Frightened new Westy owner

[claybags]

I have a friend running a Sprinter van doing arts and craft shows all over the country. 80K miles and zero problems! UPS, FED-EX, and DHL all use Sprinter vans. Our local driver had one for awhile. He thought it was OK, but not big enough to do his route in one shot.
In short....I wouldn't worry. Enjoy it.
Cheers, Jeff

[scottanlily]

When you mention fleet vehical use ,all bets are off .the drivers mostley
abuse the fleet vehicals and Ive done alot of fleet work over the years .I
see it all ,all kinds of overloading and racey driving ,hard braking etc etc .
I worked at American /Airlines many years ago for Skychefs and the drivers would pop wheelies in the tugs and throw them in reverese while still going forward.the worst offense was when we were going to cater the planes and
one guy kicked a hole in the dash of one of the Top kick GM trucks we were riding in ,(plastic one piece dashes) a crime for sure ,they were terrible with
the trucks .So then NEVER go with the fleet owners on wear and tear .you
will never see that with your personall rig .any vehical can be labled as poor or unreliable if its not taken care of .

Scott of scottanlily

[Davydd]

Originally Posted by myoung

We still have our 1990 VW Westfalia, the last of the California models. This might just be our best performing asset. We bought it for $20K and it's now worth about $24K. The Westfalias are so much better designed and executed than the Winnebago conversions that followed on the Eurovan. The resale values bear this out. Quality matters.

Er, you might check that value again. There was one of that vintage advertised for sale in the Twin Cities this past year at a whopping $45,000!

[charlie15]

we just bought a sprinter westfalia from airstream and it has been the largest headache of my life. they handed me our $80,000 rig with keys that didnt work to the door locks and plastic panels that were falling off the vehicle. since the purchase a few months back, i have had severe flooding from the side windows. the side doors are rusting were the mechanics scraped of the silicone from the black plastic panels that continuosly fall off, my auxillary outlets dont work, my reverse lights have continuously stopped working, my shower hose wont recoil, and my van is a mix of duct tape and plastic to fix the problems. Airstream has made it clear that they have no intention of going out of there way to fix any problems. In addition the 5 star dodge dealer wants nothing to do with the service of this sprinter van. I have driven over 50 hours to different shops trying to fix my problems, especially the flooded window and the only result of my trips has been the purchase of a snorkel that i can to swim in my vehicle. if you have a million dollars and a couple hundred hours of free time to fix the bugs then this is the perfect vehicle, otherwise this van will be your full time job.