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I'm going to be looking for a used van but don't have a lot of experience or knowledge.
Not too concerned about age (within reason) just looking for a mechanically sound reliable brand, and would like to stay under the 10K range if possible.
Someone suggested buying a Dodge, but then I read they're not good, so now I'm confused.
It will be a second daily driver short distances, and used as a camper for road trips a few times a year.
just to add, we run our stuff, cradle to grave and we have always run gas. our mechanic is diesel challenged. the chevy vans have run into or close to 300k miles and the others did not. we are pretty meticulous about preventive maintenance. we also don't live in an area with salty roads, so rust was never an issue with any of the three brands mentioned.
I'm going to be looking for a used van but don't have a lot of experience or knowledge.
Not too concerned about age (within reason) just looking for a mechanically sound reliable brand, and would like to stay under the 10K range if possible.
Someone suggested buying a Dodge, but then I read they're not good, so now I'm confused.
It will be a second daily driver short distances, and used as a camper for road trips a few times a year.
Thanks in advance for your replies.
I've seen better results out of the Ford's but the Chevy's are good, too.
Dodge vans are third.......by a mile. In your price range I would not even consider Dodge as a reasonable option.
just to add, we run our stuff, cradle to grave and we have always run gas. our mechanic is diesel challenged. the chevy vans have run into or close to 300k miles and the others did not. we are pretty meticulous about preventive maintenance. we also don't live in an area with salty roads, so rust was never an issue with any of the three brands mentioned.
My neighbor has a V8 E250 van and hrs at about 300,000. Hrs replacing the engine. But he’s a heavy equipment mechanic and the van gets worked hard. 300,000 isn’t a bad amount of miles. If you get 309k trouble free miles you’re getting your moneys worth out of that vehicle
It depends on your purpose and which model you are looking at and how old. Since the 1980s the only really good passenger van (full sized) has been the Chevy Express.
We have had a number of them. None had any rust. Our current one - a 2006 with 220,000 miles (ish) is doing fine and does not have rust. It does have some suspension issues but nothing major (we live in michigan where all cars have suspension issues). We never had one lose an engine. One had trans go out, the other had the Cat converters plug up - we removed and bypassed them but that created other issues. When it ha some suspension issues and an electrical problem we junked it. The missing cats messed up the whole system anyway so mileage and performance was noticeably impaired. Replacing both cats was $2500. Not worth it for van over 200K miles.
Our current van, the biggest issue it has had was an electrical issue that took almost two months to find. Turned out it was a short in a wire running above the neutral safety switch (I replaced the NSS, but did not see the short). This thing has been a home on the road for us for over a hundred thousand miles (it had 70 k miles when we got it). We crossed the country in both directions in it several times. Even at 220K we are preparing to drive it to Texas (from Micvhigan) and back. Just need to replace the tires first.
I haven't seen any of the older Dodge Ram vans on the road in a long time. I don't think you'd go wrong with either the Ford or the GM van. I still see older examples of both on the road quite frequently.
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