radin2son

Chris_ cm, I'm surprised you "probably" would go with a Sprinter for the extra space. Over the course of a year long test, a 2012 averaged 18.6 mpg with service at $1200 (2 oil changes). Ignoring maintenance, that is not a great mpg return for a $38,000+ basic cargo van. I think our V8 NV mpg is close enough to the Sprinter and Transit to set this comparison aside. Edgar, Why are you looking at the 3500 NV? We have a 2500 and I think most camperized NVs are 2500s. Could be wrong. I think the 2500 will be up for whatever you put inside. If space is indeed an issue and you can wait, see if Nissan will be introducing a 2017 extended version. Chris_cm has hinted at this along with a cutoff version and a few other things. Nissan is conservative and any changes will be for commercial users...

Our "loaded down" camper has averaged 15.4 mpg for 58,000+ miles. Our last 1200 mile trip, hot and mountains, was 16.2 mpg. We're more interested in where is the next town and is it big enough to get fuel. Price and mpg don't factor in until after we get home...

No problems with service on the road. For an oil change you get the express service just like you were driving an Altima. Some dealers include a car wash, but with NVs that means hand wash. I don't make a big deal if they don't have the time to do this. They get you back out on the road quickly. Expect lots of questions about your conversion. Go with Mobil 1 as this will extend the time you need to search for a dealership. I doubt you will get any grief about doing your own service. I have yet to have anyone ask where I last had it serviced. The 1 Tucson dealership knows only about their service and that my mileage is close to recommended service intervals. Of course, keep your documentation in the event you have a warranty issue or as Chris_cm mentioned in another post, a catastrophic engine failure. There have been few recalls since 2012 and all were taken care of quickly. It helps us having commercial users who need their trucks back yesterday. Warranty issues included a recalled rear door latch that had to be replace a second time, a broken glove box latch and emmisions sensor. The latter was fixed on the road in NC (Chris_cm) after the 36k warranty expired. I paid for this, had my home town dealer document that this had been on ongoing problem and filed with commercial customer service; they reimbursed me. Dealing with commercial customer service, a contracted call center, was a challenge, but may have improved. There are very few reports of problems. The 100k warranty would have covered this. Forget the Nissan and federal emissions warranty; they are too convoluted. You didn't ask but overall mpg is around 14 mpg for the V8 and 17+ for the V6. Go with the V8. Since you are also looking at the Sprinter and Transit, what have you learned about their mpg? The missing 2'. It's there, longer hood. Easy engine access and leg room.

Commercial dealers for all things from oil changes to mechanical. You can do your own service but for warranty work only at commercial dealers. Plan your service and camping trips around NV dealerships, or at least know where they are. We have had excellent service, often just showing up, when traveling. Customer service also is commercial, separate from Nissan. I imagine the reps may be separate as well. If is a part you need, any Nissan dealership can order it for you. You are right about the missing 2' in NVs. It is a tight fit even without a wet bath. The big plus is it is a truck, very durable and reliable. It has a solid feel on the highway and dirt roads.

And you are not a troll? I'm surprised anyone responded as your comparisons ended with the 2014 demise of the Econoline.

I agree but it should appear as a topic along with classifieds. Otherwise, it will get lost. Since the forum "Guides" don't respond, it may be better placed under each applicable topic. Time consuming...

Oh no! The V6 mpg leader retires. Oddly, we also are looking at the Kia Soul to possibly replace our VW, not our NV. Ease of entry and it isn't a suv. They are all over the place.

One thing we like about TX is all the working trucks that are also family vehicles. Your NVP fits right in. We still have our TX park pass that is good through December, so we have some planning to do...

Welcome. You will have to tell us why you chose a NVP. There are several potential owners sitting on the fence...

Does the Transit fit in your garage? The Transit link you provided, mentioned a price difference of $1k to the NV advantage. Not that you want to spend this on your garage, but something to consider if the NV is it except for that... Maybe a price bargaining point as well. Good luck.

