Post by Robo on Nov 15, 2016 12:11:18 GMT
Feels like I've told a million people but we were tenters but longed for a more mobile camping experience, something we could jump in and just go to the seaside & if it was a nice weekend we could stay on a campsite relatively cheaply or use a britstop!
So basically we always wanted a modern VW campervan but couldn't afford one what would be about 5/6 years ago now, just by chance through an acquaintance of a friend we bought our Bay 'Molly' did a bit of work to her & went camping! Loved it & although we loved the waves we got & the friends we have made we still wanted a modern Camper!
This was our Molly
This year we finally managed it & bought 'Alfie' although selling the bay was hard as she had become part of the family as these things do it was our mobile piggy bank after having previously put all our modern camper savings into her from buying to the new interior & not forgetting the shiny bits! In all I'd say with the original purchase price & the expenditure over the 4 years of ownership we probably just about broke even which I'd say wasn't bad at all compared to some of the stories I've read.
So here he is in all his glory-
Alfie doesn't look as cool as our old bay, people don't smile & wave as much (virtually never) but we can go camping whenever we want, I drive him every day to work, he's our family car with far more room than most cars & can carry us 4 plus my stepdad comfortably for day trips and when we take him away with us to a cottage or static caravan style holiday!
Yes I don't get free road tax but then the car I had before which I used for work & day to day family stuff was about the same road tax, the insurance is higher but with what I used to pay for both the bay & the car its about the same, fuel I'm paying a little more for my commuting to work compared to the petrol astra i had but then alot less when we go camping!
You can't really compare the bay with the T5 because people have bays for different reasons but I believe were able to compare because we bought both vehicles with the intentions to go camping!
So I do have a love for campers of all types because they do what we are interested in which is camping so I don't get why some people get all shitty between the different VW models, I have even removed myself from a couple of facebook groups because some twat who thinks his T5 is better than another members T4 or whatever because of this or that is utter bollox in the eyes! If I'm honest I think TLB has currently got this streak in it with threads being started purely to start a row or baiting those who have gone with something different to standard! It maybe what someone wants & enjoys thats fine but to tell people your wasting your money by doing this or that or the other is just irritating so I ignore the post & carry on! The point I'm making is there have been more and more posts I've ignored because of this kind of talk to the point that I think I was ready for a forum like this!
Dont get me started on VW shows, the day we drove out of Stanford hall this year & passed a group of men with their sons obviously walking back from the nearby pub after watching the football shouted 'Nice Shit Van' that wasn't friendly banter! I reckon if he could of found something to throw he would of, tosser! I had my kids with me and he had kids with him and it was completely unnecessary to which I now don't want to go to any shows! I only go to admire others campers (all of them) & to buy some camper tat! Fuck that shit I shall look at pictures & order my tat for half the price online!
So with that which I may after reading this back need to move part of this post to the random rant thread I started last night...
So basically we always wanted a modern VW campervan but couldn't afford one what would be about 5/6 years ago now, just by chance through an acquaintance of a friend we bought our Bay 'Molly' did a bit of work to her & went camping! Loved it & although we loved the waves we got & the friends we have made we still wanted a modern Camper!
This was our Molly
This year we finally managed it & bought 'Alfie' although selling the bay was hard as she had become part of the family as these things do it was our mobile piggy bank after having previously put all our modern camper savings into her from buying to the new interior & not forgetting the shiny bits! In all I'd say with the original purchase price & the expenditure over the 4 years of ownership we probably just about broke even which I'd say wasn't bad at all compared to some of the stories I've read.
So here he is in all his glory-
Alfie doesn't look as cool as our old bay, people don't smile & wave as much (virtually never) but we can go camping whenever we want, I drive him every day to work, he's our family car with far more room than most cars & can carry us 4 plus my stepdad comfortably for day trips and when we take him away with us to a cottage or static caravan style holiday!
Yes I don't get free road tax but then the car I had before which I used for work & day to day family stuff was about the same road tax, the insurance is higher but with what I used to pay for both the bay & the car its about the same, fuel I'm paying a little more for my commuting to work compared to the petrol astra i had but then alot less when we go camping!
You can't really compare the bay with the T5 because people have bays for different reasons but I believe were able to compare because we bought both vehicles with the intentions to go camping!
So I do have a love for campers of all types because they do what we are interested in which is camping so I don't get why some people get all shitty between the different VW models, I have even removed myself from a couple of facebook groups because some twat who thinks his T5 is better than another members T4 or whatever because of this or that is utter bollox in the eyes! If I'm honest I think TLB has currently got this streak in it with threads being started purely to start a row or baiting those who have gone with something different to standard! It maybe what someone wants & enjoys thats fine but to tell people your wasting your money by doing this or that or the other is just irritating so I ignore the post & carry on! The point I'm making is there have been more and more posts I've ignored because of this kind of talk to the point that I think I was ready for a forum like this!
Dont get me started on VW shows, the day we drove out of Stanford hall this year & passed a group of men with their sons obviously walking back from the nearby pub after watching the football shouted 'Nice Shit Van' that wasn't friendly banter! I reckon if he could of found something to throw he would of, tosser! I had my kids with me and he had kids with him and it was completely unnecessary to which I now don't want to go to any shows! I only go to admire others campers (all of them) & to buy some camper tat! Fuck that shit I shall look at pictures & order my tat for half the price online!
So with that which I may after reading this back need to move part of this post to the random rant thread I started last night...