New to campervans

Good evening.  I am new to this forum and considering purchasing an Auto-Sleeper (used) Topaz, Duetto, Symbol or similar.  As my eventual purchase will most probably be 15-20 years old I am aware there will be many important issues to consider, ie body condition, mileage, etc.  As a former motorhomer (Auto Trail Apache) I appreciate the limited space in a smaller vehicle will prove challenging for me but I would welcome any advice with regard to my eventual choice of vehicle.  My purchase may not actually take place until the New Year but having started looking on various websites at vehicles currently for sale, I feel that the more information I can gather then there will be less chance of me making a potentially costly mistake.  Many thanks for any thoughts you could share with me.

Hi
I have a Topaz. Good points are that it is very easy to drive and fits in normal car park spaces without difficulty. Bad points, the beds are narrow and if you are very tall may be a bit short for you.
The Topaz comes with various odd shaped cushions so make sure they are all present or you will need to source/manufacture replacements.

Hi
Welcome to the forum from Bridington.
Boaby

Welcome to the forum.   Difficult to choose for someone else and you are right giving yourself some time to look around.   
Of that era I think I would be looking at either Topaz or Duetto vans. 
Both have good and bad bad points. Apart from the various designs spares are available for the VW T4s (model of that era) and the Ford Transit.
Peugeot spares are not as easily obtained.
Good luck in your search

If you are able go for a T5 Topaz as they have a little more room over the T4 and spares etc will be more readily available But the prices will be higher Check out this site for lots of info on the Topaz Do a Search in the top line or I am sure people will be glad to enlighten you the pros & cons.
frederic

Thank you for all your advice - this is obviously going to be a very useful source of information for me.

Hi and welcome! We are newcomers to this scene and bought our Duetto earlier this year after a lot of searching and research regarding size, facilities and support before making our purchase. We have been very happy with our Duetto and it has done all we wanted within our budget, we too are retired.
We've made quite a few updates and enhancements since our purchase like new carpet and curtains as we are both quite handy.
Don't know your height but I am over 6 foot and the bed is plenty big enough for us and nice and flat when made up, some smaller vans use the driver and passenger seats turned round as part of the bed making an odd shaped mattress.
Cooking, shower and toilet are totally acceptable for purpose.
Hope this helps.
Graham

Thank you for all the additional info. At the
moment there seems to be quite a ‘torrent’ of vehicles on the AutoTrader website each day so, with patience, I am hoping I may be spoilt for choice.

As you're fairly centrally located hopefully you won't need to travel too far to find what you're looking for, it took 2 trips to Yorkshire to take delivery of ours, the joys of living in a sleepy corner!
Graham