One more thing I forgot to mention about this truck. It is overbuilt for our needs, because it is built for commercial users who will daily test its limits. The benefit for us is the gauges never move, no matter what the conditions. At first I thought I had to keep the speed down to get better mpg. Just drive it the way you want. It tracks straight and the low tops are not particularly prone to side winds. You will feel a good gust, but it gets right back on track. If you can get past 7', drive it on the highway and scare the sales consultant unless it is chris_cm. Stomp on the brakes, hit those pot holes and park it. Then switch drivers...

Go with the V8. You never know when you might need it or your travel plans change. A salesman (?) at the NV dealership in Colorado Springs, in a general conversation while our NV was getting an oil change, told me he took the dealer's rental V6 NVP out for a familily event and thought it was slightly underpowered. Drive both. The bin is stout and you can crawl over it or remove it. Very valuable piece of furniture. Also check the options on the SL or SV, then decide what you will do with the bin. The S doesn't have one, not sure about the SV. No major problems. This seems to be the norm. Depending on where you are, NV dealers may be far apart. My concern out west. Transit/Ford dealers are all over the place and all can work on your van. Even so, you can schedule regular maintenance at home. We have found good service when traveling, which along with NV reliability negates the scarcity of dealers. Our van needs 8' and others have had to modify the standard garage to get their NV to fit. Include a trip to your garage on your test drive... If our NV didn't fit, that was the deal killer for us. Took the time to read most of the the Transit post. Subjective, but worked for that family. Under 7' may do it... That is an odd driver/passenger window design on the Transit. You will like the side mirrors on the NV, particularly those that come with the tow package. We can see out the rear doors, but don't have head rests to deal with. I hope you get to drive the NV under all conditions. It is a sweet ride... Subjective, but shared by many on this forum. One last thing, and it may not apply to the Transit. The engine cowling; it gets in the way and if like the E-series has to be removed. At Bryce Canyon the Ford owner loved its absence and how easy it is to get to the engine. By the way, where is everyone?

Welcome. As you evaluate available vans, let us know the pros and cons of each as well as the reason for your final choice. To my knowledge, no print/web publication has done a head to head comparison of vans. If you should find an onjective one post the link. That said, Truck Trend has done long term tests of the 2012 NV and 201? Sprinter cargo vans. They may have done similar long term tests of the Transit and Promaster cargo vans. Their long term test are more objective than truck of the year. If number of vans on the road and dealerships with vans on the lot mean the "best" van, then it would the Transit. I don't think anyone here thinks that. Everyone is interested in mpg to the point of obsession, but ignore that. The curb weight of. NVP is about the same as our camperized V8 NV. Add your party of 7 plus gear and it probably adds up to what we carry in our non-daily driver. We have averaged roughly 15.4 mpg over 58,000 miles. Our last trip was 16.2mpg over 1200 miles in 100*+ weather, at altitudes of 4-8000' with short sections of 12-14% gradients. We do not tow but have the tow package that was an option in 2012. Truck Trend's cargo NV averaged 14+ mpg.

Promaster sales are slightly higher than NVs, yet they are as invisible as NVs if not more so in Az. If not on a flatbed (3 at a time), we have seen business cargo vans and full on class B conversions. SMB has converted a few, but we have never seen one. I looked at the Promaster forum; the mobile version is very slow... Basically same crowd, different chassis. The van comparison might be interesting to read. Like this forum, too many topics. SMB changed their forum, making it more cumbersome in the process, at least their mobile version. Good info there none the less, although I rarely look at it.

No regarding an awning but Laharview put one on his high top NV. KMG also has some ideas as well. The reason I got the rack info wrong was I was looking at the awning/logo attached to the rack, not the rack. I also learned that Desert Racers has a lot of members who are fabricators They will build whatever you need. They also may have some info on awnings used on their support vehicles. One thing about campgrounds, we all like to see what everyone else is using and we love talking. The stories we tell...

I would opt for an interior LED light over the back door area. With the doors open, it will give you enough light immediately behind the van. Same for the porch light over the slider. We find that the outside area is illuminated by interior lights, more so with the door open, obviously... My thoughts generally are motivated by less on the outside of the van the better. We have the door activated lights off and have no cargo lights. Are the cargo lights activated by the slider and rear doors? If so, this is an easy way to get short term lighting and put the rest on the house batteries.

