Shuttle Bus, high miles?

[Starshan]

Just thought I would pick you all's brains. So we are just tossing around ideas for another vehicle. I really like the look of a shuttle bus. So we've been glancing around at bus dealers etc. Got a dealer pretty close. Hubby wants something under 100k miles. He says 150k miles is alot of miles no mater if its been maintained well or not. We are looking at the gas motor ones. At what mileage did you buy your shuttle buses or Elites?

What sizes did you get? I'm looking at the 22ft, the smallest the dealer has.

Shannon
The Soapy Puppy

[edderland]

check on ebay you can find various vehicles way lower mileage than that.
Deidre

[Starshan]

Sorry won't do ebay except for small stuff. I did check real quick & anything decent wasn't local, I'm not paying shipping. I'll do craigslist before doing ebay just cause we've had good luck that way. I like the idea of a shuttle bus coming from a dealer maybe because of the maintance records. Privately owned might not have kept up with the maintance. Pretty much every bus this dealer has came from commercial with a full maintenance program. We don't want brand new but something under 100k miles.

If I pick something with nice seats I would get a discount of I don't need the pas seats, cool since I won't need the seats anyway & not have to deal with what to do with the seats.

Shannon
The Soapy Puppy

[kats_melody]

Why a gasoline engine? You would probably do better with a shuttle bus with diesel power. At over 100,000 miles, the engine is just about broken in. A gas engine may last 200,000, but then you are talking major overhaul time.

The fuel economy with a V10 Triton engine is about 7 mpg city and 12 mpg highway.
We regularly get 15 mpg or more with our 6 liter diesel in our E-350 van.

To each their own, but for a high mileage vehicle, I would take a diesel over a gas motor any day.

[Starshan]

We know Ford Gas engines. Hubby knows a little about diesel but not as much as gas. Still we are in the planning stages. I need to open another savings acount for a vehicle & get that rolling. If we get gas we want it Under 100k miles on it. If its diesel then yes we can get something with a little higher miles without an issue.

A gas engine can get about 300k miles before a new motor is needed.

Shannon
The Soapy Puppy

[mylady]

The shuttle bus I am currently having converted is a 2001, I don't know the mileage off the top of my head, but it's a diesel so I am not really concerned about that. But I just wanted to tell you my friend who is converting my bus found it on craigslist locally and only paid $5K for it. Usually diesels are more expensive, so I would think you could find a gasoline engine for a little less. I think the problem with shuttle busses is that, well, they are being driven all the time as that is their purpose, so it may be hard to fine one for sale at a reasonable price with less than 100K on it. I think most places use their busses as long as they can before selling them, not that I'm the expert, that just makes sense to me. The bus he bought for me was for a senior citizen center. I would keep checking out CL and I know when I was looking there was a dealership down in NYC that dealt pretty much with only used commercial vehicles. Maybe you can do a search online and see if there is anything like that within a couple hours drive from you.
I understand wanting a gas engine when your hubby is the one doing the fixing. Very few mechanics in my area will work on a diesel and I've been lucky to have found a garage that will that is NOT the dealership! Especially an old diesel. I didn't know before I bought her that there was such a difference. Figured a mechanic is a mechanic and can work on any engine. Lesson learned! Good luck!

[Smart-n-Pretty]

My only advice is pay the extra for an independent mechanic to look it over.

[Starshan]

Yes we want to do the work on our vehicle so it needs to be something hubby can work on. I did find a garage when my 88' van didn't pass its emissions. We bought the o2 sensor for $40, they wanted $100 just for the part. Granted if there is a problem the garage would fix normally for free & could normally find the problem. My van is now showing check engine light after changing the o2 sensor, so hubby did something wrong lol. Oh well its not too bad, he just needs to get down under there & find out why. Most times there is no problems The garage said they did an over all inspection but they didn't find alot that hubby already knew about. I mean goodness the starter alone is very loud & needs fixed, they didn't say a thing. Oh well I guess they are human & can miss things.

Yes we have found our truck there on craigslist for $1k, my first camper for the business $500 & now my van on there $500. Cheap deals. I have found a few buses on there but no money saved so I can't yet. The dealer I found is on there & they are only about 10 miles from us. www.nwbus.com click on seattle. They do have a diesel bus 2000 for $4k but it does have 470k miles. I saw another on craigslist 20 miles from us for $6k diesel 200k miles but it is a little older 94'. I just need to start saving this yr so I can get one next yr.

Shannon
The Soapy Puppy