It’s been six years since we bought our red Nissan NV200 and turned it into a compact camper van. In that time, we’ve driven our little stealth camper all across the US and Canada, and we’ve also been able to meet a lot of other people in the vanlife community.
There’s one big difference between our setup and most people’s vans, though…
Most vanlifers aim to create a “dream van” — an all-inclusive home on wheels that’s Instagram-worthy inside and out. But without an unlimited budget, this usually means buying a cheap, older van and sinking thousands of dollars (and tons of time) into a complicated camper conversion process.
We opted for the reverse.
Rather than transforming a vintage rust bucket into a palace and hoping the engine doesn’t crap out, we searched for the most reliable van, then splurged on a used model in excellent condition — and skimped on the camper van conversion itself.
We spent $12,300 on a 2013 Nissan NV200 back in 2018 — the most we’d ever paid for a vehicle — and added less than $500 in conversion modifications to make it comfortable for the two things we truly need it for: driving and sleeping. Our travel goals were to live largely out of the van, not secluded away in it.
Spending more to get a van with only 51,000 miles on the odometer and less on renovations allowed us to rack up over 169,000 additional miles and 6 years of memories without ever being left on the side of the road due to mechanical failures.
Here’s how our Nissan NV200 fared, including every expense — from the initial camper van conversion to the repairs along the way — and what we did about the diagnosis from its latest garage visit…
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Our Nissan NV200 Build and Price
Main article: Dirt Cheap Travel with a Nissan NV200 Camper Van
The mods we made to our Nissan NV200 to convert it from compact cargo van to a road-tripping camper van were so simple that they might be called “lazy” — but we’ve honestly been very happy with the results.
We knew we’d need storage space for our first big trip to every National Park in the US, so we built a wooden platform to provide shelving in the cargo area. Then, we threw a full-size mattress on top of it, and that’s about it — for the big stuff, anyway.
Some smaller, helpful additions included hooking a power inverter up to our van’s battery to let us charge all our devices and camera equipment on the go. We also affixed battery-operated tap lights to the storage areas, and hung up a backseat organizer to keep little things handy.
All in all, our Nissan NV200 camper conversion cost us less than $500 and a couple hours to put it all together.
You may have noticed a lack of certain amenities, such as a kitchen or bathroom, but we found that we really didn’t need them. Once you realize that every place you stop has a toilet and that there are several ways to get a hot shower in almost every town, you’ll be glad you don’t have to refill water tanks or deal with your own waste disposal.
We have zero regrets about our minimalist Nissan NV200 camper van build.
Nissan NV200 Reliability and Problems
Our Nissan NV200 hasn’t just been our travel rig — it’s been our only vehicle for the past 6 years. Needless to say, we’ve put a ton of miles on it, from an odometer reading of 51k at the time we purchased it to nearly 220k today.
So, what Nissan NV200 problems have we run into after covering that much ground? Almost none!
Obviously, we’ve done general maintenance like $30 oil changes every 5,000-6,000 miles and replacing air filters, tires, the battery, and brakes as needed.
We also changed the CVT fluid for the first time around 150,000 miles (although we probably should have done this way sooner 😅) and again around 190,000 miles. Despite a lot of warnings from mechanics and online forums, the Nissan NV200 CVT never gave us any issues at all.
Right around that 150,000-mile mark though, our AC compressor died, which was especially bad timing since we were about to take off on a cross-country summer road trip. But we simply delayed our trip by a few days, ordered a replacement from Rock Auto, and had a local mechanic put it in for a grand total of just $300 (including parts and labor). The AC was back to icy cold, and we were back on the road.
This year, at around 219,000 miles, our luck finally started to run out. The van was idling pretty rough, pulling to one side, and sometimes taking a little long to start, so we brought it to the shop for a checkup before another summer trip. This time, though, the fix wasn’t gonna be so cheap.
