I was asked by someone here to go check this 2008 out with a view to a potential purchase. I'm going to share my findings with you now as I'd like you all to see how not to look after your BraziBay and further how poor preparation for sale really won't help you should you decide it's time to move your campervan on.
This Kombi was bought new in 2008 and it has been well enjoyed by its owners. Between 2009 and 2011 it earned its keep by being rented out for a few weekends/breaks. It has been abroad a number of times on holiday serving as both transport and base for a family of 5.
It has some nice features: the fixed full-size buddy seat with inertia seat belt, the rear cab heater, the roof mounted dvd, the dummy spare cover, 4 new tyres, towbar plus the usual Rio fittings.
What's a shame is that despite serving its owners well, relatively low cost preventative maintenance that has been overlooked, now leaves the Kombi in need of work.
For instance, take a look at the rubber seal on the sliding door frame. If that had been greased - at least once - then the corrosion that can be seen by pulling back the seal wouldn't have been able to take hold.
In the front wheel arch, the underseal has broken directly above the wheel and the area has been continuously attacked by the elements, the result of which is corrosion to the underside, which will soon appear on the upperside and potentially require a plate welding in. Similarly, the cab floor hasn't been kept dry and is now showing areas of corrosion. Incidentally all 4 wheel arches were still caked in dry mud, so I suspect this BraziBay has not seen a jetwash to its underside much, if at all in its life. Please keep your wheel arches clean folks. The best time to clean them is when you've been driving in the wet - you don't need a jetwash necessarily as the water picked up by the wheels will have moistened all the crap underneath, just use a hose to clean out the area, perhaps with a spray nozzle.
If the wheel arches had been kept clear, then the corrosion that can be seen at the rear underneath by the bumper mounts may not necessarily have taken hold. The vans do suffer from stonechips in this area, which can cause the paint to flake - keeping the other side of the metal clean and undersealed gives it a much better chance of long life.
A couple of panels on the offside have been replaced due to accident damage. Accidents do of course happen - but when a repair is done, it's important, particularly on a vehicle of this value, to get it done right. There's overspray on the towbar, the exhaust hangers and parts of the chassis - easily avoided by better masking, or if not at least covered up by touching in the areas with underseal - these are tell tale signs of a less than ideal job.
On the front panel there are a number of spots where a stonechip has occurred and not been touched in soon after. The result now is bubbling between the paint and the metal underneath.
Similarly, where the baby blue coat has lifted from the sills and stonechip damage has occurred, the area is now corroding - the nearside had in fact been painted over with black in an effort to improve the situation. (Not shown in photos.)
The gutters were filthy causing any rain to not run out smoothly, encouraging the area to remain moist.
The poptop canvas was equally filthy - more noticeable from the inside - a £20 convertible roof cleaner and protector kit, would have helped a) prevent this situation and b) improve the look prior to sale had it been considered. The fibreglass outer shell of the poptop was dull and in need of polishing. As too did the factory white paintwork above the Baby Blue.
The poptop canvas has small holes at each end, caused by trapping the canvas in the locking catches. Not huge, and they can be fixed by using silicone seal, but as with a lot of the other stuff I've mentioned, unfortunate.
Have a look at the moss growing in the sliding window runners - that has developed because the runners haven't been cleaned out - that's a 10 minute job - but is a sign of neglect to a potential buyer. Again, like the dirt in the gutters, that will absorb moisture and keep the area damp.
There's so much that the vendor could have done here to prepare this Kombi better for sale. Initially it looks clean, but when you start looking at the detail, that's when things go wrong.
Incidentally the gears have been replaced by German components. The gears are relatively easy to select, although I'm not a fan of the Empi shifters as many of you will know, because I don't like how they meet with the handbrake. The only running issue I found was a vibration in 2nd gear. Not a show stopper, but something to consider.
The screen wash/wipe function also stopped working sometime back - first one I've heard of going wrong tbh - and is now replaced by a push button on the dash. That worked fine.
So to summarise, please look at how fairly low cost upkeep could have kept this BraziBay in much better shape and therefore be a much more attractive prospect for a buyer.