Newbie novice

Hi all

We love the idea of getting a Kombi, we have 2 young kids and it would be great having weekends away and some holidaying in Europe over the coming years. We don't have any experience and would really appreciate some advice. We would love to get a Brazilian Bay rather than a T4 but only have budget of about £10,000. Is it possible or just a dream?


Many thanks
John & Eva

Hi John & Eva
Experience can be picked up along the way - you do not need to be a mechanic
With regard to price, your budget may be an issue
The link below shows the nearest price we have seen with a Brazi Bay for £13k on Ebay

Custom Brazi

Hope you doo find what you are looking for
Plenty of advice on this Forum
Roo b Roo
 

Yes I agree with Scooby, unless you're prepared to buy a very unloved early BraziBay, which will then cost you ££ to put straight, I think you're budget would be preventative I'm afraid.  I'd discourage you from putting yourself under financial strain to buy something more expensive too as things can come along that may need sorting and if you're already tight for cash, it's just not a good situation to put yourself in.  That applies to buying a Classic Bay too.  There's no such thing as a decent/reliable Classic Bay at that kind of price.

A T4 for that kind of figure sounds ideal.  Good luck in your search.   

you can pick up some reasonable T25's for around £10k - but it is a minefield unless you have someone that knows what they bare looking for . A T4 would probably be a better option.

John and Eva - a lovely Aircooled Kombi has come up for sale in our classifieds for £14995. It's a 2 berth but add an awning and it would serve you well.

Thanks everyone for all the advice. Tim thanks for the info about the air-cooled van for sale, it looks amazing! Any idea how much fitting a pop top would cost? Scooby £13000 van also looks interesting.

Just can't get excited about buying a T4. The more we think about it the more a Brazilian seems to fit. If we used it as our daily mode of transport then no need to keep our car and looking through the forum it looks like plenty of people do this. Is there any draw backs to be aware of in doing this?

Although a larger initial outlay then we were first considering, over the years this wouldn't necessary be an issue as i guess it would hold its value better than a T4. Also we intend to holiday in Europe a fair bit so would get our monies worth, might have to knock Butlins on the head though. Could anyone give us an idea of annual running costs and things to be mindful of?

Its such a commitment and Eva wants to make sure its for us, she is the cautious one and to be fair we are only on average income with two kids so don't want to end up buying something we can't maintain and enjoy to the max.

We would like to hire a van for a night or two to make sure its for us and will have a look through the forum hire pages. If anyone has suggestions for hiring that would be great too. Looking for as early as Wednesday to Friday this week so very short notice I know.

Many thanks everyone,
John & Eva

burtonbullet wrote:

If we used it as our daily mode of transport then no need to keep our car and looking through the forum it looks like plenty of people do this. Is there any draw backs to be aware of in doing this?

Sunny is used everyday, doing school runs (two girls at primary school), shopping, trips to the tip, relatives with no problems at all. The only time I had a problem was on a trip to the theatre in Birmingham, when I couldn't park in the underground car parks because of the height but as I don't go to the theatre (or Birmingham!) very often, I don't see it being a long term problem or me Just service regularly.

No other vehicle for me. OK, so I do have a model with direct drive and power steering but there are plenty of others on here without. Oh and I do have a motorbike as well but that hardly counts.

The only prob will be mpg but if you are going to get a camper you are not going to be looking for mpg

Have a look at Spaceroofs and Danbury for poptops, they both advertise on the site. It may be worth looking into getting the lightsteer power steering fitted at a later date, eveyone that's had it fitted loves it.

In your price range there's only really the option of aircooled. One of the aircooled lot will be able to help with road tax and MPG figures.

As long as you get you Kombi regularly serviced each year, maybe every 6 months if used as a daily driver you should be fine. Services will cost roughly the same as a normal car.

There will be the odd niggle but you need to remember these are based on a very old design. The enjoyment of driving them soon outways everything else

Hi John and Eva

Where are you based - I'm sure there will be someone near who hires out campers

Definately recommend you try before you buy to see if it's the right vehicle for you

Good Luck

does tallulah run a hire business? maybe they could help John and Eva?

Happy to help, just need to pick a date when she's available. Our online calendar is kept fully up to date:

Vdub Camper Hire - availability

Hi John and Eva,
We have only had our bus since November, its not our only vehicle but it is used every day to do school run, food shopping, commute to work etc. Im not sure how high the Kombi is with a roof rack, so height restrictions on car parks are the only thing we need to be aware of

Good luck with the search, any issues you have or advice you need, the people on here are only too willing to help, we are certainly grateful for the help we had as we (family of 4) are very much Newbie Novices

Lowered, with POP top, without roof rack and without roof vent (diff from sun roof) is 6' 6" or a fraction under 2metres.

Roof rack, roof vent adds min 4" or 10cm.
Original ride height also plus 4" or 10cm.

Car parks can be an issue.

think I'll lay a block of wood across the roof rack and grab a tape measure to check!

Thanks for all the helpful info everyone. We will try to sort out a hire but sure Brazilian will fit our needs if not our wallet   

burtonbullet wrote:

Thanks for all the helpful info everyone. We will try to sort out a hire but sure Brazilian will fit our needs if not our wallet   

once bitten Always smitten - A Brazibay will definitely win you over.