Our duck pits in flooded bean fields are going fast! Get it before it's too late. Located 27 miles west of Memphis Tn. On I-40 In the heart of the delta. We control water, clean and pump out pit, very easy access! Beans will be left standing. Legally binding contracts can be drafted by my attorney at no expense if needed. < 1234 5 678 > 28,184 posts, read 30,558,719 times 728 posts, read 1,660,933 times 319 posts, read 303,448 times 457 posts, read 345,610 times Originally Posted by Woof The OP may be in an area where even "room for rent" type situations want first+last+deposit+references+credit check+income/job verification like what feels like EVERYWHERE I've been lately, 11 states these past 15 years. It may not be the actual MONEY required to rent, it just may be the other problems "qualifying" to rent so much as a room. For the most part, cheap weekly motels that don't cost an arm and a leg (over $1,000/month) are so seedy and dangerous that they make one prefer to sleep in any vehicle they can find, as long as they can get OUT of the dangerous part of some large seedy city.
1,896 posts, read 2,732,290 times Originally Posted by usedcar I am trying to choose a car to buy. I prefer a car where I can actually live in, carrying all my belongings, and then parking at the 'visitor' parking slots at apartment parking lots and sleeping there. I am thinking of used vehicle. Either a minivan, wagon, truck, or a good mpg car like Civic. A minivan is good because I could have a lot of storage space. I saw this setup, but I guess it might take a lot of time to make those plywood boxes. Vehicles: car as bedroom - a set on Flickr A Civic is good because of its high mpg, but I guess you would have to modify it to be able to sleep in it flat. Can you modify the Civic so that you can sleep on a flat surface? Or is sleeping on reclined seat not that bad? Another type of car I've been thinking of wagon, what I have been thinking of was Ford Escort. How does parts cost for 90s Civic or Escort Wagon compare? Having lived in, and traveled in, many different types of vehicles...
I can tell you that you really don't want to do it in a compact car. I don't care about the MPG... if you're living in a vehicle, you don't want to live in a compact car. My suggestion is that you go with a full-size conversion van. That won't arouse any suspicion no matter where you park it (a class B camper van probably would). You can get a reasonably comfortable bed in the back of the van because they usually have that convertible couch that folds down into a bed, a decent amount of storage space for your stuff within the van (such that it doesn't have to be somehow out of your control when you sleep, as it would be in the bed of a truck), and enough room and privacy to change your clothes if need be. You'll still have to arrange for showering and going to the bathroom, if you don't choose an RV. A minivan would be about the smallest you could do practically... and then only if you have one of those "truck / SUV" air mattresses. There's enough room in the back of your average minivan, assuming it has a flat floor and all seats except the front two are removed, to fit that air mattress.
But for the gas you'd save from having the minivan compared to a full-size conversion van, you'll be spending at least that much constantly replacing your air mattress as it busts all kinds of holes. Somehow, they always do. Sleeping in the folded-back driver's seat of any vehicle gets really old really fast. It's terribly uncomfortable even if the seat is comfortable for driving and even if you are young / not prone to back problems. You will wake up numerous times in the middle of the night, in some form of pain from your uncomfortable sleeping position... and failure to get a good night's sleep will eventually catch up to you and harm your health if it persists. If the weather is cold, you too will get uncomfortably cold during the night as it is nigh unto impossible to wrap yourself in enough blankets thoroughly enough while sleeping in the seat. The bottom half of your legs will be left uncovered... and you will get cold feet regardless of how many pairs of socks you layer on.
Plus, you won't be able to move at all with those blankets on... if you move around to change positions because you woke up in pain, you have to reset the blankets. The more you move around, the harder it will be to get back to sleep. You'd be better off with the bed in the back of a conversion van - at least that would afford you the room to roll around and wrap yourself up like a huge burrito if you had to stay warm on a cold winter night. Conversion vans don't do so badly on gas if you drive them nicely. I had a 1987 with a carbureted 318 V8 and a three-speed slopbox automatic transmission... if I didn't push it over 55 on the highway, it would return 18 miles per gallon on regular gas. Stands to reason more modern vans with fuel injection and overdrive automatic transmissions with lockup torque converters should be able to do better than that. Take it from me, a former vandweller and truck dweller who has slept in so many different cars that he's lost count. Don't go small if you're going to live in it.
You WILL regret that. (Heck, people told me that about getting an RV... so I took their advice even though I thought a 29-foot motorhome would be more than we needed... turns out it's just barely enough!) Go for larger than you think you can live with. For that, you will be thanking me immensely after about two weeks of vehicle dwelling.As for those pictures - if you take a minivan and do what that guy did, you're spending more money on the materials to make the bed and the storage boxes. Plus, all of that plywood adds a substantial amount of extra weight to the minivan, which will eat into your gas mileage savings over a conversion van. If you want to do that, go for it... it might save you in air mattress replacement costs... but I wouldn't count on the safety of homemade storage bins in a vehicle like that were it to get into an accident. One more thing to consider about a minivan. It is EXTREMELY difficult to find minivans in good condition for a good price. They are purchased and used as family haulers, constantly.
Last minivan I sold was a 2006 Honda Odyssey - sold it last year - 6 years old, 105,000 miles on it, getting close to needing an expensive timing belt replacement job - I still got $12,000 for it. The cheaper minivans (older, higher mileage) tend to be snapped up by poorer families who still have to have something they can haul their kids with, which won't kill them on gas. A guy I knew sold a 1995 Odyssey three years ago, with over 270,000 miles on it (and sounding like it was close to falling apart) for $1,000. You can get a heck of a lot more vehicle for the money if you go for a full-size van (which few families these days choose as family haulers due to the gas mileage) than if you go for a minivan. For the extra money you'd have to pay to get the same quality in a minivan as you could get in a full size van, you could buy a whole lot of extra gas... and you'd get a bigger vehicle that you wouldn't have to "build out" and which would be much more comfortable for living. 8,406 posts, read 16,390,842 times
Why would you buy a car I can sleep in? I have a home. 18 posts, read 25,779 times Originally Posted by GarageLogic I LIVE IN A VAN DOWN BY THE RIVER - YouTubeStill sends me to the floor in laughter after all these years! Thanks for brightening my day To the OP, I'd say opt for comfort and get a van. At least something the size of the Chevrolet Astro, but I'd go for the Econoline or Chevrolet Express full size. You will be happy you did. You can virtually set up a van like a small studio, shower at the gym or a truck stop. Theres tons of options. 357 posts, read 518,377 times Originally Posted by Thegonagle Most of these have a "no sleeping" policy, unless you are in a motor home or a commercial truck. 2,009 posts, read 3,095,997 times If you are living in a car because you dont want to spend money on rent , do you work? and if so what do you spend your money on? If you are really into not spending money = Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum.