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I currently drive a 2021 Nissan NV200 Compact Cargovan. It's about as basic of a vehicle you can get. I'm slowly turning it into a miniRV because I like to go c

I currently drive a 2021 Nissan NV200 Compact Cargovan. It's about as basic of a vehicle you can get. I'm slowly turning it into a miniRV because I like to go camping at times. Works great as a place to sleep when I visit friends and when conventions get back into full swing and I don't want to spend $300+ on a weekend hotel room. Bonus points for the van being actually smaller than my previous 2015 VW Passat when it comes to finding parking spaces. I do miss getting 46mpg, but the van has been averaging 31-33mpg on long interstate trips. There are some downsides. Like the creepiness factor of owning a panel van as a large bearded guy, but most people warm up to it once I explain things. Also the commercial 7% interest on my financing plan. I'm used to financing around 1-3% interest on any car I've bought new, but at least in my state commercial vehicles carry a locked in interest rate. Commercial trucks/vans also have shit for sound insulation so be prepared to do that yourself or pay a local stereo shop to quiet things down. Other than that its hard to even find consumer cars with a manual transmission in my area, let alone a lack of electronic non-sense.

csours 5y ago
Hard to beat a Chevy Express Van when it comes to low tech. In general, look for vehicles that have a really old platform or really old 'redesign'. Eg: Look at model history here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Express https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Express I'm not sure of any way to look this up across brands and models? Perhaps a good opportunity for a microsite? In general companies boast about how new their tech is, not how old. Disclosure: I work for GM, this is solely my own opinion. If you don't want OnStar or Satellite Radio, there are ways to disable it pretty easily.
- yumraj 5y ago
  > If you don't want OnStar or Satellite Radio, there are ways to disable it pretty easily. How? Any pointers?
  - csours 5y ago
    If you want your car's modules to work, you DEFINITELY should not remove fuses. You can look up which fuses you should not remove.
maxerickson 5y ago
Which entity is setting that interest rate? I would expect it to work to go to a credit union and have them write a consumer loan you could use to purchase the van. But they may refuse to do that if the typical loan an the type of vehicle is more expensive than the consumer rate.
- officeplant 5y ago
  Handful of banks / Nissan's internal financing program. It was the first I'd ever heard of a specific interest rates for commercial vehicles. I'm not sure what all special rules commercial vans/trucks go under in the US because it doesn't even come with things like a listed crash rating or pollution rating you'd see on the sheet for a normal consumer car.

csours 5y ago

Hard to beat a Chevy Express Van when it comes to low tech. In general, look for vehicles that have a really old platform or really old 'redesign'. Eg: Look at model history here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Express https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Express I'm not sure of any way to look this up across brands and models? Perhaps a good opportunity for a microsite? In general companies boast about how new their tech is, not how old. Disclosure: I work for GM, this is solely my own opinion. If you don't want OnStar or Satellite Radio, there are ways to disable it pretty easily.

yumraj 5y ago
> If you don't want OnStar or Satellite Radio, there are ways to disable it pretty easily. How? Any pointers?
- csours 5y ago
  If you want your car's modules to work, you DEFINITELY should not remove fuses. You can look up which fuses you should not remove.

maxerickson 5y ago

Which entity is setting that interest rate? I would expect it to work to go to a credit union and have them write a consumer loan you could use to purchase the van. But they may refuse to do that if the typical loan an the type of vehicle is more expensive than the consumer rate.

officeplant 5y ago
Handful of banks / Nissan's internal financing program. It was the first I'd ever heard of a specific interest rates for commercial vehicles. I'm not sure what all special rules commercial vans/trucks go under in the US because it doesn't even come with things like a listed crash rating or pollution rating you'd see on the sheet for a normal consumer car.