The truth about buying a $100,000 VAN

the truth about buying a Class B van the things we  wish we would have known before buying two of them foreign we purchased our first van back in 2021  and it was a Thor rise 18t it was on the   Ram ProMaster 1500 chassis did not have a  bathroom and had a pop-up in May of 2022   we traded in our Thor rise 18t and  purchased this van which is a Thor   talaro 20a and it is a window van on the  ProMaster 3500 chassis with a V6 pentastar So today we're going to talk about pros  and the cons of owning a Class B van this van has a full-size bathroom has a  cassette toilet and a shower all in the   same small space the truth we only have 27  gallons of water so that's everything for   drinking flushing the toilet and showering  it goes pretty quick and you've got to stay   on top of it second the capacity of the  cassette toilet it's pretty small and so   you end up having to dump it about every other  day Okay so another truth about this bathroom is this is this is what it looks like to  sit on the toilet my knees come to the wall   I have to squeeze this way to close in and you can imagine how hard it is to you know  do the things you would do in the bathroom in   such a tiny little space now don't get me wrong  I'm not complaining because our first man that   18t didn't even have a bathroom so I do feel  grateful we have a bathroom but the truth is   the class B doesn't have a lot of room and this  is all the space they give you for your bathroom   and this bathroom is where we have  to keep all our cleaning supplies so   obviously we have to move it every  time we have to use the bathroom so it also is a storage area for us Pro clubs but awning out that is a definite Pro   of at least this class b not  all class views come with them okay all the hard work's done we have a full kitchen two burner propane  stove small refrigerator with a little   freezer compartment a sink with a faucet and  a microwave the truth we don't have an oven   makes it challenging to make a lot of different  meals but we've come up with a hack not sponsored   but this little device is a stovetop oven that  we can use to make some pretty awesome things foreign all you need to do is Center  the oven over the burner   and then you basically fill it and  put the lid on you should be good voila foreign a regular parking spot as you can see right here  we are in just a normal parking spot anytime we go   to any stores it fits in every single parking  spot no problem it's 22 feet long and it also   fits really good in our driveway at home we've  had no issues with the HOA or anything like that   because it fits right in the parking spot and  honestly we did come up with like a strategy   if we were to have gotten like a letter from our  HOA saying we couldn't park in the driveway it's   essentially the same size as a full-size truck so  it has to go both ways this is a daily driver for   us we can drive we drive this to and from places  all the time so we feel like as much as it's you   know I'm a home away from home for us it's also  a daily driver and so those are some of the pros   of having a Class B the truth is in order for us  to like go into town to get more water or food or   anything like that we have to pack everything  up take it with us lose our spot and go get   supplies we don't have like a tow vehicle or  anything like that that we can you know take   into town to get stuff that we need now if we  had like a bike or something like that that   would be an option but you still can't like go  get like a full load of groceries without packing oh that's hot uh did we set a timer  no okay we'll use the Bob timer our bed is almost the same size as a king and we  don't have to take it down every day definitely a   pro the truth it takes up a huge amount of space  in the van and so when you have a fixed bed like   this you're committing to this space always being  in bed but to me that is a total Pro because I   don't want to be taking it down every day and  storing it in order for us to have more seating   I mean that just seems like so much work so for  me having a fixed bed in here is a total Pro we have seating for four truth   who is what four people are we gonna  take with us this only sleeps too   however this is a nice work spot so that you can  set up the table you can do some activities work   Hillary can sit here and work while I'm driving  so it is very nice to have but this truly doesn't   sleep for and so seating for four isn't really  necessary they do make this layout with a pop top   so you could have a pop top and have some small  children sleep up there and they could fit in   these seats but this really isn't going to be for  adults riding comfortably and sleeping comfortably Pro this van has 800 amp hours of battery all right so now that the invert  is on we can use the microwave oh those are gonna be good truth compared to  a class C or even a Class A we just don't have   a ton of storage we've got plenty of room for  kind of the basics you know silverware plates   and some clothes but long term this could be  a real challenge to you know store everything   that you need to every day for normal life  even in your van you need a junk drawer truth   price for how much you pay for a class  B which we've seen I'm starting at 69   000 which those don't have bathrooms  and stuff so really if you want like   what we have you're gonna  start at a hundred thousand   they do seem kind of expensive to me compared to  what you get with a Class A and A Class C A Class   B actually has the highest cost per square foot of  any RV on the market so there's some truth for you thank you Let's Go Pro the gas mileage Yeah we actually get about I  would say an average of 18 miles per gallon   in this thing obviously sometimes a little better  sometimes worse depending on how much water we're   carrying or if we're going up mountains but all in  all 18 miles per gallon in a vehicle this big not   bad yeah so we're gonna say that's a total Pro  of owning a Class B over an A and A C because I   don't know the exact miles per gallon but I have  to guess it's five and under yeah a lot of times   especially with the diesel class A's you're not  going to get much more than seven miles per gallon   but five to seven is pretty pretty average yeah  so there's your pro and your truth about owning a   Class B van I think we're done I think that's all  the pros and the truths that we can come up with   for now yeah I'm sure we'll always be learning  and sharing more yeah I mean because truthfully   we've taken our class B van down all the way  to Cabo and back and we also went all the way   up to Michigan across the entire United  States yeah so the truth is Class B vans   they're amazing they're amazing we love them  even with all the truth we shared with you today   in this season of our life we'd still choose  a Class B every time a Class B every time so   but I think that's it if you guys  have any other questions for us   um leave them in the comment section down below  if there's any other pros and cons that you really   want to know about you know and how it works and  just any other details we are always willing to   share them and if we get enough questions I think  we'll just make another video yeah but until next   time bye guys oh my gosh this is so good who says  you need an oven we don't need an oven oh my word   good think it can sink it where's that from um we earned this so good the truth about  buying a Class B van are you kidding me   sorry I was literally trying to hold my neck  out why don't you really ruined my shot sorry the truth about buying a plant  gotta clean before we get the shot   oh we have a full set not a full-size  bed the pro we have a bed it's almost   yeah even in your van you need a drunk  drawer what a drum drawer drunk drawer

Channel: Vancaskeys

Views: 167,528

Keywords: van, van life, vanlife, van tour, camper van, living in a van, tiny home, camper van conversion, off grid camper, tiny house, digital nomad, van dwelling, how to van life, van life vlog, van life couple, home on wheels, travel, travel vlog, travel couple, van renovation, couple vlog, the truth, buying a van, buying a class b, tellaro 20a, thor rize 18t, the truth about buying a class b, mathers on the map

Id: gbRUzsg_50E

Length: 12min 4sec (724 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 08 2023