Before you all start bashing gtrv, they seem to be making an excellent
product. from everyone i have heard who has them (and many are former
westfalia owners), the workmanship is great and far better then
sportsmobile. every van is handmade at a reasonable cost. they are in canada
and have a salespoint in california as well. they also have an active owner
community. they can camperize many different vans, including astros, town
and countrys, and sprinters, all wth poptop. so, with the sprinter version
of it, you get same or better mileage then westfalia. either sprinter or
ford van you can get 4x4 converted, so its an alternative to syncros too.
resale values are rather low, i suspect because the brand is not very well
known. you can regularly find a 1999 gtrv westy with say 70k miles for under
$10k.
Now dont get me wrong, I love my vanagon, but for someone looking to get
into poptop van camping i think this is an excellent option, much more
economical than eurovan campers.
florian