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Old 07-30-2014, 11:27 AM   #1
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Behold… the $300k van.

Yes, that’s three hundred thousand American dollars. I recently had a chance to do a walkthrough of this van by the founder and CEO of Outside Van. It is his personal van and was built to showcase the capabilities of the company. The technology in this van is pretty cool. There’s basically an entire bank of Prius batteries in the belly of the van that can provide juice to run a 12V European AC (you can see this in one of the pics but can’t make out a brand name) for several hours. Most of the technology in the van can be run remotely from a phone app. The divider between the "trunk" area and the living space houses a 40 gallon water tank with on-demand hot water.

http://www.outsidevan.com/brown-pow.php

The interior is pretty amazing with no visible fasteners. While it has seating for four, it’s clearly a van built for 2 people.

I know that this is a Sportsmobile forum and I apologize if this post of a non-SMB offends anyone.

ps. The CEO of Outside Van came across as a pretty laid back, van-loving, surfer dude and not a CEO type at all. I actually spoke with him for 45 minutes before he even mentioned the fact that he had a connection to the company.

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Old 07-30-2014, 01:47 PM   #2
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Re: Behold… the $300k van.

wow, pretty nice. no windows in the back portion, though (it seems). Don't like that too much. And is it 4WD/AWD?
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Old 07-30-2014, 02:44 PM   #3
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Re: Behold… the $300k van.

That's a lot of cash for any van -- $300,000 can buy an entry-level diesel pusher and a SMB to tow behind.

Windows in bed area would be nice, as would a larger refrigerator. Fridge seems small for such a large van. Also the passenger seat looks elevated compared to driver's. If so, what's the story behind that?
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Old 07-30-2014, 02:50 PM   #4
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Re: Behold… the $300k van.

BrianW, it was definitely not 4wd. As far as I know, no dealers have received their 2015 4wd vans yet.

Chance, I'm assuming that the passenger seat is elevated due to a "vertically challenged" spouse. Note the combination foot-rest/safe on the passenger side floor.
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Old 07-30-2014, 05:07 PM   #5
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Re: Behold… the $300k van.

I met a guy recently who had a brand new Outside Van. He had nothing but bad things to say about Outside Van. He said the build turned out well but apparently they are just a middle man and outsource the actual labor to random companies. He said while they were building the van they wouldn't let him talk directly to the builder and he had to go through Outside Van. He said basically Outside Van takes a huge percentage for basically doing nothing but contracting out the work. I personally have no experience with them, just some food for thought...
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Old 07-30-2014, 05:13 PM   #6
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Re: Behold… the $300k van.

Really dig the bamboo. Not 4wd for that kind of coin?
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Old 07-30-2014, 08:21 PM   #7
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Re: Behold… the $300k van.

Man...I thought putting a Cummins/Allison in a van was expensive but apparently bamboo cabinets and stainless appliances push you into mega budget territory.
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Old 07-30-2014, 08:30 PM   #8
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Re: Behold… the $300k van.

It's nice but not that nice. I look at the earth cruiser and global expedition and just love the power to size of my smb
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Old 07-30-2014, 08:53 PM   #9
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Re: Behold… the $300k van.

I'm surprized it doesn't come with a $4000 Gucci water Bottle Holder.

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Old 07-30-2014, 09:10 PM   #10
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Re: Behold… the $300k van.

Quote:
Originally Posted by kyleblase
I met a guy recently who had a brand new Outside Van. He had nothing but bad things to say about Outside Van. He said the build turned out well but apparently they are just a middle man and outsource the actual labor to random companies. He said while they were building the van they wouldn't let him talk directly to the builder and he had to go through Outside Van. He said basically Outside Van takes a huge percentage for basically doing nothing but contracting out the work. I personally have no experience with them, just some food for thought...
Van Specialties does a lot of their work I believe. Not sure what Outside Vans brings to the table.
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