TX, Search Sportsmobile Classic 4x4 and you will find a list of conversion parts SMB uses in their Ford cutaway campervan. Granted this is for a Ford, but it doesn't look like they used Ford parts for the most part. $90,000 is the starting point to get the van out the door. SMB will not do 4x4 conversions on vans with sliding doors, so this may explain why they didn't convert NVs. Other than tire clearance, I don't see what the issue might be. This is an area I know little about, so the parts list may not be universal.

I thought you may have moved on to another manufacturer. Glad you are still here... I haven't looked at the monthly/year to date van sales in a long while, but at a glance they make it look like NVs don't sell well. These numbers don't reflect that it is a #s built and allocation issue.

Nissan has replaced vans for less serious issues. Buried deep in here are posts from a family whose NVP SL had problems with the front sonar sensors beeping for no reason. Nissan fronted a Savannah rental for their vacation while engineers worked it out. Their new replacement NVP had the same issue. Nissan decided it was the front license plate/bracket. Yet, other owners with front plates had no issues'to this extent or at all. Between the wiring screw up, the paint and the alignment, you appear to have a van that should never have left Canton. We all assume our new vans are built within certain tolerances, but who checks this for outsourced parts coming to Canton and final assembly. My guess is Nissan will voluntarily replace your van before the lemon law forces them to. Good luck. Go with silver...

The above used NV SMB sold! I didn't think it would sell that fast. Wonder if the new owner will check in on this forum.

We keep the screens in a stuff sack, having learned no matter what you do, they come out in a tangled mess. The door screens less so because they are smaller. My wife, who made the slider screen, marked the upper R and L corners so we look for one to start the process. Easy enough to install and make enough room to get in and out. Impossible to reattach from the inside so one of us stays outside to reattach the magnets, then enter through the passenger door and crawl over the console. That is one tough piece of plastic. In this case, we had enough shade to keep everything open, sometimes using the curtains that came with the van. We only brought the 4 ph insulated shades we made but didn't use them. They really cut down on ventilation. We left the lower side window shades home as well. They make the van feel like a tomb, no make that cargo van. They will work well in colder weather. We did use the the cab and rear window shades The main problem with the insulated shades is storage. The cab shades fit behind the driver's seat, between it and the cabinets. Not in the way at all. The shades (9) we made, are bulky and fit in a space between the rear (L) door and cabinet, but I have to move them to get to lower storage they partially block.

BRYCE CANYON NATIONAL PARK Sometimes you just have to change plans. It was 103* when we arrived at our first day destination near the Paria River on US 89, Utah. We continued on to Kanab and BLM Ponderosa Campground near the Pink Coral Sand Dunes. It was 96* and didn't start to cool down until the sun set at 9 pm. We had a shady site and kept every window open with screens. Lots of bugs. it was 44* in the morning. We had no intention of camping in Bryce, but temps ranged from the mid 50s to mid 80s for the 6 days we stayed there. We did all the day hikes we could and fit in a day trip to Boulder, UT and the Burr Trail Road (also on our original trip itinerary) and put off the Water Pocket Fold in Capitol Reef NP to a fall trip. There are no hook ups at either of the 2 campgrounds and almost all sites are first come, first serve. We stayed at North Campground, loop D, which is close to the rim and trails. Loops C and D are no generator and no vehicles over 20'. If you are towing or need to use a generator, there are loops A (reservations) and B. There also are RV parks near the entrance as well as motels. The Park Lodge is the original construction. With all the day trippers, this is a crowded park, but you wouldn't know it early in the morning or late in the day...

90% seems high given what I read/heard long ago regarding Titan 4x4 parts. OEM? I remember a photo of s pile of discarded parts. The new Titan could be that high... Most of the 4x4 conversions seemed to sold that way, rather than converted by the owner. "Dented" may be able to tell us what parts were used and discarded.

I agree, but long ago I received no response from the forum monitors. I added "classifieds" to the off topic lounge but no one has used it. Too hidden? One problem, among many, is the tendency to post anywhere but where it can easily be found. Your rebuild and conversion(s) will be interesting. Appreciate your posts according to topic.

Black NVP on US 89 just west of Kanab, UT. Anyone we know, that is on the forum? Had to slow down as there was a broken down tour bus partly in the east bound lane when we passed each other.