I'm a proud owner of a '96 E350 Club Wagon XLT with the 7.3 PSD in it. It's my first diesel, and the first van I've had all to myself. My interest in vans came from playing in bands and touring. With the rising cost of fuel and trying to cut down expenses, I eventually came to diesel. We kind of lucked into this van, and it's been great except for some recent problems I'm working clearing up. The power, durability, and options for alternative fuels was what reaffirmed me I had made the right choice with the van.
The guy I bought the van from put about 30,000 miles on it in the two years he owned it. He was mostly using it on vacations to haul a big travel trailer (it has a Reese package installed, don't know if there's an intercooler) and his two boys. It's a great vehicle for road trips because of the massive amount of room (and our band definitely needs it) and the fuel efficiency being significantly better than any other van I've ever toured in. Anyway, the guy I bought it from had the whole front end rebuilt in the time that he had it, so clearly this is an issue. The van has about 221,000 on it and I've put about 4,000 on it myself driving it around town and going on trips down to Seattle and such (about 130 miles each way).