Anyone use their van as their primary commuter?

[philos]

Generally I daily my 7.3, but I recently traded work for an ugly Subaru and it's a nice break every couple few days to have a quiet ride to client meetings. Parking the Subie in tight lots is so much better.
If the Passat makes you happy when it's in proper order, I'd fix and keep it but still drive both for maximum piloting pleasure.
I'd not give too much weight to the economic value/waste when arriving from your commute with a smile on your face despite traffic, etc is a possibility.


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[ihatemybike]

My vans have usually been my daily drivers.

Had use of my sister-in-law's 1995 Toyota Corrolla after they moved out of state and left it behind for me to sell. That car was returning 32 mpg vs my van's 18 mpg. Did the math to see if it was worth keeping it as a commuter and after registration and insurance costs it would only save me $200 a year, which would have been eaten up by maintenance costs, not to mention the time needed to maintain another vehicle.

I'm quite happy driving the Astro too. Great presence on the road, great visibility over most traffic, usually set up for camping (occasionally take mid day naps at work in it).

 

[GHI]

I'm in Michigan as well and daily drive my van. It's a 2011 Pleasureway built on a Chevy 3500 Express chassis. I don't commute to work, but I do take my son to school 3 times a week which is a 3 mile round trip. So I'm either putting 9 miles on it or 900 if I'm on a trip for the week. My kids love it because it"s basically a mini apartment. It never fails that whenever we get in it somebody has to use the bathroom. Plus the convenience of being able to wash up or grab a snack from the fridge, is in my thought process, well worth driving it full time.

I also have a Yukon which is 17 years old. I just can't seem to part with it because it is still basically trouble free. Sure I throw some cash at it every now and then, but it has never failed me. I don't really factor in gas mileage anymore although realistically I think the van gets better mileage.

I also like having a spare vehicle just in case I'm going somewhere shady, like Detroit, or where I know I'm gonna have to park in a garage, such as Ann Arbor. The van is a high top. I have a motorcycle for a spare too, but hard to take 2 kids on that here in the States.

The only things that bother me about daily driving the van is I see some surface rust starting on my mounted generator exhaust pipe and I cringe every 300 yards at the next stop sign knowing I'm wreaking havoc on my brakes.

I don't mind the added insurance bill for keeping the second vehicle. It's the registration cost that really grinds me. I'm paying the same exact price as I was from 17 years ago.

 

[Eaglefreek]

Based on my experience with my ex-wife's 2000 VW Beetle, I say sell it without doing any work to it. The engine and transmission were great, but at 60k miles everything around it started falling apart. Add the fact that you are in Michigan and probably have a bit of rust on the VW. I'm single and have 3 vehicles. I don't carry full coverage on any of them due to their age, so insurance is cheap. My DD is a Ford Festiva that gets 40 MPG and insurance on it is just $10 a month with 300k liability. However, the amount of miles you drive plays a factor in the savings of having a second DD. My commute to work is 64 miles round trip and going to the store in town is 10-25 miles one way depending on where I want to go. So I put on about 30-40k miles a year on my vehicles.

 

[mikracer]

"I used to DD my van when I lived 2 miles from work. Now I live 20 miles from work so I bought a cheap Honda Civic that gets almost 40mpg. My van gets 10MPG so my annual gas savings is north of $4000/ year. "

Fuel must be stupid expensive in Cali. Here in Wisconsin fuel is around $2.50 a gallon so for your 10,000 mile annual commute driving your van would only cost $2500 total in fuel all year

This is how I came up with my numbers. Maybe I'm calculating it wrong?

If I drive 50 miles a day and the van gets 10mpg, it will take 5 gallons per day. Gas is about $3.00 where I live so that's $15.00/day. Multiply $15/day x 365 = $5,475.
The civic gets about 40mpg, so it takes 1.25 gallons/day = $3.75/day. $3.75x365 = $1,369.
$5,475-$1,369 = $4,106 in savings.