The mechanics convinced us to replace one of the control arms, the ignition coil, and spark plugs, all before they discovered that our rough idle was actually caused by a low-compression engine cylinder — a very serious and expensive problem that just wasn’t worth fixing.
Over the entire lifetime of our Nissan NV200 — from 51,000 to 220,000 miles — we spent a total of just $1,400 on repairs outside of regular maintenance. And the majority of that was wasted money spent right at the end. Mechanically, this van has been rock solid.
Some Minor Nissan NV200 Glitches
Aside from mechanical issues, our Nissan NV200 came with a few tiny annoyances, but in the context of 169,000 miles of driving, they’re pretty forgivable.
For one thing, some of the van’s plastic parts break too easily, like the handle mechanisms inside the sliding side doors. Our exterior left rear door handle broke twice, leaving it openable only from the inside handle, which is much sturdier. If you get in the habit of opening the doors slowly from the outside, you’ll be fine.
A few of the plastic plugs that seal the roof rack holes on top of the van wore out over time, too, which caused minor roof leaks. We sealed them up with super glue from the Dollar Tree, and we were good to go again.
We’ve also had to take the driver door step panels off repeatedly to make adjustments to our aftermarket stereo wiring and to add connections for our power inverter. Unfortunately, those plastic pieces don’t fit back together so snugly anymore.
Our factory-installed on-board navigation system also stopped working properly due to a failing SD card that held the map data. We never replaced it because Google Maps on a smartphone does a better job anyway.
Lastly, it’s worth noting that the Nissan NV200 has strangely tiny tires for its size. When you go to get them replaced, you’ll probably find that “standard” tires of the correct size are available, but it’s recommended to special order “commercial-grade” tires instead, to accommodate the extra weight of a van.
We usually went with the “standard” tires because they’re cheaper and more readily available, but it did seem like we ended up replacing them a little more frequently than we’re used to with other vehicles.
The Math on How Much Vanlife Can Save You on Travel
A lot of people who get into RVs, vanlife, and camping start out with the idea that it’s a “more affordable” way of travel — and it is — as long as you do it with a minimalist mindset. If you try to build all the comforts of home into your rig, your costs will spiral out of control.
One quick “sanity check” on any camper setup is to compare its total cost against what it would hypothetically cost to just vacation in hotels every single night. Most big RVs completely fail this test, and often vanlifers who stay at paid campsites every night fail this test, too.
Our style of vanlife gets a passing grade because we have no on-board shower or bathroom, freeing us from the need for “hookups” and allowing us to avoid campgrounds and park for free every night instead.
Additionally, we’ve found that the EPA-estimated 26 MPG of the Nissan NV200 has been pretty accurate for us over the years. Most compact cargo vans on the market get similar gas mileage, which is pretty great compared to the abysmal 10-15 MPG offered by bigger rigs like Class B campers and Class C RVs.
You don’t even have to do the math to know that a smaller, more fuel efficient vehicle will save a ton of money on long road trips.
Nissan NV200 Camper Van: Would We Do It Again?
When our 2013 Nissan NV200 started dying this summer, we didn’t hesitate to snap up a newer model from Facebook Marketplace. After a few days of searching, we found a white 2021 Nissan NV200 in great condition with about 100,000 miles on it.
We had to drive a couple hours to pick it up, and it cost us $14,000 — setting the record for our most expensive vehicle of all time — but given how well our last Nissan NV200 camper van aged, we were just happy to be able to get back to our version of vanlife.
Once we got it home, all we had to do was move our platform, bed, and small accessories over to the new van, and we were ready for our next road trip in a matter of minutes.
Oh, and just in case you’re wondering what became of our old NV200: We sold it on Craigslist for $4,000 cash — not bad for a dying van with 220k miles! It seems like the Nissan NV200 holds its value better than most cars (though it’s certainly still a depreciating asset, like any vehicle 📉).
— Lauren
Things change over time. We keep a constantly updated list of our favorite camping and vanlife accessories on our Recommendations page.
