Hello to intending syncro buyers, be advised ...
Forewarned is forearmed.
Doing your homework first may at first seem onerous, buying the wrong syncro variant in haste ... live to regret it.
May I suggest first "taking a Bex and a good lie down"!
Then motivate and thoroughly research this topic YOURSELF using all sources you can find, decide what features including creature comforts/mechanical wizardry are available in the various syncro van and camper variants, then decide which of those features you need, don't need or can do without.
Understand the pleasures but also the potential pitfalls ever hovering with syncro ownership, understand you may need a gold mine to upgrade and maintain it, plus lots & lots of time to not only work on it but also to figure out how it ticks.
Then be willing to spend 12 months or more researching about and looking for THAT syncro of choice based on that knowledge. Be prepared to monitor all known selling sites/forums/newspapers throughout Australia on a daily basis. Luckily it took me a mere 3 months to find mine. Understand that prices reflect the condition/features of examples for sale, not so much their age. All OZ syncros are presently around say 19 to 22 years old anyway.
Based on your research and patience, when your ideal syncro finally pops up somewhere, be prepared to move very very fast to avoid disappointment. And I mean IMMEDIATELY!
Concerning purchasing interstate syncros, difficulties may arise with ADR requirements/structurally modified examples during the blue slip inspection/re-registration stage. Do your homework first on this issue.
Even with all that, you really don't know what you've bought until you've owned it for years, driven it, been a hundred times all around it, on top of it, underneath it, head in the engine bay, head in the spare wheel bay and fiddled about with most of it. The love grows over time, based on your own blood, sweat and tears.
Any potential buyer thinking, hoping or expecting syncro ownership is a walk in the park .... expect to become disillusioned/disenchanted.
Is there any other vehicle that comes close? No.
Will VW ever make a new equivalent? No.
Do I regret buying my chosen syncro TRAKKA? Yes. I should have done more research first and waited for something similar but even better. Except it may have been dearer.
Do I love it? Yes.
Will I ever bastardise it? No. Hope you don't either.
Good luck to intending syncro buyers. Enjoy! Don't destroy!
Cheers.
Ken