As far as maintenance goes, I would do 4 oil changes in that many miles which would cost less than $20 per oil change. I only have liability insurance on the Civic so its pretty cheap. I'd say I still save at least $3,000 per year including all costs for the Civic.

 

[Johnrunberg]

I DD a 1990 VW Vanagon Carat with a 2.2l Subaru engine. 18mpg or so depending on speed and such and cheap to run and insure. I love it, it fits me, and it can do all that's required right now.

My point is to drive what you like. Having a third car (or bike) is great inns that sit tend to degrade.

 

[nobodyhome]

Mine is a daily driver as well, but I do carpool with my wife some days. My commute is about 70/ day @ 13 MPG. Gets pricey, but sure is a fun comfy ride though.

 

[GHI]

Mine is a daily driver as well, but I do carpool with my wife some days. My commute is about 70/ day @ 13 MPG. Gets pricey, but sure is a fun comfy ride though.

Nice. I'd use that as a daily driver too.

 

[Lunchbox2]

I daily drive my van, although I do not do any commuting anywhere as I work from home for the most part... I'll jump in my camaro if I have to go very far, it gets a little better fuel mileage. I usually have a little s10 or civic or something to drive around as a gas saver, but I've been trying to downsize lately in prep for a move.

 

[JBoles]

Enjoying the discussion because I'm basically at the same crossroad (pun intended). I currently own a 2002 Honda CRV with 245,000 miles. It was originally my car but wife and kid1 drove it for a long while. Now kid2 is 3 weeks old. Wife stays home with the kids so no commute there.

Van is a 2006 E350 that I'm building out. Currently 2wd. 5.4L. We just sold a 93 Volvo 240. So back down to 1 car. The Van works well for hauling the kids, we have a custom bench seat in the back. Wife wants to buy a minivan, keep the CRV (my commuter, 14 miles round trip, 5 days a week). Use the minivan to haul the kids and keep the van for weekends and long trips.

Van has 200k on it. CRV has 245k. I'd prefer to keep it 2 vehicles just for simplification purposes. I have enough projects and maintenance on the house and van/CRV. But....CRV has high miles, transmission is finicky, but I just put new tires on it!

I'm thinking keep the CRV until the wheels fall off (planning on 300k). Then buy a dirt/road moto for backup and commuting when possible, great idea Basso. And drive the van on crappy days. The weather here in southeast TN is quite mild. My issue is I have $10k saved up to buy a used minivan and I want to "invest" it in the van build. Registration is cheap here too.

Good luck with your decision. With gas prices where they are now you'd probably just as good to drive the van. Now if they creep back up around $4 or 5, you may lean more towards a commuter.

Boles

 

[nobodyhome]

Nice. I'd use that as a daily driver too.

Thanks man, makes life interesting, especially when I see people mouthing the words "what the F, is that a minivan?!"

 

[FROADER]

My v10 is a daily. I didn't buy it for MPGs.

I split between the van and my motorcycle.

 

[Bikersmurf]

$220 per year seems negligible. It'd cost me $1k USD to insure it with the 43% discount I have for 23 years without an accident. I'd fix the most critical things on the VW for the least money and flog it.

I DD this rig most days...



Currently it's my kids preferred ride with a 19" TV and a WIFI network for Minecraft

 

[limatangobravo]

I agree with all of the other owners. I DD my E350 as well. I was driving 60 miles per day, that has changed to 4 just recently. None the less, I would drive it 100 if I could, living in SOCAL with the traffic stinks. I love being able to see the traffic in front of me to avoid accidents. Not to mention picking my kids up or dropping them off from school. Tons of room for groceries or taking coworkers to lunch. Parking can suck from time to time, that would be my only compliant. I wish I could convert it to a manual transmission to complicate things even more.

 

[hogasm]

1997 E350 driven 5 days a week. Bought new in 97 with .9 miles......today 595031