New to expandas, looking for my first van

[Nicoloks]

Hi All,

Spend a good amount of time in my grandparents caravan growing up in the 80's of which I have great memories. Now I have a family of my own, looking to take the plunge on a used panda to hopefully create similar memories for my kids.

Looks like there is a lot of knowledge on these forums, hoping I can absorb some of it and all going well help some other newbies in the years to come.

 

[Bluey]

What van or size you looking for and more importantly whats the tow car are you another member of the 200 club
It is good my kids love the van and yes in years to come when im long gone they will say my dad took us camping everywhere we create great memories every time we hook up too many city kids now days dont go camping

 

[Nicoloks]

200 club? Ah, no. I'm far more down the peasent end of tow vehicles. I have a MY14 VW Amarok TDI 420.

As for vans, I'll be looking at a 2010+ model 16.49-1 pop top panda. Again at the peasent end with a van budget of around $25k (maybe a touch more). Won't be looking to do anything seriously off road, though we do intend to do a good bit of off grid camping. As such, vans with higher capacity water storage, solar/battery setups, good ground clearance (without necessarily being Outbacks) will be of interest. Wife and I have been tent camping for the past 20 years, kids have known nothing else. I think even a poptop van is going to change the way we do camping.

Too right about city kids not getting enough connection with nature. Both my wife and I are country kids who moved to the city for uni / employment. Once we had our second kid I could see they weren't getting much contact outside of the zoo. We made the tree change about 4 years ago and moved out of the city, now have almost unlimited free and NP camping options within a few hours of us in every direction.

 

[1DayIll]

I thought my kids were over it, now 18 and 23, but they still love going away.

 

[Nicoloks]

I thought my kids were over it, now 18 and 23, but they still love going away.

That is really great, I hope that is the case with my boys who are 4 and 7. My sister did a 3 month half lap with her partner and three girls (7, 11 & 13 at the time I think) about 18 months ago and said it was the best they'd all ever gotten along. Have to admit though it is kind of at the back of my mind that come teenage years they may want to be doing something else. Sounds a long way away, but it has taken us almost two years to hone in on what kind of van get and to save enough money to make it happen. Tree changes are great for the soul, but poor for the wallet.

 

[1DayIll]

You just work around them a bit. Daughter has a tent and now son has a swag. did 3 months 10 years ago and it was fantastic.

 

[Bluey]

Theres no pesants ....... we just have diffrent stuff evan if your not going off road to much an outback van if affordable is the way to go it only has better suspension realy ...and better clerance

 

[Crusty181]

200 club? Ah, no. I'm far more down the peasent end of tow vehicles. I have a MY14 VW Amarok TDI 420.

As for vans, I'll be looking at a 2010+ model 16.49-1 pop top panda. Again at the peasent end with a van budget of around $25k (maybe a touch more). Won't be looking to do anything seriously off road, though we do intend to do a good bit of off grid camping. As such, vans with higher capacity water storage, solar/battery setups, good ground clearance (without necessarily being Outbacks) will be of interest. Wife and I have been tent camping for the past 20 years, kids have known nothing else. I think even a poptop van is going to change the way we do camping.

Too right about city kids not getting enough connection with nature. Both my wife and I are country kids who moved to the city for uni / employment. Once we had our second kid I could see they weren't getting much contact outside of the zoo. We made the tree change about 4 years ago and moved out of the city, now have almost unlimited free and NP camping options within a few hours of us in every direction.

Welcome @Nicoloks. Weight will be your enemy with regards to what you can add to a van. Jayco payload is a fixture dependant on model. The 16.49.1 is a single axel non shower model so the payload is 300kg. And options that are on the van which werent factory supplied eat into that 300kg. Water and gas also come off that 300kg allowance. Adding additional water tanks, solar etc will have a dramatic effect on the rated capacity and likely very quickly render the van over loaded

Dont poo poo the older 16.49.1s ... many of us here have very fond memories in them