Help choosing a car to live in while traveling in Canada

Associate
Joined
27 Sep 2008
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1,296
We have moved to Canada for a working holiday and need to find a car to use all winter in the ski fields while we work but also be able to live and travel in it in the summer.

We have done a similar thing in New Zealand with a Nissan Serena that was excellent and a VW T4 in Australia that again was excellent.

We are really struggling this time as I am worried about a rear wheel drive 5.4l engined van/truck in the snow and also how much fuel it will guzzle. All their MPV, vans and trucks seem to be at least 3.5 litre engines that get 15mpg.

We have looked and there are no t4s here in Vancouver in our budget and they don't bring over Nissan Serena's . We are at a loss and wondered if anyone had experience living in a car/van in Canada or had rented one here and could say whether it would be good to live out of.

Safety is a concern so don't want an old US van from 30 years ago. Also would like decent fuel efficiency and needs room in the back for a bed and storage underneath
 
Associate
OP
Joined
27 Sep 2008
Posts
1,296
That's what were going to do. Unfortunately the price of any campervan is drastically higher in the summer as no one really wants to travel in winter.
 
Soldato
Joined
21 Jul 2008
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4,912
Ok I guess that's what you get for not invading countries for oil

Or is it just tax?

Anyhow 15mpg definitely not ideal for OP then

It's mostly tax. Certainly for fuel, but actually for many things too. Canadian taxes are closer to the UK's taxes than they are to the US's taxes, in general.
 
Associate
OP
Joined
27 Sep 2008
Posts
1,296
As has already been said. Fuel is unfortunately expensive here. About $1.19 a litre. If a car is getting 20l to 100km fuel efficiency then it's going to be a very expensive trip.

We drove 50000km in Australia in the T4 that got 10l to 100km. Even a small country like New Zealand we drove 30000km at 8l per 100km. Over the course of a trip having a bigger engine will possibly cost us thousands.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
17 Oct 2002
Posts
159,534
But we do have to worry about dilapidated roads and bridges :p

We really don't. Travel a bit and you'll soon realise that the UK road infrastructure is some of the best on the planet.

About the only thing better is the French autoroute system and you'll really pay for that!
 
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