Having bought a few now [all white ] i have also been where you are read my posts at the point of suicide at one point keep the faith was what i was told, and i did, i had no real "agenda" mind when looking other than possibly a lwb h/t both of which both times i never got!!! be open minded the 2.5's are the most desirable but also most expensive when it goes wrong also the most used by heavy milage company users when new? te 1.9td models are often just as good/reliable and easier to obtain we have several members here that own and prefer them Chas being the most noteable...... Most settle for something less than they originally wanted by virtue of teh fact they are unwilling to travel, that not being an issue just keep looking the right van is out there all you can do as we all have had to keep hounding Autotrader, Ebay [but beware laods of scams and scene taxers there-in] Pistonheads, other VW groups, Gumtree, Local press, and such The biggest problem now is thus T4's have equally cult following to other VW Vans as such are now attracting cult money and far to many scene taxers for my liking, but also a demand far outweight supply hence good ones are few and far between its FACT you can easily buy a 55 plater T5 cheaper and easie rthan you can a late model T4 it is identical to what happened with T3/T4's and will happen with T5/T5.5's in due course one of the sad realities of wanting to be in with the in crowd so to speak ....
Keep the faith my friend be flexible and reassess your WANTS list, deciding on what you want to use it for that may open other doors in terms of what model you could essentially both engine, size and design possibilities opening up other currrently for sale ones what i mean by that is if your going to build a camper and put windows in here then maybe looking at Caravelles might bring you one or what about a LWB its only 14cm longer etc etc