something giant you're dragging on the road.

1

u/AdjunctFunktopus 6h ago

If I had one of these, I could park it at my house and occasionally use it as a tow vehicle for my little trailer. It’s even small enough that I could use it as a spare vehicle if my daily went down for a couple days.

Ironically, I do have a shitty RV (that I hate) and wouldn’t dream of parking it at my house or using it for anything beyond its intended purpose. But I bought it in a moment of weakness when I should have bought a pop top minivan.

The RV technically has a full kitchen, bathroom and more space. But it sucks at everything else.

Also 4-7 mpg means I don’t drive it anywhere.

And it’s an RV, so I can’t get to the cool campgrounds that are cheaper. Or just park it on the road for a stealthy sleep.

And it’s so wide, it’s a pain in the ass to drive in traffic or construction.

And when it breaks down (because it’s a shitty RV that I bought in a moment of weakness) it’s too big for car dealers to look at, so I have to hunt for a shop that’ll touch it. And I have to pay for the big tow trucks.

A newer one would probably suck much less, but given the choice I’d rather have the van.