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Looking to buy first vw campervan.

Please give views of the aircooled t25  2.0 litre petrol version around 30yrs old.

And advise on a good version to look for otherwise.

thanks for any help.

Brett Killington

Brett,

try here,

http://www.club80-90.co.uk/

found this forum really useful when we had our T25,

Jane

Hi Brett

Have a look at my profile for piccys of my T25, I can only give you a very biased opinion, ours is a 1981 aircooled 2.0, we love it , best thing about them is you cannot loose money unless your very careless. It happily does 70 on the motorway but does struggle a bit on hills, bit selfish, but my attitude is this is as fast as I go and I'm in front, deal with it!! If you change the oil regularly and give it a minute to warm up before you drive off they are very reliable, in 18 months of camping ours has never let us down.

Don't know how much you want to spend, but a VW T4 is a good alternative and is probably the only other van I'd go for, as I said a biased opinion for which I offer no excuse.

Remember, every other VW owner waves at you and flashes their lights, you won't get that from a 'tupperware' camper!

Thanks for the e-mail.

This van I am looking at has a sun roof, not much good at the moment!!!!!

Wants £2225-00 for it.

Cheers

Brett 

Mine has been a loyal companion for the last 5 years but now I have decided to sell mine later this year.  Can't quite believe I've made the decision but I have and thats that.  I shall miss her!

Brett.. T25 is good first choice I'd say.. we love ours, lots of character.. the one youre looking at seems fair price if in reasonable condition. Expect to do bit of work on body & engine.. 30year olds need TLC!

Only word of warning.. our 2.0ltr watercooled version is very juicy.. I mean low 20's. But not our daily driver so bearable.

Hope you get a good one.. good luck.

Geoff

Hi Guys

Thanks for all the advise.

I let you know when I get one.

Cheers

brett

Whatever you buy, RUST is the main issue, everything else is just nuts n bolts. Rusty bodywork is at the least expensive to sort to a decent standard (unless you like the rusty bus image) and at the worst is terminal. Loadsa nice `vans being broken up now because of terminal rust in awkward places (ie to expensive / not economically viable to sort)

Read all you can on Club 80-90, including the Wiki on there (button at the top of forum with a hammer on it) there is a guide on there for buyers. £2000 `vans nowadays will most likely be a lot of work (I paid a vast amount more than that and I`ve still had some work to do, and the bodywork is starting to show the first sign of rust bubbles in the usual seams again, and I DID buy the best one I could find at the time !)

Like Andy said. Mine is an import from Munich last year, a LOT better condition than most UK vans, as I believe they don`t put salt on the roads in Germany  Looks like new underneath, but you can still get some issues with the seams.

Make sure you take a REALLY good look on the outside of the `van where the fridge is located on the inside wall, they are notorious for condensation from the fridge rotting through from the inside out, as well as eating it`s way through the top of the sill  /floor joint. I`ve seen some really bad ones on `vans that look great on the outside (untill you really look at that long seam where it WILL come through)

Club 80-90 has loadsa good info, and pictures of what to expect. Worth taking someone who knows their `vans IMHO.