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Hi there, I'm looking at buying a vehicle to use as a camper on journeys, I was thinking of a campervan set up, but also wondering if a smaller vehicle like a Toyota wish or Toyota estima will do the job for me as I will be using just to trip around, not majorly big camping adventures. Can you tell me the difference between these two as far as space and practicality. Also any other People mover types which would be equally as good, such as a Voxy or Lucida.
A lot of vehicles out there and quite daunting doing much research. I would prefer a camchain also. Thanking you in advance.

Hi there,
Information is not available for Japanese imported vehicles. Generally Japanese vehicles are known for their reliability and ease of repairs. The longevity and reliability of an older vehicle will very much depend on how it's been treated and maintained- so every vehicle will be unique in this aspect.
You may want to have a look at some already established back packer type vehicles and see if anything will suit your needs. These are usually smaller vans and people movers that have a few extras added to make them self contained campers. For example in Auckland the Ellerslie Car Fair has a lot of them for sale on Sundays. I do recommend having a pre-purchase inspection on one you select so you won't be in for any surprises.

Thank you Cade for all the advise, understand it's difficult with the imports. There are so many back packer type vehicles online, but I will keep looking.
I wonder also if a SUV would be practical enough to use for extra luggage and the possibility of using to sleep in only if need be, there seem to be a few with a large back space, though I'm not entirely sure if practical for this use.
Thanks again for your time, is much appreciated.

Hi there,
Yes I'm sure some SUV's will have space enough to sleep in the back. A smaller one is the Nissan Xtrail, Subaru Forester, or Rav4.

Much thanks again Cade, will be looking at some of those, I just wonder if possible to get any of these in 2wd as a lot seem awd, and not sure if that would make fuel consumption higher?

Hi there,
The Rav and X-Trail both have 2wd options as well as 4wd. As the Subaru is permanent 4wd and has the boxer engine it does have slightly higher fuel consumption.

Hi there, regarding the vehicles again, I am back to looking at a van, being more spacious etc. Talking to several yards that have them made into campers, and on backpacker pages. Could you tell me if there is much difference between a Nissan vanette and a mazda E2000 or such, I was told several are basically the same. Would one model be more reliable overall.
The other type I'm looking at is the Toyota Voxy, Or Noah? but have seen on your site they have a D4 engine which is not so good, and do all the Voxy's have these engines.
Thanking you once again for the help.

Hi there,
I'm sorry I don't know the difference between these vehicles . The Voxy came out with a range of engines depending on the year, the 2005 models looks to have the 1AZ-SE D4 engine, while the newer generations had the non D4 3ZR-FE.