A 1994 Dodge Ram 3/4 ton work van, including fully functional work bins, shelving, & cab divider.
Dents all over the place, a little rust here and there, and she drives down the road about like a bus.
We dropped a whopping 2G's for this baby! I know, it sounds like we got ripped off, right?!?!?!
WRONG. In addition to petrol, her motor hums to the tune of $1.45 a gallon CNG. (and thats after the 50% price increase since we got her caused by a tax break expiring)
I got to work ripping out the bins & everything that next day. Before long she was a fresh white new canvas to work with as I wished :)
Right now its only two temporary bench seats and the CNG tanks. It is pretty loud with no insulation or carpeting, but I wouldnt sell it for the world. It will be improved drastically in the coming months.
We opted for the 3.9 V6 that comes in @ a modest 175 HP. It manages a whooping 18 mpg average and I think I can get it up to 20 or more on road trips. Capable of towing a decently sized trailer, as much room as we can use with doors that open up big enough to put a couch in!
With the second CNG tank I added we have a CNG range of about 130 miles when she switches herself back to Gasoline automatically and starts sipping away at the 20 gallon tank at an increased mpg. With all those features, we would need to find a car that gets about 36 MPG to break even with the cost of fuel. It is the benefit of a van/truck with the operating costs of a honda civic!
It only has 80k miles on it and CNG is a much cleaner fuel, so I think the van will serve us well for years to come.
There is a downside in that CNG fill stations though on the rise are minimal, that is why we opted for a bi-fuel vehicle that runs on it and gasoline. But fueling is a quick and simple process.
The biggest problem here is that our dream of living in Montello kind of makes the specialty of this van obsolete as there is no fill station there or in Wendover where I anticipate the jobs being and the closest place to get the things that the local store in Montello can not offer. The good news is when that dream becomes a reality years down the road the van will have more than paid for itself and we won't be out anything.
When FLSmidth makes the move to 72nd south I will be commuting over 100 miles a day, I will have to refuel daily, but the gas savings will pay itself off in about 5 months. That adds up to a lot of money!